Seller claim after completion

pimento

Hoploz wrote: »

Could it be that your solicitor kept an amount on retention?. If this happens an amount is kept back from the sale to cover any amount outstanding when it is calculated at the end of the financial year and if all is found to be paid up then the retained amount should be returned to the seller when the accounts are all finalised.

This is what happened when I sold my ex-local authority flat. I paid a couple of hundred pounds (it was a long time ago) and it was held by my solicitor in case there was a shortfall. My council at the time were way behind (over a year) in issuing actual bills so we paid an estimated amount until they tallied up. If there was no shortfall we were to get it back. I never bothered to find out what the score was but could have had I wanted to,

silvercar

We had the same when we bought, the seller had to leave £200 with their solicitor in case the service charges for their part of the year exceeded what had been paid. When the accounts were produced there was a £20 surplus, which they would have been entitled to.

HouseBuyer77

If it turns out to be a retention, then legally you owe them the excess money. Though I thought the solicitor kept hold of rententions and dealt with disbursements?

If it was just a credit on their account with the council then I don't know what the legal position is, but I suspect it's 'tough luck, you should have cleared the account before you sold'.

Morally you may wish to give them the money back anyway. Personally what I'd do would depend upon their initial approach. Simple letter laying out the facts, with a polite request for the return of the cash, cheque by return of post (assuming I agreed with their facts). Immediate demands with threats of legal action, I might feel a little more reticent.

Guest101

At the end of the day, the only way they can successfully claim back is via the courts.


So I'd respond asking them to prove an overpayment. If it's true, ofcourse pay them back, if not then 'see you in court'

AnnieO1234

Call the solicitor who didnyour conveyancing, ask to speak to their compliance officer as you believe a mistake was made. They should be able to pull the records from their archives and go from there.

Tell the vendor that as far as you are concerned this was dealt with by your mutual solicitors; you are seeking clarification from your solicitor but you believe that everything was completed during the conveyancing process as per standard practice.

Xxx

steampowered

Check with your conveyancer, but it it is likely that your purchase was done on the basis of the law society's Standard Conditions of Sale for residential property, which you can read at https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Support-services/documents/Standard-conditions-of-sale-5th-edition/

I direct you to clause 6.3 which basically says that service charges etc. get apportioned as per the date of completion. This is normally done at completion but I suppose could happen afterwards if something was missed.

If you received a refund of the service charge which was attributable to the period before completion, I think you will be liable to pay that. What you need to do is look at your service charge statements to see if there actually was a credit which related to the period before completion or not.

TBagpuss

Have the sellers given you any proof that they did overpay? I would be asking them to provide the evidence rather than spending a lot of time and energy trying to track it down myself.

HouseBuyer77

Think about this the other way round, if there had been a deficit for a time before you lived there would you be happy to pay it?

As I understand it to you exchange contracts with a deficit on the account, then you indeed are liable for it and have to pay. This is why part of buying a leasehold includes making enquiries to determine if there is a deficit and potentially having a retention to cover one.

So I presume things looks similar the other way round (you get the benefit of the credit, even if it was from the previous owner). Though the decent thing to do may be to return the credit the law may not demand it.

HouseBuyer77

The other aspect is if it's a relatively small amount of money may be worth just paying to make the whole thing go away.