Let me clarify one of my points.

I said, "Why not do the right thing?"

There are essentially three reasons: Accidential ommission, ignorance, or
fraud. Accidental ommission and ignorance can save a layman from punitive
damages, but if the issue is raised, they'd still have to take corrective
action, or compensate the buyer. Any broker involved cannot plead ignorance
about whether something is a fixture or not. They may be able to claim
ignorance of your unilateral actions, but if they know you did something,
even if you did it out of ignorance, their duty is to say something.

There also is a very real possiblity that the buyer may never realize that
anything is wrong, or that they have a cause of action. But what if they do?
Any broker that is aware of the situation, but gambles that the buyer won't
realize what they're entitled to is acting unethically even if the buyer
never realizes something is wrong.

The right thing is so simple. Either replace the fixture before putting the
real property on the market, or exclude it from the sale. Taking either of
these paths will resolve the issue completely. What is the incentive to
knowingly not exclude a fixture you're planning on taking with you from the
sale? The only incentive to not exclude the fixture from the sale is fraud.
Accidental ommission, or ommisoin because of ignorance is not an incentive.
Fraud is the only incentive. Are a few bulbs worth committing fraud?

What I'm asking is if you know that you're going to take a fixture with you,
other than fraud, what other incentive is there to not do the right thing?

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Have an outdoor project? Get a Black & Decker power tool::
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blackanddecker/