What are chattels in a New Zealand property sale?

Chattels are the movable items sold with the property, listed in a schedule on the sale and purchase agreement. Typical entries are the stove, dishwasher, rangehood, fixed floor coverings, curtains, blinds, light fittings, heat pumps, the burglar alarm and the garage door opener with its remotes. If an item is listed it goes with the house; if it is not, the seller keeps it.

Do chattels have to be working at settlement?

Yes. The seller warrants that included chattels, and the systems and devices delivering services to the property, will be in reasonable working order at settlement, allowing for fair wear and tear since the agreement was signed. Something that breaks between signing and settlement is the seller's to repair, and this is the most common settlement-day dispute.

What is the difference between a fixture and a chattel?

A fixture is attached to the property and passes with it automatically. A chattel is movable and passes only if it is listed in the schedule. The boundary can be unclear for things like garden sheds, so the practical answer is to list or exclude explicitly rather than rely on the distinction.

What happens if a listed chattel is missing at the pre-settlement inspection?

It usually becomes a holdback: the parties' lawyers agree an amount to retain from the settlement funds until the item is replaced or repaired, and settlement proceeds. It is resolvable, but it lands on the busiest day of the transaction and typically concerns an item worth far less than the trouble it causes.

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Chattels: What Stays With the House

Step 12 of 14 in the pathway Selling your home

Previous: The sale and purchase agreement · Next: Settlement day, seller's side

General information, not legal advice. Selling a property in New Zealand turns on the exact wording of the documents you sign, and this guide describes how the process generally works rather than what your agreement says. Have a property lawyer read any agency agreement and any sale and purchase agreement before you sign it, not after. That review costs far less than either document going wrong. If you have a problem with a licensed agent, the Real Estate Authority runs a free complaints process, and settled.govt.nz is its independent consumer guidance.

📦 The List That Becomes a Contract

Every New Zealand sale and purchase agreement contains a schedule of chattels: the movable items that are sold with the property. It looks like an afterthought on the front page and it is one of the most litigated parts of a residential sale, because it is the point where two people's assumptions about what a house includes are written down and become binding.

                Key point: If it is listed, it goes with the house and it must be there and working at settlement. If it is not listed, it is yours to take. The dispute is almost never about the law; it is about an item somebody assumed was covered.
            

The usual list

Stove or oven and cooktop, rangehood, dishwasher.
Fixed floor coverings, curtains, blinds and light fittings.
Heat pumps, and other fixed heating.
Burglar alarm, smoke alarms.
Garage door opener and its remotes, television aerial or satellite dish.

Put a value on what is included with the chattels schedule value calculator.

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⚙ The Working Order Warranty

This is the clause that turns the list into an obligation. The seller warrants that at settlement the chattels included in the sale, and the systems and devices that deliver services to the property, will be delivered in reasonable working order, allowing for fair wear and tear since the agreement was signed.

The agreement is signed and the condition at that moment is the benchmark

You continue to live in the property and use everything normally

Anything that breaks in the meantime is yours to repair before settlement

The buyer checks at the pre-settlement inspection

                Fair wear and tear is not the same as broken: A carpet that is a few months more worn is fair wear and tear. An oven element that stopped working three weeks before settlement is not, and it is the seller's to fix. This is the single most common settlement-day dispute in New Zealand residential conveyancing.
            

The practical consequence: if something fails between signing and settlement, tell your lawyer and get it repaired. Saying nothing and hoping the buyer does not test the dishwasher is how a smooth sale becomes a holdback on settlement day.

🔍 Fixtures, Chattels and the Grey Zone

In general a fixture is attached to the property and passes with it automatically, while a chattel is movable and passes only if listed. The reason this matters is that the boundary is not always obvious, and the grey zone is where arguments live.

Item	Usually	Note
Built-in wardrobe	Fixture	Attached and passes with the property
Free-standing wardrobe	Chattel	Only included if listed
Heat pump	Listed chattel	Always list it, do not assume
Curtains and blinds	Listed chattel	A classic source of dispute
Garden shed	Depends	Fixed on piles or a slab is usually a fixture; a lightweight kitset may not be
Pot plants and garden ornaments	Chattel	Not included unless listed
Clothesline, letterbox	Usually fixture	Fixed in place, but list them if in doubt

                The cure is a longer list, not a better argument: Anything you intend to take should be excluded explicitly, and anything the buyer expects should be listed explicitly. It costs nothing to add a line and it removes an entire category of dispute.
            

Things sellers intend to take and buyers assume stay

A dishwasher or washing machine that is plumbed in but was always yours.
Feature light fittings, particularly if replaced by something plainer.
Established pot plants, statuary and specimen plants.
Anything the marketing photographs showed.

That last one is worth emphasising: if a photograph in your own campaign showed the item, a buyer will reasonably expect it, and removing it becomes a conversation you did not need to have.

📝 Getting the Schedule Right

The schedule is filled in when the agreement is prepared, which for an agency sale means the agent drafts it and for a private sale means your lawyer does. Either way it is the seller who knows what is actually there, so it is the seller who has to check it.

Walk each room and list what is fixed, plumbed or wired in.
Note quantities where they matter: how many remotes, how many keys, how many heat pump units.
Specify by description where confusion is possible, for example which of two ovens.
Cross out anything you intend to remove, before the agreement is signed rather than after.
If an item is broken and you are selling it as is, say so in writing in the agreement.

                Selling something as is requires saying so: The working order warranty can be modified by agreement, but only in the agreement. If the spa pool has not worked for two years, record that in writing rather than relying on a conversation at an open home.
            

✅ Settlement Day, Chattels Side

The buyer inspects before settlement and the chattels are one of the two things they are checking. If something listed is missing or not working, it becomes a settlement issue, usually resolved by a holdback: an agreed sum retained from the settlement funds until the item is repaired or replaced.

Buyer inspects and identifies a missing or broken listed chattel

Lawyers negotiate an amount to hold back from settlement

Settlement proceeds so nobody is left homeless over an oven

The holdback is released once the issue is resolved

                Holdbacks are avoidable and expensive in goodwill: They arrive on the busiest day of the transaction, they involve four parties, and they usually concern an item worth a fraction of the fees generated by arguing about it. Checking the schedule at signing and repairing what fails is far cheaper.
            

See the settlement day for sellers guide for the rest of the day, and the pre-settlement inspection defects calculator for costing an issue.

🎯 Test Your Knowledge

Quiz on Chattels: What Stays With the House in NZ (10 Questions)

1. An item listed in the chattels schedule:

Is optional

Goes with the house

Belongs to the agent

Is valued by the council

2. An item not listed in the schedule is:

Included anyway

The seller's to take

Decided at settlement

Split between the parties

3. The working order warranty means chattels must be:

Brand new at settlement

In reasonable working order, fair wear and tear allowed

Replaced every sale

Inspected by the council

4. If a listed heat pump fails a week before settlement, it is:

The buyer's problem

Fair wear and tear

The seller's to repair

Ignored

5. The difference between a fixture and a chattel is generally:

Age

Whether it is attached to the property

Value

Colour

6. Curtains and blinds are:

Always fixtures

Never included

A commonly listed chattel and a common dispute

Owned by the council

7. If your marketing photographs showed an item you intend to take, you should:

Take it quietly

Exclude it explicitly in the agreement

Leave it behind

Charge extra

8. Selling a broken item as is requires:

Nothing

A verbal mention at the open home

Recording it in the agreement

Council approval

9. A holdback at settlement is:

A penalty

An amount retained until an issue is fixed

A deposit

Agent commission

10. The cheapest way to avoid chattel disputes is:

A shorter list

A longer, explicit list at signing

Arguing at settlement

Removing everything

Related guides

The sale and purchase agreement, the contract the schedule sits in.
Settlement day for sellers, where chattel issues surface.
Conditional offers, the other conditions in the agreement.

Official New Zealand sources

The rules described on this page come from these bodies. Each link goes to the page used, and each was checked on 15 August 2026.

Settled.govt.nz, understanding the sale and purchase agreement, chattels, warranties and what the agreement covers.
Settled.govt.nz, planning for settlement day when selling, the seller's obligations at settlement.

This guide explains how the rules work. It is not legal advice about your own sale, and a property lawyer should review any agreement before you sign it.