Threatening letter from unsuccesful buyer

richardvc

maninthestreet wrote: »

If the letter sent by the second buyer has caused you alarm and distress, show it to the police to see if the think any offence may have been committed.

Whilst I understand the principles behind this and believe that they were wrong in their wording of the letter, I have to make this point.

Unfortunately, this is exactly what is wrong with society today - the OP quite happily let them proceed, let them spend their money on a survey and let them believe they were in an honest transaction to the extent that his potential buyers followed his request for a speedy conclusion to the sale.

When will people realise that 'what goes around, comes around' and if you have deceived someone that eventually it will catch up with you.

'Show it to the police to see if any offence may have been committed' - what moral tripe ??!!! The OP deceived them and has now been caught.

pimento

kmmr wrote: »

But did you cause her loss?

Not a brass farthing as far as I know.

When I received the letter, to say I was gobsmacked at her cheek would be an understatement, but, as I was time contstrained (we were moving into the area and needed a school place so needed to have exchanged contracts on a new house) I did what they wanted because the whole thing was so stressful anyway that I just wanted the problem to disappear.

I probably shouldn't have written to her at all, but I was furious. She had no shame though.

ETA: Even now, 10 years later it still makes me bristle when I think of her.

pyueck

pimento wrote: »

Not a brass farthing as far as I know.

When I received the letter, to say I was gobsmacked at her cheek would be an understatement, but, as I was time contstrained (we were moving into the area and needed a school place so needed to have exchanged contracts on a new house) I did what they wanted because the whole thing was so stressful anyway that I just wanted the problem to disappear.

I probably shouldn't have written to her at all, but I was furious. She had no shame though.

Libel is such a stupid law. Why you should get more in damages for calling somebody a name than punching them in the face is beyond me!

pimento

I actually saw her in a pizzeria a couple of years later. She saw me, I gave her the hairy eyeball, but I wasn't brave enough to confront her so kept a dignified silence. She looked a bit anxious though...

Jowo_2

Londonsu wrote: »

..

A second letter came today, they have found out that we bought our new place with cash from the sale of our flat, and even found out how much we bought it for..

I am also not sure who they got all our details, can you find this info on line or would have have only got the information from the EA, if thats the case I am going to have a hard word with them

A lot of information, such as a person's current residential address and property prices, are in the public domain and are easy to find. You may find it intimidating because of the context but its quite simple to track many people down and there are a host of tracing companies that can do it for a small fee. For a couple of quid, its easy to get hold of title deeds for a property which will indicate whether or not there is a mortgage in place.

I've used Google, 192.com, the land registry and companies house websites, for example, when I've been researching whether or not to take someone to the small claims website for breaches of contract. If you have a bit of knowledge, its fairly quick, simple and either cheap or free to uncover the types of information on you that have been found by the buyer you stiffed.

Jowo_2

amilieval wrote: »

Tell them that you are going to report them to the police for haressment (I hope you keept the letter).

Unless the letter is aggressive in tone or threatens violence, I can't see why there would be Police involvement in what they may regard as a civil matter, namely one party in a commercial transaction feels a contract wasn't honoured.

It's fairly common practice prior to taking someone to court for loss/compensation to send the future defendent a letter before action giving them the chance to settle before a case is bought. People are expected to use the small claims court as a last resort and to be able to demonstrate that they've tried to negotiate.

As it happens and as far as I know, frustrated buyers who are gazumped by greedy sellers or are victims of timewasters that withdraw from the selling process, don't have any redress unless contracts are actually exchanged. It would be up to a judge to decide if the case has any merits, should the aggrieved buyers decide to take the OP to court.

This scenario reminds me why I prefer the Scottish system of property purchase which forces both sides to commit at a much earlier stage and penalises a change of mind.

Milliewilly

keith969 wrote: »

And how would you have felt if the people you were buying from did the same to you? Sorry, but I don't have a lot of sympathy for you - if you treat people like !!!!!!, expect to get the same back.

I agree the OP has been a bit sneaky but thats the process and who on here would take the moral high ground and go with a buyer who may not even proceed to completion over someone offering to exchange there and then with a £10K higher offer?

The fact they have ramped up their costs to £5K would make me dismiss it out of hand and its OK for them to try and get the house for 10K less than it sold for but they are jealous of the fact the OP has bought his next house cash? That is none of their business.

A polite letter with a breakdown of costs would have had me writing a cheque. The letter the OP received would be filed in the bin.

Leaseholder49

Milliewilly wrote: »

I agree the OP has been a bit sneaky but thats the process and who on here would take the moral high ground and go with a buyer who may not even proceed to completion over someone offering to exchange there and then with a £10K higher offer?

I don't think there's any problem with that part of it - I think it's this element which is causing the most lack of sympathy for OP:

"We did asked the EA not to let the second buyers know until we had exchanged contracts with the first buyer incase something went wrong."

i.e. seems as though OP was deliberately stringing failed buyer along, rather than just saying 'sorry, we've accepted a better offer'.

Milliewilly

Leaseholder49 wrote: »

I don't think there's any problem with that part of it - I think it's this element which is causing the most lack of sympathy for OP:

"We did asked the EA not to let the second buyers know until we had exchanged contracts with the first buyer incase something went wrong."

i.e. seems as though OP was deliberately stringing failed buyer along, rather than just saying 'sorry, we've accepted a better offer'.

I agree its not ideal but its done now - the £5K demand and snooping into Land Registry and finding the OP's new address is worse imo - they sound like they would have been problem buyers anyway.

pyueck

Milliewilly wrote: »

I agree the OP has been a bit sneaky but thats the process and who on here would take the moral high ground and go with a buyer who may not even proceed to completion over someone offering to exchange there and then with a £10K higher offer?

The fact they have ramped up their costs to £5K would make me dismiss it out of hand and its OK for them to try and get the house for 10K less than it sold for but they are jealous of the fact the OP has bought his next house cash? That is none of their business.

A polite letter with a breakdown of costs would have had me writing a cheque. The letter the OP received would be filed in the bin.

Just so you know, the only slight claim that the unsucessful buyer may have is sueing you for damages due to fraudulant misprepresentation. I don't think they have a case, as despite your actions caused them a loss, your actions did not cause them to enter in a contract with you.