Fixtures: What Stays and What Goes

The buyer has just asked whether the curtains are staying, and somewhere behind that question is the chandelier your grandmother left you, the shelving you built, the mounted television and the shed. Arguments about what stays and what goes are among the commonest disputes in a house sale, and almost every one of them was avoidable in a single line of the contract.

This article covers what Oklahoma's statute actually says, why the usual advice about intention is less useful than people think, the items that cause the arguments, and the one sentence that prevents all of it.

What Oklahoma actually says

Most articles on this subject describe a three-part test about attachment, adaptation and intention. Oklahoma has something more concrete, and it has been on the books since 1910.

Under title 60, section 7 of the Oklahoma Statutes, headed simply Fixtures defined, a thing is deemed to be affixed to land when it is attached to it by roots, as with trees, vines or shrubs; embedded in it, as with walls; permanently resting upon it, as with buildings; or permanently attached to what is thus permanent, as by means of cement, plaster, nails, bolts or screws.

Cement, plaster, nails, bolts or screws. Oklahoma's test is written in the language of a toolbox rather than the language of intention.

That sits inside a wider definition. Section 5 defines real property as land, that which is affixed to land, that which is incidental or appurtenant to it, and that which is immovable by law. Section 8 covers appurtenances, the things used with land for its benefit.

What that means practically: the starting presumption for anything screwed, bolted, cemented or plastered in place is that it belongs to the property rather than to you. Not the other way round.

Where that stops being the whole answer

We are not going to tell you that everything with a screw in it automatically transfers, because that is not how a real transaction works.

The statute defines when something is deemed affixed. Whether a particular item passes in a particular sale also depends on what your contract says, and on how courts have treated things like items installed by a tenant or fitted for a trade.

So the honest position is this. The statutory language gives you a strong starting point and it points in a direction most sellers do not expect. The contract is what settles it. Everything below is about using that fact rather than arguing about the law afterwards.

The items that actually cause arguments

In roughly the order we see them.

Light fittings, and the family chandelier above all. This is the classic. It is wired in, it is attached, and a buyer who viewed the house saw it there. If you intend to keep it, swap it out before the house is photographed, not after the contract is signed. That single piece of timing prevents the whole dispute.

The mounted television, and the bracket. Usually the television is yours and the bracket is screwed to the wall. Say which is which, and agree who makes good the holes.

Appliances. A built-in oven or hob behaves differently from a freestanding fridge or a washer that is merely plumbed in. Do not assume the buyer shares your view of which is which.

Window treatments. Rails and blinds are usually attached; curtains generally are not. This is a small argument that happens constantly.

Sheds and outbuildings. A shed on skids is arguably different from one on a concrete base, and section 7's language about resting upon and being attached to what is permanent is exactly where that turns. Say it in the contract.

Shelving, mirrors and cabinets you fitted yourself. Almost always screwed to something.

Outdoor items: a mounted basketball hoop, a play frame set in concrete, fencing, a mailbox, and plants. Note that the statute names roots specifically, so shrubs and trees are affixed. Digging up an established planting the week before closing is not a small matter.

Security cameras, doorbells and smart devices. Newer and increasingly common. A doorbell screwed to the frame is attached; the account behind it is not, and both need dealing with. Whoever leaves must remove their account access.

Solar equipment, which is its own subject because ownership may sit with a finance company. Our article on selling a house with solar panels covers it, and our article on a leased propane tank covers the same principle in a different form: you cannot transfer what you do not own.

The sentence that prevents all of it

Write it down, item by item, before the house is listed.

1. Walk the house and make a list of everything you intend to take that a reasonable buyer might assume is staying. Be generous about what goes on that list
2. Remove the ones that matter most before the photographs. A buyer cannot form an expectation about a chandelier they never saw
3. Name the rest explicitly in the contract, as excluded, rather than relying on a conversation
4. Name what is included too, particularly appliances, because assumptions run in both directions
5. Agree who makes good. Holes, brackets, unpainted patches behind a removed mirror
6. Do not remove anything after the contract is signed that was not named as excluded, however certain you are that it is yours

The last one is where sellers get themselves into real trouble, because by then a buyer has a signed contract describing a property they walked through.

The walkthrough, and why this surfaces late

Most fixture disputes are discovered at the final walkthrough, which is the worst possible moment: the buyer is moving, the funds are ready, and a missing light fitting becomes a hostage.

Our article on what happens at an Oklahoma closing covers where the walkthrough sits in the sequence. The point for this article is that a dispute raised at that stage costs far more than the item is worth, because the alternative to settling it is delaying a closing.

Which is the practical argument for the list: not that you are wrong to want your grandmother's chandelier, but that a sentence in the contract is a cheaper way to keep it than an argument on the day.

Where we come in

This is not a reason to sell to anybody. It is a list and a line in a contract, and it costs nothing. We are publishing it because it is one of the most common avoidable disputes in a sale and almost nobody deals with it in advance.

The only place we are genuinely relevant is the adjacent situation: an inherited or long-empty house full of belongings where the question is not which fittings stay but what to do with everything in it. Our article on selling after a hoarding cleanout and our page on selling an inherited house cover that, and we buy with contents in place.

For a normal sale: make the list, take the chandelier down early, and put it in writing.

The short version

• Under 60 O.S. 7 a thing is deemed affixed to land when attached by roots, embedded, permanently resting upon it, or permanently attached by cement, plaster, nails, bolts or screws
• So the starting presumption for anything screwed or bolted in place is that it belongs to the property, not to you
• The statute is not the whole answer. The contract is what settles it
• Trees, vines and shrubs are named specifically as affixed, so digging up plantings late is not a small matter
• The chandelier is the classic. Swap it out before the photographs
• Name exclusions and inclusions explicitly, and agree who makes good the holes
• Never remove something after the contract is signed that was not named as excluded
• Disputes surface at the walkthrough, when settling costs far more than the item