Meaning of chattel for safe purposes

Press, 1 November 1978, Page 20

Meaning of chattel for safe purposes

What do you mean by the word chattel when you are selling or buying a home? According to the dictionary, a chattel is a movable possession. The solicitor refers to it as a thing which is not a fixture and which should not be included in the sale of a house unless specifically mentioned in the agreement for sale and purchase. A different approach to the subject is made by the real estate agent. He usually asks the vendor to name the items he is prepared to leave for the buyer. Vendors and buyers as a whole have widely different ideas without any definite rules. This, per-

haps, is understandable because one’s ideas about the subject will depend to a large extent on whether you are selling or buying. This is where the real estate agent’s art of diplomacy comes in. The agent finds that some vendors will insist on taking more things than others and that often certain things will be “thrown in.”

Frequently blinds and curtains are surrendered by the vendor because, once removed, they may be difficult to use elsewhere. However, the vendor sometimes expects payment for them as chattels.

Similarly, wall-to-wall carpets are generally left undisturbed but some vendors insist on taking them up. Light shades are usuallv taken, particularly

if they are of the more expensive type.

The governing factor in what should remain and what should be removed is often the ease of mobility. More than 60 years ago. when the Real Estate Institute was first formed, there was little choice about leaving the old coal range and the wash-house copper and tubs, they were fixtures in the very real sense. Does the vendor now leave the electric range and the fully automatic washing machine — or any washing machine?

LOOKING AT REAL ESTATE.

By the Real Estate Institute

Because most of our electric appliances are merely plugged in it would be logical for the outgoing owner to insist on taking the refrigerator, dee p-freeze, washing machine and clothes drier

unless built in or built around to make them difficult to remove. Some vendors have been known to take things such as book cases that are screwed to floors or walls. Chattels left in the house as well as built-in effects, are not a loss to the vendor because they remain as assets in helping to raise the value of the property. It is not uncommon for vendors to feel that they have something *up their sleeves when it comes to final bargaining and chattels may be used in this process.

It is important that chattels sold to the buyer should be recorded in writing on the sale and purchase agreement form.