Seven Kings Man and Van Service

Half the arguments at the end of a house sale are about objects that were screwed to a wall. A mirror, a set of shelves, a wall-mounted television bracket, a curtain pole, a light fitting, an integrated appliance: each one feels personal and each one may legally have become part of the property. In IG3, where a long run of interwar terraces and semis changes hands steadily, this is the category that produces the phone call the day after completion.

The line between fixture and contents

In broad terms, anything attached to the building is a fixture and passes with it unless it was specifically excluded, while anything free standing is a chattel and goes with the seller unless it was specifically included. The contract has a form listing what is included, excluded or offered separately, and that form — not custom or assumption — is what settles it. It is completed early in the transaction and forgotten by the time the van is booked.

What people take that they should not

Fitted shelving, a hall mirror screwed to the wall, an outside tap, a shed on a base, a fitted blind, a hard-wired doorbell and the kitchen's integrated oven or hob all sit on the fixtures side of the line unless the form says otherwise. Taking them after exchange is a breach that ends in a deduction or a claim, and the crew loading the van is in no position to judge which is which.

What people leave that they meant to take

The opposite mistake is just as common, and it happens in the cupboard under the stairs, the meter cupboard, the loft hatch and the top of the airing cupboard. Anything in a space that is not visited during packing gets left, and it is genuinely difficult to retrieve once the keys have gone. A walk round with the lights on, looking specifically at spaces rather than objects, is the remedy.

Making good after something is unscrewed

Where an item is legitimately being taken, the hole it leaves is the seller's to deal with. Plugging and filling a few screw holes is straightforward. A wire is not: removing a wall light or a hard-wired appliance and leaving a live cable hanging out of a wall is both dangerous and outside what a moving crew will touch. Electrical work of that kind sits under building regulations and needs an electrician, whose certificate is also the thing a buyer's surveyor will ask for.

What the crew will and will not disconnect

Unplugging an appliance, taking a bed frame apart, lifting a door off its hinges and removing a free-standing item are all part of the work. Disconnecting a gas appliance, altering plumbing or breaking into an electrical circuit are not, and no responsible operator will let a driver do them. A washing machine can be uncoupled from its hoses with the valve closed; a gas cooker needs a registered engineer and a short appointment booked separately.

Agreeing it in writing first

A short list, exchanged between the parties before moving day, naming every item being taken that is attached to anything, resolves this entirely. It costs one email. Where the move itself is larger than a van and a driver, removals across Seven Kings and nearby areas covers a full property, including the dismantling that a fixtures list tends to generate. Arguments about fixtures are identical a district west, where local man and van across Redbridge applies.

On the day itself

Have the fixtures form to hand, the tools for anything being taken down, filler for the holes, and an agreed time for the keys. Cleaning after the van has gone is separate work, handled under cleaning services for homes in Seven Kings, and the marks left where furniture has stood for fifteen years are usually a job for local specialists rather than a mop. What a crew will and will not disconnect is part of the service description on Fantastic Services.