Are carpets considered 'contents'?

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Fuzzy

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We are currently selling our house but, the purchasers have now told us that they do not want the contents. Just wondering are we free to take up the carpets? The contracts are signed and do not list contents.
 
Carpets are contents. Furniture items are contents. Personal items are contents

Light fittings are ambiguous

Items firmly screwed to walls are fixtures - e.g. Kitchen presses, fitted wardrobes.
 
We agreed that they would pay us separately for the contents. But having signed the contracts, they now refuse to pay for contents and told us to remove all electrical goods (fridge/oven, etc). So was just wondering if we are within our rights to take the carpets too. They are in mint condition and I dont want to give them the satisfaction of keeping anything that we are able to take.
 
Fitted carpets are normally left, and it would be extraordinary to take them unless they are specifically excluded. If you take them, you run the risk of a very angry buyer refusing to complete. Light fittings are not ambiguous - you can take lampshades, but actual fittings are a no-no.

Why so angry they don't want your second hand white goods? They may have their own, or may want to get new and energy efficient ones, or have any of a host of reasons. And if they're so great that you're getting upset about it, why weren't you taking them in the first place?
 
Fuzzy said:
We agreed that they would pay us separately for the contents. But having signed the contracts, they now refuse to pay for contents and told us to remove all electrical goods (fridge/oven, etc). So was just wondering if we are within our rights to take the carpets too. They are in mint condition and I dont want to give them the satisfaction of keeping anything that we are able to take.
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Will this not cause an issue with the contracts that were signed? Normally if contents are being sold to the buyer, the solicitor will list the contents price on the contracts. Revenue requires that they be notified of related transactions (including sale of contents) for Stamp Duty purposes. Your solicitor should have informed you of this.

If the plan was to sell the contents "under the counter" to facilitate tax fraud on the part of the buyer then it is probably a good thing for you that the buyer decided not to purchase the contents.
 
The people buyin the place offered us the asking price of the property plus an extra few grand for contents, and we accepted on these terms. (Because of this, we turned an offer of just the asking price.) After signing the contracts, they informed us they now dont want to pay for the contents. We didnt want plan on taking contents with us as will be getting a voucher for all white goods in new house. We are bascially v annoyed with them, and now think that the carpets can be re-fitted into bedrooms in new house. We just want to know are we legally entitled to take the carpets. Our solicitor seems to think so but a few people have told us otherwise.
 
I can understand your annoyance that they're reneging on the deal, but I'd still strongly recommend that you leave the carpets in situ. Carpets are usually considered to be included - think about it: fitted carpets are basically nailed down, and the rule of thumb is that if it's nailed down or screwed in, it qualifies as fixtures and fittings.

And I share a suspicion with room305 that if the deal was structured that way to avoid stamp duty, you're probably better off because it would be illegal evasion. It may even be that the buyers have had that drawn to their attention and thought better of it.

Anyway, what's worse: taking a hit on the appliances, or losing the sale because the buyers won't complete because you've taken the carpets out?
 
Fuzzy said:
The people buyin the place offered us the asking price of the property plus an extra few grand for contents, and we accepted on these terms. (Because of this, we turned an offer of just the asking price.) After signing the contracts, they informed us they now dont want to pay for the contents. We didnt want plan on taking contents with us as will be getting a voucher for all white goods in new house. We are bascially v annoyed with them, and now think that the carpets can be re-fitted into bedrooms in new house. We just want to know are we legally entitled to take the carpets. Our solicitor seems to think so but a few people have told us otherwise.
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Are the contents not listed in your contract and if they are not, why not?
 
Thanks for the responses guys. Being honest, the contents werent listed in the contract. The purchasers made the offer of paying for contracts separately, and we decided to go ahead with this, and i guess it backfired. We (incorrectly) figured that the obligation to disclose and pay stamp duty rested with the buyers. Having since been told that we would be involved in tax evasion, we now see it as a blessing in disguise. We just want to know if carpets are considered to be 'contents', and if they are, we can take them with us and re-fit them.
 
Fuzzy said:
Thanks for the responses guys. Being honest, the contents werent listed in the contract. The purchasers made the offer of paying for contracts separately, and we decided to go ahead with this, and i guess it backfired. We (incorrectly) figured that the obligation to disclose and pay stamp duty rested with the buyers. Having since been told that we would be involved in tax evasion, we now see it as a blessing in disguise. We just want to know if carpets are considered to be 'contents', and if they are, we can take them with us and re-fit them.
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I am surprised your solicitor didn't inform you of the requirement to disclose to revenue. Actually, I'm not that surprised - I am aware of at least one solicitor who suggested to a friend that it was none of their business if contents were exchanged for cash and "kept off the books".

Fair play for realising your mistake. It wouldn't be nice to be complicit in illegal tax evasion. My own opinion is that, since carpets tend to be nailed in place, they should be considered part of the fixtures and fittings.
 
IMO carpets would be considered fixtures and fittings.

Reminds me of a story when friends moved into a house (contents not included) to discover the previous owners had removed every light bulb in the house!
 
That happened my sister - curtain poles and ceiling light fittings removed. Not sure about the former but the latter was surely out of order!
 
ClubMan said:
That happened my sister - curtain poles and ceiling light fittings removed. Not sure about the former but the latter was surely out of order!
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Guessing it must happen fairly often. Contracts for a recent sale (no contents) for a family member detailed specifically curtain poles, light fixtures, shaving mirrors and shaving lights above mirrors, decorative hall floor etc.

I thought it was a little OTT, but obviously not given previous experiences.
 
Heard a similar story, friend of a friend told me of their work colleague who put an offer in for a house and offered to pay for the contents separately in cash. At the end they said that they did not want the contents. However they did this on purpose in the hope that the sellers would just leave the stuff, which they did. They planned it from the outset because the brochure stated “contents negotiable” or something to that effect. They spoke to the Estate Agents who explained that the people were moving abroad. Pretty nasty, but what goes around comes around I believe.

My first place, the sellers took the light fittings, the bulbs, the toilet seat, even took the letterbox.
 
alfabeta said:
My first place, the sellers took [...] the toilet seat [...]
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Wow. I thought I'd done badly with my first place, from which the sellers removed most curtain poles (expect the broken one), the custom made blinds (which wouldn't have fitted other windows), the bathroom fittings and the shower door. But they did leave some light bulbs and the toilet seat...

The next place, by contrast, the sellers left a whole lot of junk "in case we could use it" - which we did: to get a discount on the sale for the skip required.

It really underlines the importance of carrying out a "just-in-time" pre-closure inspection.
 
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