This is an issue with all aspirations. I had a Sim with the mixology aspiration move into a premade house with barstools and the Sim didn't get the aspiration points. I had to buy two new barstools for the points to count. I also had this happen in the athletic career. My Sim did not get points because there was already gym equipment in the premade house I put him in. To get it to trigger, I had to move the Sim out and back into the house.
As said above, different aspiration, different issue.
I don't think it's necessarily a bug that existing stuff doesn't count but as said, please make a thread per aspiration issue.
EDIT: Locking this thread. Please report here if it's still an issue: http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-4-Bug-Reports/COLLECTION-THREAD-Aspirations-not-fulfilling/td-p/5020986/jump-to/first-unread-message
