[jstubbs]

Hey everyone. My parents recently purchased a house. Process was fine and normal. Two days prior to closing date, I went with them to check out the place, house was about fully barren except a few TVs, a pool table, and some other random objects. All good, no problem. Their realtor informs them that the pool table was not written into the contract.

On day of possession, the TVs and the other stuff is gone, but the pool table is still there. It’s in the basement and is a real high end table made out solid wood with a slate top. Looks like it’s basically never been used either, none of the balls even have markings and the chalks are nearly unused. The previous owner of the house gets in contact with my parents and says she wants $3000 extra for the pool table. At this point, I assume she is essentially just trying to extort some extra cash out of my parents, because clearly they never used the table, and it would probably cost upwards of $500 to hire a mover to come move this behemoth out of the basement. And if she wanted the table so bad, she should have gotten it moved with the rest of her stuff, or been in contact with my parents about purchasing it for extra prior to the closing date.

My parents in an attempt to be reasonable say we’ll give you a $1000 for it. The PO say nope, price is firm $3k, so my parents tell her well hire a mover and get this thing out of our house ASAP. She basically says whatever have a good night.

However, I am now wondering about how closing dates work on houses for items left on the property that are not fixtures but chattels. If she clearly moved everything else but left that, on closing date the property is now my parents. Does this include everything on the property? Not looking for free legal advice but maybe just some opinions before my parents even bother to talk to a lawyer. They like the pool table but also don’t care too much. I honestly think they should just block contact with the PO. What is the worst that happens? She sues in small claims? The judge orders “ok, give her the pool table”, and no real worse for wear after.