Dear Lee,

Collectors who are homeowners should understand some rules that can be important when houses are sold. Our information comes from experience as experts in lawsuits involving sales of houses. Who owns the antique light fixtures, hardware, birdbath, etc.? Buyers and sellers alike should think about these problems because your real estate agent will probably not know the special needs of collectors.

An apartment dweller bought an 18th-century carved marble mantel to improve an existing fireplace. She learned that anything attached to the wall had to stay when she moved. So she had the expensive mantel mounted on a board and hung it with hooks. When she left, it was like any painting—she just removed it from the wall. Antique and vintage chandeliers, door hardware, faucets and towel bars, and even window valances and wooden trim can be removed and replaced before you sell the house if you want to keep them or sell them. Built-in antique corner cupboards and even doors and stained glass windows should also be replaced, if valuable.

We helped clear out an apartment after the renter died and noticed the gold-plated 1950s bathroom fixtures. Workmen were tearing out cabinets to modernize the room and said we could take all of the hardware. We took cabinet knobs, faucets, etc., for the heirs.

We were experts in a case where the antique fixtures belonged to the seller, the other fixtures to the buyer. The buyer sued after the seller took some valuable chandeliers that were not 100 years old, so not legally “antique.” Make it clear to the real estate agent and the buyer what is not included in the sale before you sign a sales agreement.

We bought some old Zuber wallpaper years ago. When we hung the scene, a view of Niagara Falls, we put a liner on the wall, then a liner on the paper, and advised our family to cut the paper off the wall before the house is sold. Chances are the new owner would want to redecorate and cover it up.

A birdbath is easy to remove before a sale, but some large fountains or statues may not be. Discuss who will own them before the sale is completed. Even plants in the garden belong to the house and thus the new owner. Think ahead and transplant any special plants you may want. I dug peonies for my house from my mother’s garden 50 years ago. She had planted and replanted them 50 years before that. It’s a variety not seen today, and I give roots for new plants as a special gift to gardening friends.