Must I - or may I – leave this with the house?

The issue of what stays with a house after closing can become a problem if buyers and sellers are operating under opposite assumptions. In extreme cases, it can even lead to legal action.

 

The rule of thumb is that anything that’s part of the real property should stay with the house. Everything else, with the exception of items named in the listing agreement and addressed in the purchase and sale agreement, should go.

 

What is real property? Anything attached permanently to the house. This would include light fixtures, curtain and drapery rods, cabinetry, and towel bars. If removal would do damage to the house, then it needs to stay.

 

If you have items that will be considered real property and you don’t want to leave them behind when you sell your home, replace them before the first buyer tours the house. Your dining room might show better with Grandma’s antique chandelier, but replace it anyway.

 

I’ve heard of transactions falling apart during negotiations because of a dispute over light fixtures, a medicine cabinet, and even a wooden gate that had been excluded from the listing. If the buyers had never seen it, they wouldn’t have asked for it.

 

Kitchen appliances are generally addressed in the purchase and sale agreement, but even those can become a problem. If the agreement says the range and refrigerator stay, then the buyers naturally assume that the appliances in the house when they wrote the offer will be the appliances they find after closing. And yet, that isn’t always the case. Sellers have been known to remove their new, top-of-the-line appliances and replace them with older, less expensive models just prior to moving out. Describing them by make and model in the purchase agreement would eliminate the problem.

 

Some items might go either way. For instance, a porch swing. The buyers might assume it stays, but the sellers might assume it goes. The swing is not actually attached to the house – it is merely hanging from chains that are hung on hooks attached to the house. Would removing it do damage? No, it would just leave empty hooks. Such items should be addressed, in writing, as part of the purchase agreement.

 

What if the seller wants to leave things “to be nice?”

Some things, such as cans of touch-up paint, labeled with the rooms where they were used, might be welcomed and might not. Ask before you leave them behind.

 

Sellers have been known to leave unwanted furniture, broken appliances, and even food in the refrigerator. All these do is cause work and expense for the buyers – and leave them with a sour taste and bad feelings toward the seller.

 

The rule for sellers: Leave everything that’s considered real property. Then, before you leave anything that isn’t permanently attached to the house or addressed in the purchase and sale agreement, ask if the buyers want it. If the answer is no, take it away.

 

THE EXCEPTION: Please don’t take the toilet paper off the holders or the light bulbs out of the fixtures. That’s just rude. And... if you've met the buyers and know they would appreciate bottled water, soft drinks, or a bottle of wine, you can leave those in the refrigerator with a nice note.

 

The rule for buyers: If you want something to stay, and it isn’t real property, address it in your offer.