My Renters used to do this, now I have it written in the lease that a compact florescent bulb must be in each socket when they leave or they will pay $5/bulb. 

Now only a few of them take them.

OMG - this happened to a buyer of mine last year! Biy were the P.O'd!

I ran out and bought bunch and we all had a great laugh in the end

Never had that happen, Paul, but my mother died over 50 years ago so I have no idea what she would do!  LOL

Was she related to Jack Benny  ????

No never; never even heard of that move and I've had lots of tenants. Technically the seller violated the contract, as they were attached to the property. I'd say the law of abundance escaped any seller/tenant, so petty in principle.

I've had sellers in short sales and divorces steal toilets, kitchen cabinets & sinks, granite counter-tops, door handles & fixtures: plumbing & lighting. I had more one home owner steal the hard wood floors and baseboards... yep. I had a divorce couple all during a short sale that was sneaking into the house at night, stealing everything but the drywall and writing "F-you" notes back n forth to each other on the walls in marker ink. Their whole divorce was literally spelled out on every wall during due diligence meanwhile the house got emptier & emptier of all the items listed above; we finally canceled escrow.

Never had it happen. Once, the seller took the dining room chandelier after closing. It was replaced by a qulaified electrician. Buyer got what he paid for!

What?????

You did the right thing!  I've never had that happen.  One took all of the toilet paper out of the house.

Just once....with an angry short sale divorce....and we did replace them.

OMG...who the hell would even think of doing that....imagine her saying it was the principle!!!....  that woman's last principal was in high school!!!!

No sir not yet however, the day is not over. 

That's a new one!

I've never had this happen.

I had a buyer call panicked that electric wouldn't work, but found bulbs were gone-even the refrigerator bulb.

LOL, I can see my Father wanting to do that too!  Depression era folks see things differently than we do

Yes, and I made their agent tell them to come back and re-install all the light bulbs and leave them on the argument that (a) they were part of the fixture and (b) we could not perform a final walk-through and ensure that all light fixtures were operable without light bulbs. Fortunately, it only happened once.

I don't recall any of my Sellers taking light bulbs but I have heard about such things and wonder if it was a real estate urban legend.  

Love the story about your Mother.  

In property management, it happens. In home sales, not so much

I haven't had sellers/tenants take them, but I have replaced burned out ones.

No, I have never had this happen! Maybe we should all bring some bulbs to the walkthrough just in case.

Geez.

Paul, I had sellers take many things which they ended up returning.... but never light bulbs:)Endre

nope, it's covered in our disclosure.

Not my seller but in a home my buyers acquired - not all but most. It seemed kinda petty

I have never heard of this within my brokerage.

I can not recall this ever happening.

Oh, my. I'd actually be tempted. We've spent a lot of time converting our light switches to remote-controllable switches and putting in LED bulbs as we need to replace the incandescent and compact fluorescents. But then, those things would be listed minor features when we sell our homes so I don't think we'd get away with taking them with us. I'd sure miss them, though! :P

No, Paul. At least light bulbs are not too expensive to eplace!

Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, Broker, Tacoma Washington - there are some sellers who do not care! One of a recent purchase from my buyers - most bulbs were not working at walk-through.

Oh, bless her heart Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, Broker, Tacoma Washington .  No, I have not had a seller do it but on a final walk-thru with a buyer of mine we discovered that the seller had removed the bulbs when they moved out.

I've never had that happen. 

Oh my goodness ... thankfully ... No, I have not.  

Bless your sweet mom.

Bulbs?  They took fixtures and even wall and switch plates covers!   I didn't replace any of it.

I have not had any seller remove all the light bulbs but did have some REO properties that the owner stripped before they left and that included light bulbs.

No; that is just mean!

Light bulbs, switch plates & outlet covers have all been absconded with at one time or another and those are the non-distressed properties.

Take them all?! 

No, I was lucky so far. That is a bit overkill. 

That's pretty funny. Never had this issue thankfully! I brought buyers to look at a house one more time when they finally got short sale approval, and the sellers were there removing built in cabinets, wall sconces, light fixtures, and told us what else they were taking. We didn't move forward on the purchase.

No but wow cheap seller

No, never happened.  I think most people realize they need to stay.  If they did, not a whole lot I could do about it other than make a phone call.

Renters, yeah they'd lose their deposit for that.

Oh, I was going to leave a comment, then I see that you are talking about your mother.  I have nothing to say. 

No, that's a new one! Not sure if I would replace them, it was nice of you.

Yah, we've had this with sellers and specially with renters! I charge the renters though

At last short sale the seller removed every high ceiling recessed light fixture and lite bulb.

The cost of each fixture is $75 and light bulb is $16.99. Great Room has 45 missing fixtures.

I don't get the 'never used any of the bulbs' part? Yes, sad to say, my own father was trying to gut the house before closing. Even trying to take the heat sensitive dimmer switches (ya know how much these cost!!!).

I was really thinking that in the future with bulbs now costing $7 or so that we will begin having 'swap outs'.  As long as they leave something in the sockets, that's ok with me .

I will also add to my embrassment that my mother stock piled 100watt bulbs when they stopped making them. There were 100 or so in cases in the basement hide-a-way.  I thru some in my car trunk for vacants but left the rest. 

No, but I have a great idea!  

Paul,

No!  But then there are exceptions.  Glad you replaced those bulbs. A

Yes and no.

Yes

I have not had this situation.