My parents sold their house this summer, closing in the middle of July. The buyer did a final walkthrough in July and did not indicate any issues. Almost a month later, the buyer and their agent send the sellers’ agent a few emails requesting that certain ‘fixtures’ be returned or legal action may be taken. The supposed ‘fixtures’ were mainly IKEA items (large wardrobe, (2) cabinets/armoires, 3 mirrors, and a rolling kitchen cart). My parents initially just wanted to prevent any issues and offered to return the kitchen cart along with a small sum of cash.
My father has Parkinson’s and he has lots of anxiety and did not want to stretch the issue out.
The buyer’s emails indicated that he was not after any money in the beginning. My parents did not want to return the IKEA furniture and mirrors since it was already set up in their new house, and they believe it is not considered a fixture. At that point, the buyer asked for $5,000 to be paid to prevent any further legal action. We responded and advised that we will only return the kitchen cart at that time and rescinded any cash offer. Fast forward to October, my parents receive a legal complaint seeking $20,000 in damages. I gathered all of the emails and pictures of the furniture. Just trying to find a decent attorney now before our time frame is up to answer the complaint.
The seller’s disclosure does not list any of the IKEA furniture as included.
On top of all this, my parents left them multiple other pieces of furniture such as a nice office desk, a large modern kitchen cabinet, outdoor furniture, a washer/dryer (which was listed as not included per disclosure), a nice bed frame, an exercise bike, and a large 4K TV.
There were 2 anti-tip brackets holding the largest IKEA wardrobe up, and the 2 smaller cabinets were just inserted into an opening, no screws whatsoever. The mirrors were all hung up like picture frames.
Unfortunate that this buyer had not stated anything at the time of the final walkthrough, as my parents would have just had the movers drop the furniture off to prevent any headaches. Now that the buyer is suing them for $20k, I am trying to grasp if the buyer really has any rights to any of the furniture.
I apologize if this is a little scattered and not clear. I just wanted to get this out here and possibly have some feedback before stopping by to discuss with my parents. Then going to provide all the info to the attorney we choose.