What Stays With the House When You Buy or Sell in Utah

Few things sour a closing faster than a buyer walking into the new house and finding the refrigerator gone, or a seller learning the mounted TV bracket was not theirs to take. Most of these arguments are avoidable, because Utah's Real Estate Purchase Contract lists what transfers with a home in plain language.

The short version: items attached to the house stay unless the contract excludes them, a few common appliances stay only if a box is checked, and anything a seller wants to keep has to be written down. Here is how each category works under the state form.

The Basic Rule

The contract's included-items section covers things that are presently owned by the seller and in place on the property. Two conditions hide in that phrase. A leased item, such as a rented water softener or a financed solar array the seller does not own outright, is a separate conversation. And an item has to be on the property when the offer is made, not something the seller promises to add.

From there the form sorts items into three groups.

What Stays Automatically

Unless the contract says otherwise, the sale includes:

• Mechanical systems: plumbing, heating and air conditioning fixtures and equipment, water heaters and water softeners.
• Kitchen: ovens, ranges and hoods, cooktops, microwave ovens and dishwashers.
• Lighting and fans: light fixtures and their bulbs, and ceiling fans.
• Bathrooms: bathroom fixtures and bathroom mirrors.
• Windows and doors: all window coverings, including curtains, draperies, rods, blinds and shutters, plus window and door screens, storm doors and storm windows, and awnings.
• Media: satellite dishes, installed TV mounting brackets, wall and ceiling mounted speakers, installed projectors with their brackets, and mounted projector screens.
• Floors and garage: affixed carpets, automatic garage door openers and their transmitters.
• Outside: fencing, sheds, landscaping and solar panels.

The form adds that the necessary components and dedicated controls for these items go with them. The remote for the garage door or ceiling fan stays. A phone, tablet or laptop that happens to run an app does not.

Details that surprise people

• The bracket stays, the TV does not. Installed mounting brackets are listed. Televisions are not.
• Curtains and rods stay. Sellers attached to custom draperies need to exclude them.
• Only bathroom mirrors are named. A decorative mirror hung in an entry is the seller's personal property unless the buyer asks for it.
• Light bulbs are included. Swapping out smart bulbs before closing technically requires an exclusion.
• Sheds stay, even ones that could be moved.

Smart Home Devices

The current version of the contract has a section just for home automation. All smart home devices the seller owns that are in place transfer with the house, hard-wired or not. The form names security systems, thermostat controls, home monitors, automated locks, video doorbells and automated lighting, along with their hubs and dedicated controllers.

Buyers should ask for each device to be factory reset and removed from the seller's account before closing, and for any subscription to be cancelled or transferred. A doorbell camera still tied to the previous owner's login is both useless and a privacy problem. Since inspections rarely test these systems, the final walk-through is the time to check them, as explained in why home inspections skip smart locks and entry systems.

Washers, Dryers, Refrigerators and EV Chargers

These are the items buyers most often assume are included. They are not, unless their boxes are checked. The contract lists washers, dryers, refrigerators, and electric vehicle charging stations with their equipment, plus a blank line for anything else. Checked items are conveyed for the parties' convenience with no assigned value. Unchecked items are excluded.

A listing that says "all appliances included" is advertising. The contract is what counts. If the listing promised the refrigerator, check the box anyway.

The blank "other" line is where buyers write in things such as a freestanding freezer, patio furniture, a playset, a hot tub, mounted televisions or a riding mower. Larger collections of furniture, common in vacation properties, are usually handled in a separate written agreement, and the form has a place to note that one exists.

How a Seller Keeps Something

The contract has an excluded-items line. Anything attached that the seller plans to take belongs there: a family chandelier, custom draperies, a mounted speaker system, a video doorbell, a favorite rose bush. If it is not listed and it falls under the included items, it belongs to the buyer at closing.

The cleaner approach is to remove or replace the item before the first showing. A buyer cannot want a chandelier that was never seen. Sellers preparing a home can find more in how to get a house ready to sell.

Solar Panels, Water Softeners and Other Leased Equipment

Solar panels are on the included list, but the list applies to items the seller owns. Many Utah systems are leased or financed. In that case the buyer may need to qualify to take over the agreement, or the seller may need to pay it off. Ask early for the solar contract, the monthly payment and the transfer terms, and give the documents to the lender.

The same question applies to rented water softeners, propane tanks and alarm equipment. On a related point, the current contract says a buyer does not take over the seller's personal service agreements, such as security monitoring, pest control or landscaping, unless both sides agree in writing.

Water Rights and Shares

In Utah, water can be property separate from the land. The contract states that the purchase price includes any water rights or shares that are the legal source of the property's culinary, irrigation, secondary and stock water service, and that they are transferred at closing by deed or other legal instrument. The seller provides evidence of those rights with the disclosures.

On acreage, farm ground and many properties in towns like Heber City or Hurricane, the number of shares matters as much as the house. Buyers should confirm exactly what is being transferred and that the paperwork is ready before the Due Diligence Deadline.

The Final Walk-Through

The contract gives the buyer a walk-through no earlier than seven calendar days before settlement, to confirm that the included items, smart devices and checked appliances are present and that agreed repairs were made. A practical checklist:

1. Open the garage with every remote and test the keypad.
2. Confirm the washer, dryer and refrigerator are the same ones seen during showings.
3. Check that window coverings, rods, mounts and light fixtures are still in place.
4. Test the thermostat, doorbell, locks and any security panel, and ask for codes.
5. Walk the yard for the shed, fencing and any playset or hot tub written into the contract.
6. Collect manuals, warranties and extra keys.

Skipping the walk-through does not waive the buyer's right to receive the items, but sorting out a missing appliance is far easier before closing than after. The seller is also required to hand over keys and any keyless lock codes at closing.

Common Disputes and How to Avoid Them

• The swapped appliance. A seller replaces a newer refrigerator with an old one. Write the brand or a description on the contract if it matters.
• The staging confusion. Furniture, rugs and art used to stage a home are not included.
• The playset and trampoline. Neither is on the automatic list. Ask in writing.
• Wall damage. The seller repairs moving damage but is not responsible for ordinary nail and screw holes from pictures and decorations.
• The verbal promise. Verbal side deals have no force. Use an addendum.

Both sides do well to walk through the house with the list before the offer is signed. More on the form itself is in what changed in Utah's new Real Estate Purchase Contract, and current listings across the state, from Salt Lake City to St. George, are on Best Utah Real Estate.