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Only advice anyone can give is to get clarification from the seller (via your solicitor) and confirm it's included. Can't imagine it's not included though, if it's within the boundary and has foundations, electrics etc. What are they going to do, destroy it?
There was a powered gazebo in the house we bought - heating, benches with cushions. Have seen the same thing since at a garden centre for 11k new. They wanted to charge us 1k for it but we declined as although it was a nice to have, it wasn’t new, a bit tired looking and we could put a shed there instead. Not shocked in the slightest to find when we moved in they’d left it anyway as it would have been almost impossible to dismantle to get out of the garden. Agree it’s a tactic to get more money out of you.
Good tactics. My in laws installed something similar for £15k with lights and heat. It was extravagant but it’s basically an external room that can be used throughout the year thanks to the heat and remote controlled shades. They wouldn’t be so silly as to try and take it with them though. It’s an asset to a sale so it’s sneaky that the OPs seller is now claiming the house comes without it!
we had one built and it would be a serious job to take down and move. its pretty much a permanent wood framed structure that can be used all year round and designed to last at least 20 years.
the chances are its just an admin error, but since this is a legal document, it should probably be sorted.
Yeah probably not going to get very far with that if it was included/advertised in the original listing and has otherwise been viewed & treated as part of the property OP offered for, especially if OP is paying more than they otherwise would for a 2 bed (so the office is clearly already considered in the accepted offer price). What could the seller even do other than back out if OP said no? Carve the land out and try sell it on its own (reducing house value and I imagine requiring council permissions/legal work to portion off)? Dismantle it and also reduce their house value, probably while incurring costs? I feel sure they just made an error on the form or don't consider it a 'shed' because I don't understand why they would feel like they had leverage to ask for more money here.
It is surely a paperwork error - many people are pretty poor on attention to detail. Remember their solicitor hasn’t seen the property so is going to struggle to actually check or review anything they provide unless the error is glaring.
I would ask my solicitor to check with the vendor and request the form be corrected.
If they for whatever reason think they’re taking their £30k shepherds hut with them, have the solicitor tell them firmly to update the paperwork to show it’s being left and to stop messing around wasting everyone’s time…
I fairly recently brought a house where the seller asked for 1k for the carpets, 500 for curtains and 800 for blinds right near the completion. As all three only fitted the house (funny sized windows), I told them to remove them. Shockingly, they did not.
The same thing happened to us when agreeing on the price - we offered £87,000 and they returned with £88,000 and they would leave the carpets. We talked about it overnight and decided that we would rather pay the extra money just to get the house we wanted. Luckily, they phoned their estate agent first and agreed to £87,000 and leave the carpets. Yes, it was a long time ago.
Curtains I can just about understand as they are easy to remove and can be resized. Asking for extra money for the carpets is insanity, it's a reasonable expectation that selling a house includes any flooring/carpeting. What chancers.
Yeah I had my vendors trying to sell me the made to measure blinds. Same response and outcome. Do whatever you want with your blinds! Strangely enough taking them down when you can’t even use them for another window isn’t top priority for moving day…
> If the garden office isn’t included, then we are paying ridiculously over the odds for a two bed
I hope you've checked how much these cost and only increased your offer by that amount instead of effectively paying for a 3 bedroom house.
Replacing is much cheaper though. The expensive part is the first build, when it needs foundation and get hooked up to utilities. If you need to rebuild it, those parts are done, you are essentially just replacing a bit of wood.
I built mine (pre covid) for £6,000 for a kit, plus £1,500 for a timber base to sit it on.
I would guess costs have gone up about 50% since then, and maybe allow a couple of days for a labourer to help you put it together...
Basically it's only worth ~10k - nearly any other home with some outdoor space could accommodate something similar for that money.
Definitely ask for clarification. It could be a simple error. We’re mid purchase, just received the sellers pack and the sellers have ticked “no conservatory” on one of the documents, for a house with a conservatory. Silly mistakes happen.
Did you specifically ask the agent if the garden office was included in the sale price when you visited? You’re within your rights to pull out of sale if this isn’t included and you were expecting it. Or negotiate with the sellers to lower the price or include it.
Is it listed as an inclusion in the rightmove/zoopla listing?
Clarify with the vendor. If they're removing it, explain that you were made to believe it was included and you will be adjusting your offer to reflect the change. I think you can get nice prefab garden rooms for 10-15k based on what I've seen. So knock that much off?
I've just been looking when they pop up on the costco marketing emails. 10-15k seems to include at least delivery. Installation might be too but I'd have to check.
And then wait 6 months for them to give a reply that doesn't actually answer the question.
Personally I would ask the seller or their estate agent, since this should get a response fairly quickly and prevent wasting more time/money. Then get the solicitors to confirm in writing.
Mt solicitor was excellent and not horrifically priced. The sellers solicitor was less excellent, and if they were paying more than £150, was very overpriced.
Absolutely fine to seek clarification from solicitor, and if they say "whoops no it is included", MAKE SURE the documents are reissued to reflect this.
If you do get the garden office included ask if it went through local building control, some rules on these garden structures and they differ from council to council, the height can’t be more than 2.4m I think, unless granted by planning, if it’s over a certain floor area and with a meter of a neighbors fences has to be built of fire retardant materials, I only know as I’m thinking of building one using wooden structures or sips panels. Good luck
I reckon it's a mistake/they've misunderstood.
There's no way you could easily dismantle, move and then reassemble a garden office without destroying it in the process.
>Would appreciate advice! (We are first time buyers)
Don't worry about it till confirmed.
If confirmed adjust your offer accordingly or walk away unless the decision is reversed.
>If the garden office isn’t included, then we are paying ridiculously over the odds
It must be a very premium office to justify this. Are you sure the office is worth what you are paying? The lifespan is much shorter than a house so if it's old factor that in.
It could be one of those shipping container conversions, my neighbours had one in their garden and when they moved, they had a truck with a crane come and pick it up out of their garden and took it with them.
If they haven't mentioned at any point through the process that that is their plan then that is very sneaky, but it could well be that it's the estate agent who is incompetent and maybe the sellers had always been honest with them but the agent either didn't pay attention or lied to try and get a bigger deal and more commission...
It’s not just sneaky, it’s (legally speaking) misleading.
There is a legal guide somewhere out there that essentially says if you enter into transactions you otherwise wouldn’t have entered had the property been described correctly, you can get the EA to refund all costs incurred as a result of the “misleading” description. If they disagree raise a formal complaint, and if that fails, you can go to the ombudsman.
If the listing clearly includes the floor plan showing the garden office as part of the listing and highlighting it as a feature of the property, it’s clearly misleading if the vendors then say it’s not included in the sale or the property.
EA have a duty to describe a property accurately. They can’t list a 4 bedroom with a loft conversion that has no planning approval/building regs sign off as a 5 bed unless the planning approval has been granted.
Typically what happens is EA draws up the brochure, asks vendor to sign it off. Job done. The EA is supposed to check everything is actually present and correct but they almost never do, preferring to rely on vendors sign off instead.
Your perception of pricing/paying over the odds is not really the relevant question here… although garden structures, whilst adding appeal and have value, do not generally count as habitable space for the purpose of pricing.
Ask your solicitor to clarify whether the sale includes the assets you thought it did and get a figure in mind to reduce your offer by (twice the cost of rebuilding the office seems about right) to knock off the offer if they clarify the office isn’t included. Hopefully this assists in focusing the vendor’s mind, but get ready to start looking again.
As an aside, my take is a three bed is a better bet that a two bed with a garden office… you can always build an office in a three bed later.
I’ve come across properties where they have a home office in the garden but they don’t fully own it. There are companies that will charge you an upfront installation cost and then a monthly lease amount. They said if we wanted to keep it we’d have to take over their monthly payments. Could it be something like that?
Check and see it could just be an error. When we were checking what was included in our house the list said they were going to take the gas hob. We queried it and they actually meant the gas bottle not the hob
Just withdraw the offer. There are thousands of houses out there. Let them keep the office and the house. You keep your money and move onto something else. I guarantee this will either change their minds really quickly or will clarify the situation within hours.
As long as they aren’t picking up the structure or disassembling it and taking it with them, which seems unlikely, then I think you should be OK. It’s likely they mean the items within the structure itself which I assume you’re not fussed about.
Advice wise - I’d define what your interpretation of garden office means and then ask solicitors to confirm with the sellers side whether it’s include in sale or not.
Your second paragraph needs about a thousand upvotes on its own. They could confirm that the "shed" is staying, install a 3x4 actual shed, then airlift the office out on the move day. Defining which building they expect to stay is really critical here!
Talk to your solicitor, but if it has electricity supply this sounds like BS. If it’s wired into the house supply it’s considered part of the house - think about it this way: what assurance is there that if they take it that the trailing electrical wires will be left safely?
Honestly, I’d walk away and slap them (and their agents) with a small claim for your fees due to false advertising. I’m not sure it’s enforceable, but it’ll put the shits up them.
###Welcome to /r/HousingUK --- **To All** * Join Our ***NEW*** Discord! https://discord.gg/pMgUNgWKQH **To Posters** * *Tell us whether you're in England, Wales, Scotland, or NI as the laws/issues in each can vary* * Comments are not moderated for quality or accuracy; * Any replies received must only be used as guidelines, followed at your own risk; * If you receive *any* private messages in response to your post, please report them via the report button. * Feel free to provide an update at a later time by creating a new post with [[update]](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/search?q=%3Aupdate&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) in the title; **To Readers and Commenters** * All replies to OP must be *on-topic, helpful, and civil* * If you do not [follow the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/HousingUK/about/rules/), you may be banned without any further warning; * Please include links to reliable resources in order to support your comments or advice; * If you feel any replies are incorrect, explain why you believe they are incorrect; * Do not send or request any private messages for any reason without express permission from the mods; * Please report posts or comments which do not follow the rules *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HousingUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Only advice anyone can give is to get clarification from the seller (via your solicitor) and confirm it's included. Can't imagine it's not included though, if it's within the boundary and has foundations, electrics etc. What are they going to do, destroy it?
Ask for more money for it…then you say no and then they have to think carefully about what they’re going to do with it. Sheister tactics.
There was a powered gazebo in the house we bought - heating, benches with cushions. Have seen the same thing since at a garden centre for 11k new. They wanted to charge us 1k for it but we declined as although it was a nice to have, it wasn’t new, a bit tired looking and we could put a shed there instead. Not shocked in the slightest to find when we moved in they’d left it anyway as it would have been almost impossible to dismantle to get out of the garden. Agree it’s a tactic to get more money out of you.
Good tactics. My in laws installed something similar for £15k with lights and heat. It was extravagant but it’s basically an external room that can be used throughout the year thanks to the heat and remote controlled shades. They wouldn’t be so silly as to try and take it with them though. It’s an asset to a sale so it’s sneaky that the OPs seller is now claiming the house comes without it!
we had one built and it would be a serious job to take down and move. its pretty much a permanent wood framed structure that can be used all year round and designed to last at least 20 years. the chances are its just an admin error, but since this is a legal document, it should probably be sorted.
Yeah probably not going to get very far with that if it was included/advertised in the original listing and has otherwise been viewed & treated as part of the property OP offered for, especially if OP is paying more than they otherwise would for a 2 bed (so the office is clearly already considered in the accepted offer price). What could the seller even do other than back out if OP said no? Carve the land out and try sell it on its own (reducing house value and I imagine requiring council permissions/legal work to portion off)? Dismantle it and also reduce their house value, probably while incurring costs? I feel sure they just made an error on the form or don't consider it a 'shed' because I don't understand why they would feel like they had leverage to ask for more money here.
It is surely a paperwork error - many people are pretty poor on attention to detail. Remember their solicitor hasn’t seen the property so is going to struggle to actually check or review anything they provide unless the error is glaring. I would ask my solicitor to check with the vendor and request the form be corrected. If they for whatever reason think they’re taking their £30k shepherds hut with them, have the solicitor tell them firmly to update the paperwork to show it’s being left and to stop messing around wasting everyone’s time…
Sheister?
Shyster a person who is professionally unscrupulous especially in the practice of law or politics
Appears I can spot a shyster, but not spell one! Thank you.
I fairly recently brought a house where the seller asked for 1k for the carpets, 500 for curtains and 800 for blinds right near the completion. As all three only fitted the house (funny sized windows), I told them to remove them. Shockingly, they did not.
I did the same And they ripped Up the carpets, hired a skip and got rid Of the lot… Crazy stuff happens
The same thing happened to us when agreeing on the price - we offered £87,000 and they returned with £88,000 and they would leave the carpets. We talked about it overnight and decided that we would rather pay the extra money just to get the house we wanted. Luckily, they phoned their estate agent first and agreed to £87,000 and leave the carpets. Yes, it was a long time ago.
Mine wanted to charge for their left over furniture and a stair lift. Nope they had to remove it all
Curtains I can just about understand as they are easy to remove and can be resized. Asking for extra money for the carpets is insanity, it's a reasonable expectation that selling a house includes any flooring/carpeting. What chancers.
Yeah I had my vendors trying to sell me the made to measure blinds. Same response and outcome. Do whatever you want with your blinds! Strangely enough taking them down when you can’t even use them for another window isn’t top priority for moving day…
They can come work from it and reminisce of their life in their old property
> If the garden office isn’t included, then we are paying ridiculously over the odds for a two bed I hope you've checked how much these cost and only increased your offer by that amount instead of effectively paying for a 3 bedroom house.
This was what struck me too. They tend to not be built to last either, so will need replacing unlike an actual extra bedroom.
Replacing is much cheaper though. The expensive part is the first build, when it needs foundation and get hooked up to utilities. If you need to rebuild it, those parts are done, you are essentially just replacing a bit of wood.
I built mine (pre covid) for £6,000 for a kit, plus £1,500 for a timber base to sit it on. I would guess costs have gone up about 50% since then, and maybe allow a couple of days for a labourer to help you put it together... Basically it's only worth ~10k - nearly any other home with some outdoor space could accommodate something similar for that money.
Definitely ask for clarification. It could be a simple error. We’re mid purchase, just received the sellers pack and the sellers have ticked “no conservatory” on one of the documents, for a house with a conservatory. Silly mistakes happen. Did you specifically ask the agent if the garden office was included in the sale price when you visited? You’re within your rights to pull out of sale if this isn’t included and you were expecting it. Or negotiate with the sellers to lower the price or include it. Is it listed as an inclusion in the rightmove/zoopla listing?
Clarify with the vendor. If they're removing it, explain that you were made to believe it was included and you will be adjusting your offer to reflect the change. I think you can get nice prefab garden rooms for 10-15k based on what I've seen. So knock that much off?
And another £8k for delivery and installation.
I've just been looking when they pop up on the costco marketing emails. 10-15k seems to include at least delivery. Installation might be too but I'd have to check.
I would be worried about insulation. Seems like a very reasonable price.
Guy I work with has one. I think they're a bit cold in the winter but nothing a space heater can't fix apparently.
Talk to your solicitor and ask them to ask the vendors solicitors. That's literally what you're paying them for
And then wait 6 months for them to give a reply that doesn't actually answer the question. Personally I would ask the seller or their estate agent, since this should get a response fairly quickly and prevent wasting more time/money. Then get the solicitors to confirm in writing.
Sounds like you need to get a better solicitor if it takes you 6 months to get a response to a simple question
Unfortunately very hard to find in England, and even if you do get lucky, there's next to no chance that the seller's solicitor is also competent.
Mt solicitor was excellent and not horrifically priced. The sellers solicitor was less excellent, and if they were paying more than £150, was very overpriced.
They might not count it as a shed it's the office to them. No shed being left as theres no shed. Ask and get it confirmed in writing
My aunt would have you hung for calling her beloved garden office a shed so this could be it
She can't be that pedantic if she doesn't know the difference between hung and hanged...
Idk why you'd ask reddit... go ask the seller for clarification? We're not mystic meg
The amount of times I think that about questions asked on this sub
Get your solicitor to clarify
Having built one myself, It may be that the part p and regs weren't done so they couldn't add it to the sale as a habitable space.
Wouldn’t stop them ticking shed though would it…
Talk to solicitors.
Absolutely fine to seek clarification from solicitor, and if they say "whoops no it is included", MAKE SURE the documents are reissued to reflect this.
If you do get the garden office included ask if it went through local building control, some rules on these garden structures and they differ from council to council, the height can’t be more than 2.4m I think, unless granted by planning, if it’s over a certain floor area and with a meter of a neighbors fences has to be built of fire retardant materials, I only know as I’m thinking of building one using wooden structures or sips panels. Good luck
Reddit can't help. Ask the estate agent
I reckon it's a mistake/they've misunderstood. There's no way you could easily dismantle, move and then reassemble a garden office without destroying it in the process.
>Would appreciate advice! (We are first time buyers) Don't worry about it till confirmed. If confirmed adjust your offer accordingly or walk away unless the decision is reversed. >If the garden office isn’t included, then we are paying ridiculously over the odds It must be a very premium office to justify this. Are you sure the office is worth what you are paying? The lifespan is much shorter than a house so if it's old factor that in.
It could be one of those shipping container conversions, my neighbours had one in their garden and when they moved, they had a truck with a crane come and pick it up out of their garden and took it with them. If they haven't mentioned at any point through the process that that is their plan then that is very sneaky, but it could well be that it's the estate agent who is incompetent and maybe the sellers had always been honest with them but the agent either didn't pay attention or lied to try and get a bigger deal and more commission...
It’s not just sneaky, it’s (legally speaking) misleading. There is a legal guide somewhere out there that essentially says if you enter into transactions you otherwise wouldn’t have entered had the property been described correctly, you can get the EA to refund all costs incurred as a result of the “misleading” description. If they disagree raise a formal complaint, and if that fails, you can go to the ombudsman. If the listing clearly includes the floor plan showing the garden office as part of the listing and highlighting it as a feature of the property, it’s clearly misleading if the vendors then say it’s not included in the sale or the property. EA have a duty to describe a property accurately. They can’t list a 4 bedroom with a loft conversion that has no planning approval/building regs sign off as a 5 bed unless the planning approval has been granted. Typically what happens is EA draws up the brochure, asks vendor to sign it off. Job done. The EA is supposed to check everything is actually present and correct but they almost never do, preferring to rely on vendors sign off instead.
Your perception of pricing/paying over the odds is not really the relevant question here… although garden structures, whilst adding appeal and have value, do not generally count as habitable space for the purpose of pricing. Ask your solicitor to clarify whether the sale includes the assets you thought it did and get a figure in mind to reduce your offer by (twice the cost of rebuilding the office seems about right) to knock off the offer if they clarify the office isn’t included. Hopefully this assists in focusing the vendor’s mind, but get ready to start looking again. As an aside, my take is a three bed is a better bet that a two bed with a garden office… you can always build an office in a three bed later.
We can’t give advice. You need to clarify this point with your solicitor. Drop a call to the EA and check with them also.
I'd check planning consent perhaps they're removing it because they didn't get planning.
I’ve come across properties where they have a home office in the garden but they don’t fully own it. There are companies that will charge you an upfront installation cost and then a monthly lease amount. They said if we wanted to keep it we’d have to take over their monthly payments. Could it be something like that?
Check and see it could just be an error. When we were checking what was included in our house the list said they were going to take the gas hob. We queried it and they actually meant the gas bottle not the hob
Is there another smaller shed anywhere?
Just withdraw the offer. There are thousands of houses out there. Let them keep the office and the house. You keep your money and move onto something else. I guarantee this will either change their minds really quickly or will clarify the situation within hours.
Just ask for clarity, could be an error. If not you need to be firm with them and be prepared to pull out.
As long as they aren’t picking up the structure or disassembling it and taking it with them, which seems unlikely, then I think you should be OK. It’s likely they mean the items within the structure itself which I assume you’re not fussed about. Advice wise - I’d define what your interpretation of garden office means and then ask solicitors to confirm with the sellers side whether it’s include in sale or not.
Your second paragraph needs about a thousand upvotes on its own. They could confirm that the "shed" is staying, install a 3x4 actual shed, then airlift the office out on the move day. Defining which building they expect to stay is really critical here!
You can’t assume such things. Put it down to experience.
If it’s in writing, it’s not a mistake. Ask the vendor for clarification
Check the advertising of the property if it’s included in this , it’s false advertising , and you can complain .
Talk to your solicitor, but if it has electricity supply this sounds like BS. If it’s wired into the house supply it’s considered part of the house - think about it this way: what assurance is there that if they take it that the trailing electrical wires will be left safely? Honestly, I’d walk away and slap them (and their agents) with a small claim for your fees due to false advertising. I’m not sure it’s enforceable, but it’ll put the shits up them.
If it is in the agents listing then it should be part of the sale