You toured a house in Fishers, loved the steel fridge, and now you're writing an offer. In Indiana, appliances that just plug in are sure to stay with the house only when the purchase agreement names them, going by the Indiana Realtors' own form. Built-in ones are a different story. We found no Indiana statute that lists which appliances stay.
It stings to move in and find a bare spot where the fridge stood. The fix is dull but simple: name each machine in the agreement before anyone signs.
Two things decide what stays, and they aren't the same kind of thing. One is law, an old court test for what counts as part of a house. The other is custom, the purchase agreement form that Indiana's Realtors wrote for their own use.
We explain both here. For your own sale, your real-estate agent or a lawyer decides.
Find your situation:
- A fridge, washer or dryer that just plugs in: the printed list on the agents' 2020 form doesn't name it. It goes in the blank.
- Built-in kitchen equipment: it's on the 2020 form's printed list, but the form doesn't say what counts.
- A water softener: it's on the 2020 form's printed list.
- A rented or leased machine: the form's list leaves out leased items.
- The listing said the appliances stay: the 2020 form says the agreement decides, not the listing.
- The seller wants to keep something that's attached: the form has a line for what's left out.
- You're buying or selling with your own contract: the agents' form doesn't bind you. Ask a lawyer.
Do appliances stay when selling a house?
A fridge, washer or dryer that just plugs in is sure to stay only when the purchase agreement names it. Built-in ones are a different story. There are two layers under that answer, and it helps to keep them apart.
What the law says
We found no Indiana statute that says which appliances go with a house. What Indiana has is a court-made test for a "fixture", a thing so tied to a building that it counts as part of it. An Indiana appeals court set the test out in Dinsmore v. Lake Elec. Co. in 1999.
The test asks three things:
- Is it attached? The court looks at how the thing is fixed to the building.
- Is it fitted to that spot? The court asks if it suits the use of the part of the building it sits in.
- Was it meant to stay for good? The court asks what the person who put it in had in mind.
The third one rules. And when it isn't clear what that person meant, the court says to treat the thing as personal property, which means it belongs to its owner and not to the house.
Read the exact wording
"In order to determine whether a particular article has become so identified with real property as to become a fixture, Indiana uses a three part test which considers: 1) actual or constructive annexation of the article to the realty, 2) adaptation to the use or purpose of that part of the realty with which it is connected, and 3) the intention of the party making the annexation to make the article a permanent accession to the freehold. … It is the third part of the test which is controlling. If there is doubt as to intent, the property should be regarded as personal."
From Dinsmore v. Lake Elec. Co., 719 N.E.2d 1282 (Ind. Ct. App. 1999), on a free case mirror
The Indiana Supreme Court said much the same in 1940, in Citizens Bank v. Mergenthaler Linotype Co. For a thing to turn into a fixture, the plan to make it a lasting part of the building has to show clearly.
Read the exact wording
"The third test is made the controlling criterion by the great weight of authority, and is considered the chief test. For a chattel to be converted into a fixture the intention to make it a permanent accession must affirmatively appear."
From Citizens Bank v. Mergenthaler Linotype Co., 216 Ind. 573 (Ind. 1940), on a free case mirror
Here's the catch. Both cases were fights over business equipment. The one Indiana appeals case we found on a fridge in a home sale is from 1944. In Peed v. Bennett, the sellers of a duplex had put a stove and a fridge in the upstairs apartment. The contract and the deed never named them. The trial court found they were fixtures, so they went to the buyers, and the appeals court let that stand. So the law gives you a test, not a list, and a machine nobody wrote down can still end up in a fight.
Read the exact wording
"In applying these tests as between vendor and purchaser of land the primary consideration is that of the intention. … In our opinion there was sufficient evidence from which the trial court could reasonably draw all inferences necessary to establish the identity as fixtures of the two articles involved in the controversy."
From Peed v. Bennett, 114 Ind. App. 412 (Ind. Ct. App. 1944), on a free case mirror
What the agents' purchase agreement form says
This part is contract, not law. The contract we could read is one form: the Purchase Agreement, Form #02, from the Indiana Association of Realtors. It's the agents' own form, made for the group's members, and it binds only the people who sign it.
We read the 2020 edition, on a copy of a finished agreement that a third party posted. The form you sign may be a newer edition, so read its list of what's included.
The 2020 form does three things:
- It has a printed list. The sale takes in permanent improvements and attached fixtures, unless they're leased or left out. The list names built-in kitchen equipment, the water softener, ceiling fans, garage door openers and more.
- It has two blanks. One comes after the words "AND THE FOLLOWING:" for added items. The other comes after "EXCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:" for things the seller keeps.
- It says the agreement wins. What's in or out is set by the agreement, not by the seller's disclosure form or the listing.
"The terms of this Agreement will determine what items are included/excluded, not the Seller's Disclosure Form, multiple listing service or other promotional materials."
Indiana Association of Realtors Purchase Agreement, Form #02, 2020 edition. The form is for members only, so there is no public copy to link.
The third point matters. On the revision we read (R8 / 7-25), Indiana's seller disclosure form has a row for each appliance, with a column marked "Not Applicable / Rented". A mark on that form tells you about the machine's condition. It doesn't put the machine in the sale, and our guide on whether a seller has to disclose a broken appliance covers what it does do.
Do washer and dryer stay with house?
Under the agents' 2020 form, not unless the agreement names them. Its printed list has no washer and no dryer on it. So a washer and dryer are sure to be in the sale only when someone writes them into the blank.
Don't count on the court test here. The one case we found was about a stove and a fridge, not a washer or dryer, and when the intent isn't clear the test leans toward personal property. Don't bet a laundry pair on it.
If you're the buyer, ask your agent to list the washer and the dryer one by one. If you're the seller and plan to take them, say so early, and ask your agent where that goes on the form.
Do you have to leave a stove when you sell a house?
No Indiana statute we found makes you leave a stove. The purchase agreement decides. If the one you signed lists the stove as part of the sale, then it's part of the deal you made.
Under the agents' 2020 form it's less clear than for a washer. The printed list has "built-in kitchen equipment" on it, but the form never says what that means.
So treat the stove like the fridge. Have it written into the agreement by name, and nobody has to guess.
What to settle before you sign
A few minutes with your agent now can save a fight at the walk-through. These are things to ask about, and your agent or lawyer picks the wording.
- Every machine by name: the fridge, the range, the dishwasher, the microwave, the washer and the dryer.
- Extras: a garage fridge or a chest freezer in the basement.
- Anything rented: the form's list leaves out leased items, so ask who owns the water softener.
- Anything the seller is taking: it goes on the line for what's left out.
Staying isn't the same as working. An Indiana home inspector doesn't have to test the appliances, so see do home inspectors check appliances in Indiana.
And if a machine that stays turns out to need work, here's how repair calls from this site work.