Not if it’s a stove, dishwasher, etc. Anything that is a permanent attachment to the house.
That would be only if they are built in, like wall ovens,dishwashers,cooktops but does not apply to refrigerators or stoves that arn’t.
I don’t think that is so easy a statement to make.
What you are thinking about is that if you sell a house, the built-in appliances are ASSUMED to transfer with the house, while non-built-in appliances are assumed to go with the owner.
But you can write a contract on a house that allows the previous owner to take built-in appliances.
The question is, when the bank holds a mortgage on a house, does the bank’s implied lien include a built-in appliance, or does a homeowner have a right to take built-in appliances out of the house.
Since my bank has never asked me to inform them when I remove or replace built-in appliances, I have to think the law does not give them that right, and that a homeowner, while it is bad form, would not be in violation of the law if they took appliances out of the house prior to being evicted.
Obviously once the bank takes formal ownership of the house, this would be stealing.
I do think my mortgage has a clause about livability, so purposely trashing the house so that it is unlivable might be a violation, but I don’t know if there would be a criminal violation associated with doing so.
BTW, what we found in our neighborhood is that some houses were bought by hispanic owners who then brought in renters, trashed the houses, and then when their teaser rate mortgages expired, moved out, leaving a mess.
Those rules differ by state, you can’t generalize, but this has been going on forever.
I knew a woman who hired a team of recyclers, who came in and removed everything that they could possibly recycle, including the cabinet doors. They covered the windows with paper, while they were working inside, and locked the doors.
Before she let the house go into foreclosure, she took out a second mortgage and sequestered the money. I don’t know, but she may have bought a new house under her maiden name. The foreclosed house was under her name from her former marriage. She had expert advice, she was living with a man who was under house arrest, awaiting deportation for international fraud.