how to obtain vendor's new address to sue them

Hintza

Kick up too much fuss and you might find you need to go to the expense of a new fence on boundary of the property you actually own.

POPPYOSCAR

Am I reading this correctly?


You want to sue your solicitor and take the vendor to the small claims court for not removing rubbish from land that is not even part of what you purchased?




Priceless.

missbooboo

Sorry maybe I wasn't clear.

1) The property was being sold to me with the side land as legally owned by vendor that is why I was interested in buying, after 4 months into the conveyancing process it was proved it was not..but the management company who owned the land said the vendors were responsible for the upkeep whilst they lived there (4 years)-the same rules will apply to new owners.

2)This is not just a pile of garden rubbish or good compost material, it is a combo with old furniture, carpet, barb wire, scaffolding poles, broken fence panels and other things.

3) At the very start I had instructed my sols to write it as a condition for the rubbish to be removed before completion.

4) Surely even if this land was legally owned or not by the vendor the fact is they created the mess and it was is theirs, so they should be responsible for removing it. If someone fly tipped/littered and they were reported they would be fined!

I understand I can quickly resolve this by hiring a skip and removing it myself. But my sols were unprofessional then and unhelpful now. It is the principle and terms of contract that I want the vendors to adhere to and the sols to be responsible for their basic job which I paid for.

Thanks for your advice.

missbooboo

The management company who owns the land have said the fence can remain in the current position.

Money_maker

Were you not able to check the rubbish was removed before exchange?

tomtontom

but the management company who owned the land said the vendors were responsible for the upkeep whilst they lived there (4 years)-the same rules will apply to new owners.

In what way are you responsible, is some kind of legal agreement in place? You don't just become responsible for a plot of land because somebody says so.

Poppie68

The landowners are responsible, why would you be responsible to pay to clear or maintain a plot of land someone else owns? ...If the LO want it cleared tell them to either clear it themselves or sue the vendors.

wealdroam

Poppie68 wrote: »

The landowners are responsible, why would you be responsible to pay to clear or maintain a plot of land someone else owns? ...If the LO want it cleared tell them to either clear it themselves or sue the vendors.

I don't think the landowner cares whether it is cleared or not.

It's the OP that wants it cleared.

Manxman_in_exile

I'd have thought Poppie68 is correct in so far as it is the landowners responsibility, but whether they can enforce anything against the vendors may be debateable. The OP only has the management agent's (not the owners) word for it that the vendors were responsible for the upkeep.


OP - unless you don't want to clear it yourself (which I can sort of understand) you need to go back to your solicitors for answers to two questions:


1. Is the management agent's claim that responsibility for clearing the land (that you don't own) has somehow transferred to you on conveyance? I don't see how this could have happened unless some sort of enforceable covenant is in place which your solicitors should have discovered in searches etc and should have told you about (if they found anything). It seems most unlikely and I suspect the management agents are trying it on in suggesting that any such responsibility has now transferred to you as purchaser.


2. If you clearly instructed your solicitors to include clearance of the land (that the vendors did not own) as a condition of the purchase, why did they not do so? Of course there may be very good reasons why not. Land conveyances can be very complex and may not be as straightforward as buying a new TV or washing machine. The answer may simply be that, as the vendors did not own the land in question (ie it was not part of the conveyance) there was nothing that you as purchaser could enforce against them. Any agreement about clearing the land (according to the management agents) is a matter between the landowner and vendors - nothing to do with you. But your solicitors, perhaps, should have explained this to you, if it is the case.


At he end of the day, I don't think it's the vendors problem. It's the landowners (not agents)and yours - if it's troubling you.


Personally, if it's as bad as you say, and the landowner won't clear it, complain to the council on amenity/public health (rats etc) grounds.

System

And as the vendor didn't actually own the land but was allowed to use it by the owner then it is only the owner who can take action against the vendor.

OP was aware that the vendor didn't own the land before exchange but still went ahead with the purchase so they can't even claim now that they thought the land belonged to the house so have no rights to it.

Methinks OP went ahead with the purchase on the premise that they would be able, in due time, to claim adverse possession. However having now found out that the owner was aware of its use by the vendor and gave permission then that avenue is now firmly shut. To make it worse any time the OP spends in the house would not count toward adverse possession because the owner has already given permission for them to use it.