Do we get to keep the fridge?
By Caroline Lynch Pieroni
The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
Is it attached, or is it not attached? For home-buyers and sellers deciding what stays in a house, that is the question.
And the answer's not always black and white.
Traditionally, anything considered a fixture, or "an irremovable part of the real property," according to Black's Law Dictionary, stays in a home when it's bought.
An item usually is considered a fixture if it is attached and removing it would cause damage, says Lee Harris, general counsel for the Kentucky Real Estate Commission. The classic example, she says, is a mirror that hangs on a hook can be taken by the seller, but one that is attached — say, glued to a wall — must stay.
But not all situations are that simple, making the fixture debate one that mediators and attorneys deal with regularly.
Real estate professionals gave these gray-area examples:
There often are no clear-cut answers to such questions, says Richard Hornung, a Louisville, Ky., real estate attorney who deals with such issues as a mediator.
"What you think is a fixture, someone else may not," he says.
Another mediator, attorney Jason Vaughn, agrees. "Two minds on separate sides of a contract can assume the wrong thing."
Vaughn and Hornung have both seen the effects of disagreements over high-value fixtures, from failed closings to mediation and even lawsuits. A few simple steps can avoid such problems, they say.
"What you want to do, when you walk through a house, is write down anything you might have a question about," Vaughn says. Then the buyer should put anything he or she wants to remain in the contract.
If there are questions about what's attached and what isn't, ask, Vaughn says. And err on the side of being too specific in the contract.
Realtor Kathy McGann says some faulty assumptions come about from advertisements, where certain items are mentioned with the property.
"But then the buyer negotiates a lower sales price and the buyer assumes everything is going to remain, but it doesn't. The only thing that's conveyed is what's listed in the contract," McGann says. Even if the listing price doesn't change, items listed in advertisements and promotions don't necessarily stay.
Hornung and others recommend talking through whether the following items will stay: window treatments, appliances, lighting, fireplace tools, security systems and anything in the yard.
A buyer also should consider what items he or she wants removed.
Hornung says unwanted items left on a property can be a hassle to get rid of. These can include wood piles or debris, old refrigerators, extra paint cans, or anything else that can't easily be thrown away.
