Talk Quesada forum

hi
We are in the process of buying a villa and have put down our holding fee and instructed solicitor
We were told that the property was coming fully furnished apart from a few personal effects
We have now received the inventory and the seller has decided she is taking her washing machine and is going to,replace it with another
But also in the inventory there is an expensive set of outside furniture missing. We have been given various excuses but basically this furniture has now already disappeared from the property. The seller is now saying that they told the estate agent they were taking it but that estate agent no longer works for the company. This was never mentioned to us at any time. Do we have any rights or do we just have to accept that they are taking it.

If the garden furniture is in the inventory then ask for the sale price to be reduced by an appropriate amount. This is preferable to the previous owner replacing it for you, as they would probably go for the cheapest and nastiest that they can get their hands on (same probably applies to the washing machine).
Having the purchase price reduced means that you win in other ways too. You’ll not have to pay the 10% property tax on that bit of the money, or the estate agent fees.
Generally, it’s best to agree a lower price for the property, then a separate amount for furnishings, vehicles etc that are being included. Estate agents won’t encourage that though, as it means their commission is less.

Pete.

The problem is that the furniture isn't in the inventory which we have now just received. We were told verbally on two different occasions. I suppose it's a case of us being naive and not getting a copy of inventory before we put down holding deposit?

It’s the old story that a verbal agreement not being worth the paper it’s written on.

Pete.

Same thing happened to us...vendors should have an inventory as soon as they put it on the narket..
We were told everything except personal stuff would remain....i took photos of the property inside and out and when the inventory finally emerged after much emailing..several key items were omitted...agent didnt want to know...

I should have asked more questions on this forum before we actually gave holding deposit.
I think this is an excellent forum with so much useful information. I will be sure to ask for more advice going forward.

Have you actually signed a contract with a notary final date yet? You could keep holding this up - unless you are desperate for this property of course - until they agree to do what they had originally said. If they withdraw now they have to pay you double the amount you put down as a deposit. A bit naughty but nothing like the amount of naughtiness from them. One of my ex-neighbours sold his place fully furnished and (unlike our agent) didn't do an inventory. He then took great delight in selling all the good stuff (plus telling everyone!) and replacing it with (in his words) cheap c--p. Nasty.
As others have said get an inventory from Day 1 plus photos from the buyer or the agent in future but that doesn't help you now.

Hope you manage to get it sorted - try appealing to their sense of fair play but not a lot of hope with that if they are the type of people to do this in the first place.

Your ex-neighbour sounds like a very unpleasant person, you must be glad he is ex.

And not everyone behaves like that. Tbh, do not lose the focus on the most important thing i.e. the property itself. Furniture is furniture and most will be pretty worthless in a secondhand market so don't get het up about it. If you got a good property, that is what you should be looking at.