Personal property not yet removed

[ladyses]

What is the name of your state? OHIO

Getting ready to close on a farm tomorrow and have a couple of questions. A couple details you might need in assessing our situation. We have been in contract to purchase this house for 2 months (plenty of time to remove personal property) and our purchase contract that is signed by both seller and buyer has 2 clauses stating:

1) Possession: Seller is entitled to possession through CLOSING. At the time the Seller delivers possession, the premises will be in the same condition as the date of acceptance of this contract, except as provided in paragraph 9 (Covers Damage or Destruction of Premises), and normal wear and tear accepted.

2) Debris and Personal Property: The Seller shall remove all debris and personal property not included in this contract by the date and time of the Buyer's possession.

We have driven by the property a few times while waiting for financing to go through and have noticed some items being removed from the property that we were under the assumption would remain with the property. (i.e. a flag pole that was dug out of the ground, some landscaping rock was removed, a green house was taken off the property) We notified our real estate agent and the realtor in turn left a voice mail for the seller to stop what he was doing. We have not done anything in writing about the situation simply because we still want the property and didn't necessarily want to do anything to ruin the deal. During conversation between realtor/seller and realtor/buyer ( not seller/buyer ) the realtor learned that there is some type of verbal agreement between the seller and an old tenant. The tenant does not live at the property any longer but still uses the out buildings and farms the back property (till March) that adjoins the property we are purchasing. Nothing about the tenant agreement is in writing that we know of and there was no mention in the Purchase contract about the agreement either.

Now we have a closing date and have noticed that farm animals have not yet been removed from the property, grain silos are still full, misc farm equipment has not yet been removed from barns and one big barn is still full of hay/straw.

So, my questions at this point are :-)

When we are handed the keys tomorrow at closing, is the personal property/animals considered ours if they haven't been removed? If not, is there a specific amount of time that any property left would become ours? Do we have to honor this agreement that we now know of ( but not in writing ) between the seller and the old tenant that we didn't agree to? If we have to honor, can we charge the old tenant rent for the use of our out buildings?

Any help would be appreciated, especially knowing that the old tenant is the one that has been removing the items from the property since it has been under contract.

[seniorjudge]

Q: When we are handed the keys tomorrow at closing, is the personal property/animals considered ours if they haven't been removed?

A: No, not unless the contract says otherwise.



Q: If not, is there a specific amount of time that any property left would become ours?

A: No.



Q: Do we have to honor this agreement that we now know of ( but not in writing ) between the seller and the old tenant that we didn't agree to?

A: No, not unless the contract says otherwise.

[ladyses]

There is a clause about Fixtures and Equipment which sounds pretty standard to me and mainly discusses items in the house. Mentions nothing about outside items with the exception of exterior plants and trees and landscaping lights and controls. Nothing was written in the area provided to include anything after the "and the following:" As well nothing was written in the area after "The following shall be excluded: (none if nothing inserted)"

If nothing was written specifically to exclude the corn, hay, equipment, animals,
coupled with the wording in the excluded clause parenthesis saying "none if nothing inserted,"
coupled with the wording of the Debris and Personal Property clause mentioned at the beginning of my post
wouldn't that be enough to change your No to a Yes?


Once we take possession, we would like to start moving in immediately since we have time off till the end of the year. Our insurance wouldn't cover the animals if something would happen after we take possession after closing. I will be bringing in my own animals. What if my dog, eats his cat? What if he doesn't move his horses until Spring? I have children who have never been around cows and horses and have no idea what the little ones will do. They could leave a gate open, be kicked by a cow, bitten, try to ride a horse....LOL.... You never know with my crew ;-) I just can't see why I should be responsible for property left and not have any say. My way, would be to get rid of the livestock immediately. Course, I don't want to do anything that is beyond my rights.

[nextwife]

Try this:

ASk for an escrow withheld from sellers proceeds, sufficient to cover 1 1/2X the cost of moving all that stuff, and have the seller sign an agreement that, if the animals are not removed by X date, you are entitled to deliver them to his address (or whatever alternate address he provides), deduct the transport costs, plus storage fees and a big whopping fine from proceeds.

[lcannister]

How close to your closing date? You sure the seller has any intention of closing on time? Have you ask your agent to query the seller concerning the items you list above?

[ladyses]

We are closing this afternoon and as far as we know the seller will show up. Discussion on items missing and noticable property still remaining has been a topic between us and our realtor. The realtor is acting on behalf of both us and the seller. Realtor has put nothing in writing and has verbally mentioned things along the way to us like, "you will probably inherit a lot of this stuff ( referring to items in barns like old potting containers, etc. Debis type items... )" The realtor figured as well that the animals would have been removed by now. I'm thinking the realtor is not pushing anything with the seller or tenant ( both local good ole' boys ) so the deal doesn't fall through....

[Gadfly]

Just being devil's advocate, I would press for a deadline to remove personal items, or they become yours.

If you're into farming, then you're that much ahead. If not, you could make some decent money selling the animals and equipment.

[lcannister]

I suspect if you did/are going to close this afternoon you will be back here before to long.