Previous owners take things from property after close (garage, sellers, home)

[arwenmark]

Originally Posted by phonelady61

well my sister bought a house and the previous owners tried to enter the house again , only they did not know the big bad german shepherd dog was in the house and he bit the woman and they tried to sue my sister and she told them go ahead and I guess they found out they did not have a legal leg to stand on . It seems they entered the house illegally and therefore it was breaking and entering . im glad all this worked out for you OP . you just reminded me of that incident .

I remember reading about cases where would be theives have hurt themselves breaking into places and successfully sued the owners for damages. I never did understand how that was possible.

[xray731]

The original owners came back and removed items that were junk that the OP didn't want anyway. Now there is nothing left for the original owners to take.

Let it go - you're making a big stink over nothing. Be grateful you don't have to lug the stiff to the street on garbage day or have to pay someone to take it to the dump.

This me, me, me - you're in my space has gone too far.

[oneslip]

There's the right way of doing things and the wrong way of doing things, that's all I'm saying.

[xray731]

Many people don't subscribe to the me, me policies that many want to hold us to today. Here they think they're doing the right thing - cleaning out all the garbage from the backyard so the OP doesn't have to do it and they get crucified for it.

Everyone today is ready to jump down everybody else's throat these days for not following the current protocol. We're talking about a backyard - not going into the house and removing anything. Waste people's time calling their realtor - then calling the other realtor who then has to call the former owners for an incident that happened once and offended the OP and will never happen again as the previous owners have moved on. People make drama these days just to have things to complain about. Try thinking about the positive instead of the negative and being leery of everyone's intentions.

[Schmooky]

Originally Posted by Silverfall

So I have had sellers leave items behind because they ran out of time that they intended to come back and remove. It was discussed with the buyer that they would be back the next day to get them. Personally, I think it is creepy that you weren't aware they were coming back. They did the right thing and removed their stuff, but they went about it disrespectfully by not discussing it with you.

I'm with Mike that a simple note from your buyer agent to the listing agent that says, "Please thank the sellers for removing their stuff from the property. I want to confirm that they have everything out since I'm living in the house now. I just want to know if they need to come back on the property for anything. Just have them call me if they forgot something."

That’s a very classy way to handle it

[LieslMet]

Originally Posted by xray731

Many people don't subscribe to the me, me policies that many want to hold us to today. Here they think they're doing the right thing - cleaning out all the garbage from the backyard so the OP doesn't have to do it and they get crucified for it.

Everyone today is ready to jump down everybody else's throat these days for not following the current protocol. We're talking about a backyard - not going into the house and removing anything. Waste people's time calling their realtor - then calling the other realtor who then has to call the former owners for an incident that happened once and offended the OP and will never happen again as the previous owners have moved on. People make drama these days just to have things to complain about. Try thinking about the positive instead of the negative and being leery of everyone's intentions.

I wanted our agent to get as worked up as we were, after closing on our first house and then finding an ENORMOUS amount of several massive Newfoundlands' dog $hi+ ALL OVER the yard. Yeah, we'd gone through the house... but didn't think to check the yard, as there wasn't any at all during any of the showings.

First day at the new house... three small children running around their new yard... slipping and falling into just an unspeakable amount of dog $hi+.

Agents all said there was nothing to do. I wanted those nasty sellers to come back and pick up every last turd. Nope. I swear to God, they hadn't picked up a single one since our offer was accepted.

Let it go, OP.

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by oneslip

There's the right way of doing things and the wrong way of doing things, that's all I'm saying.

As someone else asked, how do you know the previous owners are responsible??

[petsandgardens]

Originally Posted by LieslMet

I wanted our agent to get as worked up as we were, after closing on our first house and then finding an ENORMOUS amount of several massive Newfoundlands' dog $hi+ ALL OVER the yard. Yeah, we'd gone through the house... but didn't think to check the yard, as there wasn't any at all during any of the showings.

First day at the new house... three small children running around their new yard... slipping and falling into just an unspeakable amount of dog $hi+.

Agents all said there was nothing to do. I wanted those nasty sellers to come back and pick up every last turd. Nope. I swear to God, they hadn't picked up a single one since our offer was accepted.

Let it go, OP.

Now this is something I never would have thought about. Actually, very good to consider on inspection but even in a contract. Never ever had this happen but I really don't want there to be a first time even as much of an animal lover as I am.

[headingtoDenver]

I'm not sure in the OPs case, but curtain rods and curtains can be very expensive and if you have a lot of windows, this could equal a decent chunk of change. As for the stuff in the back yard, what the sellers did would be considered theft. Of course, you might turn a blind eye since you didn't want the stuff anyways.

[20yrsinBranson]

Originally Posted by oneslip

I finally closed on a house purchase and couldn't be happier although even though things have been very amicable with the sellers I have experienced something strange in a my opinion. I closed on the house a days ago and in the backyard behind the privacy fence were a few items the seller left behind, that I did not want & would end up disposing anyway but when I was in the back yard today I noticed the items were now gone. I feel that is pretty gutsy of the previous owners to come onto the property & take items as technically those items are now my property.


I feel I was pretty forgiving on the closing because during my final walk through the sellers had removed the curtains and rods (hardware), mounted speakers and attempted to take another item but on that item I put my foot down but to come back after the close and take property seems like theft to me.
I could have been a real stickler on the curtains etc since it was written in the contract those items were part of the sale but this latest is now pissing me off. Very glad I had the locks changed to the house & security system armed otherwise who knows. What's interesting to me is this is a very nice neighborhood were you wouldn't think folks would be so petty.

The items you mention are not considered real property. Unless they were specifically listed on the sales contract as "staying", the previous owner has every right to take them because they are personal property. Your Realtor(r) should have explained this to you.