Law, Morality, Justice & Moving House.

I'm going to try not to make this a diatribe. I will attempt to be reasoned & measured.

I got an email yesterday threatening me with legal action by my purchasers, because I had offered to sell them my wood burning stove & water softener along with various pieces of furniture which I can't take with me. I filled in the usual fixtures & fittings form way back & deliberately didn't mention those 2 items because I could have used them in two of the houses I put bids in for. In fact I'm actually moving to a different house & there's no room there.

I'm not aware of having had any advice to specifically exclude F & F's I intended to take, either verbally or in writing. I noticed that several estate agents print a disclaimer regarding F & F's, including one who acted for me & one who acts for the house I'm purchasing. I assumed it was standard practice. Apparently not, the agent who sold my house doesn't do it. Why the variation? Why isn't it standard for agents to protect their clients from exactly this problem in this simple way?

I have just received 2 documents in the post this morning. They are an inch thick in total. One is from my surveyor & one from my solicitor. They are just two in a long line of documentation which has passed through my hands during this process. I do my best to read everything properly. I don't have anyone else to share the load. So if I have missed something I'm actually not surprised.

My buyers knew before we exchanged that the wood burner & the water softener were not included in the fixtures & fittings because they came to the house to see the stuff I couldn't take. We exchanged 2 days later because I was pressured into it, although I wasn't ready to exchange on my purchase. Now 9 days after viewing the stuff I wanted to sell & 7 days after Exchange I get threatened with legal action. That really doesn't seem a very reasonable way to behave to me.

I'm waiting to hear what my legal position is. Going on what I was told by a neighbour last night I may have to let them have the two items. That may be legal, but it doesn't seem fair or just to me - But then I'm biased. It all depends on your moral compass & innate conscience. I know what mine would dictate in the circumstances.