Jess Battison
A pair of first-time buyers faced a bit of horror when the former owners of their new home took the skirting boards with them.
Elise Wassell, 22, and George Larder, 23, moved into their place with their now eight-month-old daughter on 5 June.
Buying your first home is supposed to be a big, exciting thing – a dream come true for many. But it was a nightmare for the couple as they couldn’t believe the audacity of the sellers.
Although, their ordeal has left many TikTok users divided as some think the taking of the skirting boards is ‘extreme’ but others say they were ‘theirs to take.’
Advert
Elise says they had viewed the house ‘three times’ before buying it, ‘so it’s not like we’d just bought it from a photo.’
But when they turned up after getting the keys, they were left asking ‘what the hell?’ as it became clear the skirting boards from downstairs had been ripped out.
“It wasn't ever communicated,” the claims advisor explained.
"I just laughed because I was like, 'surely not.' I was like, 'is this a normal thing? Do people take skirting boards?' Do you know when you're just so confused?
Advert
"And then I was like, 'were they even there?' But they definitely were.
"It was the day we moved in, and the worst thing was it was really bad weather as well. It was all rainy and you know when you're like, 'this has really tipped me over the edge.’”
Elise was even more confused when they discovered half of one had been left in the kitchen: “If you needed to take them all, why didn’t you take them all?”
She explained ‘everything was disgusting’ as the place got really dusty without the skirting boards.
Advert
"The baby is on the floor crawling, we needed them,” the mum added.
"It's still annoying when I think back to it because I met them in person, they were so nice. They knew we had a daughter and things like that."
As her solicitor went back and forth with the seller’s, the seller refused to comment or reimburse the couple.
Co-op Legal Services explains the way to work out if something is a fixture or fitting is by imagining the place being tipped upside down to see what falls out.
That would suggest the skirting boards wouldn’t fall out but it seems to remain a grey area.
Advert
Elise and George were left without skirting boards for six weeks until a family friend fitted some new ones for £300.
While the mum would hope to be reimbursed, she’s not confident she’ll see the money.
A TikTok video about the ordeal racked up over one million views as she added: “I think it's quite normal to leave them but a lot of people were saying that it's very normal to take them. I was like, 'wow, you're a horrible person then."
One user commented: "The amount of people saying it's cool to take the skirting boards are off their nut. Clearly you would leave them."
Advert
While another said: "Skirting boards are literally so cheap and usually filthy in old houses. Just replace them and move on."
And a third added: "I mean, if they are skirting boards they paid for with their own money then they absolutely have every single right to take them?"