Practice of paying cash for contents

N

Newbie!

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We are currently bidding on a house and the estate agent has just suggested that we could pay a cash amount directly to the owner for white goods/contents. I'm a bit uncomfortable with this but just wonder if this normal and legit?
 
If you are uncomfortable with it, say "no thanks"... you are not obliged to purchase the white goods/contents.

If you are interested in them, treat them as if you were buying them from a "for sale" ad. It's a separate transaction to the house purchase.

Also, do you really want / need them - will you be replacing them in a few weeks / months? Are the white goods/contents sold as "one unit" or can you choose what you want/need? One concern I would have is "how" that transaction will be done - via the EA or directly with house sellers.

Maybe it's something to decide on after your bid on the house is agreed?
 
Newbie! said:
We are currently bidding on a house and the estate agent has just suggested that we could pay a cash amount directly to the owner for white goods/contents. I'm a bit uncomfortable with this but just wonder if this normal and legit?
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Unless you need them, don't buy them. If you're uncomfortable with the proposed arrangement, go with your gut.
They're second hand, you won't know until you go to use them whether they are working properly or not, you would have no recourse if they don't work. In fact, I would ask the vendor's solicitor to have the seller remove them from the property - otherwise you could end up having to pay for the removal.
 
Thanks, I agree with both of you. We haven't actually got the house yet but are being pushed to give more money. We have to draw the line somewhere so it's been firmly drawn now with our last offer. If we don't get the house, it just wasn't meant to be.
 
This used to be a way of dodging stamp duty on a house that was a relatively small amount above the threshold for the next level. Pay over the odds for the contents, and less for the house to get the house price under the threshold.
 
If it's documented and given to our solicitor for our records, is there anything we as the buyer should be concerned with?
 
Newbie! said:
If it's documented and given to our solicitor for our records, is there anything we as the buyer should be concerned with?
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I'm not sure the solicitor will accept this. His remit is the house sale. The contents is a private matter afaik. Vandriver is on the button here. If a seller is forced to sell and the bank writing off the residue, then this is a way of having a seperate cash transaction between you and the seller.
 
Stamp duty is no longer an issue unless house is around the €1m mark (stamp duty is a flat 1% on all homes up to €1m now) so the most likely reason is as vandriver said above. We have just bought a house with many items of furniture and fittings included in the sale but tied into the purchase price not a separate transaction.
 
Thanks. Spoke with solicitor yesterday and she indicated that it is becoming increasingly common and exactly as vandriver said, to move money away from the banks hands.
 
There seems to be a suggestion that there is something wrong with this approach here. Personally I see absolutely nothing wrong on either side with paying cash for contents. For one, why would you, as a buyer, want to include the cost of white goods in your mortgage? And as a seller why would you want the money received for contents included as the sale price of the house?
Sure many might be doing this to ensure the bank don't grab the money easily but I think the concept of selling the contents separately from the house price is perfectly normal and acceptable.
 
Come on now Ceist Beag, every dog on the street knew in the boom times and the days of stamp duty that cash was paid "for contents". ;)
 
Ceist Beag said:
I think the concept of selling the contents separately from the house price is perfectly normal and acceptable.
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I mainly agree with you but I would guess in many (most?) cases the cash amount far far exceeded the value of the contents.
 
peteb said:
Come on now Ceist Beag, every dog on the street knew in the boom times and the days of stamp duty that cash was paid "for contents". ;)
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Actually, no. It might have been mooted, and always by someone whose fingers would never get burned and who would never have to account to Revenue! But they'd always be passing the buck along the line.

In practice, it would have to involve 2 sets of clients, the estate agent and the 2 solicitors to make it work. If the cash was "off contract" ( as in out of the way of Revenue scrutiny, if it came to that), and not documented, how could it ever be enforced? It would be unenforceable in Court.

And if everyone is willing to "scam" Revenue, won't they be just as willing to "scam" each other?

Would anyone take that risk ? Solicitors hand over the contract amount - when does purchaser hand over the cash? And if they don't?

mf
 
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