Buyers trying to claim for new oil tank.

alumende27

and £2000? How big was the old tank? You can get a 4500 litre tank delivered for under £2000, which is considerably bigger than anyone would need for a domestic property!

Another sign they're taking the p*ss!

steampowered

In England at least, you aren't usually liable if something goes wrong with the house. Even if you know about a serious problem you aren't required to tell the buyer.

The exception would be if she filled in the property information form incorrectly.

You would need to tell people what the solicitor's letter actually says - i.e. on what basis it claims your mum has legal liability - if you want to get a clear answer.

dsdhall wrote: »

I'd be very tempted to refer them to Arkell vs Pressdram.

This would be seen as unreasonable behaviour. Not a good idea unless you want to be made liable for thousands of pounds in legal costs, which would otherwise not be claimable in small claims.

Chanes

I understand how she can be worried but once contracts are exchanged and the move has completed, it would be madness to pursue someone for that much, the legal fees would make it so.When you are buying a house it is your responsibility to do all the checks and there is always something missed, our current house had two leaks, one of which cost a few thousand in repair to a bathroom! The people we bought from could have had an idea, we found it in a short time, but we would never prove it one way or another (and the insurance paid for it) As for our first house! So many things! But we didn't get them checked and the owners said nothing or did not know. Ultimately, it was our house the minute the sale completed.

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

* Is this England or Scotland? The law is different.

Not so much the law as normal practice - Scottish contracts typically have a warranty about the services being in working condition, but with any problems needing to be intimated within 5 working days of completion (not clear when "last month" the OP is talking about).

Also, in Scotland we're less likely to have the same firm acting for both buyer and seller (which like I said above, is an unhelpful position when this sort of thing crops up) - our rules prohibit it apart from some narrow exceptions.

Tenapenny

Thanks everybody and sorry for the late reply. I had to go over to my mum's as she is really upset to calm her down and she doesn't have internet.

I have seen the exact letter. Mums solicitor has wrote to her to advise that her buyers are seeking compensation. The letter states that they have had an engineer visit who claims that mum would have known the inner skin on the tank was blown and that it had been like it for some time. There is no evidence provided in writing of this visit. The buyers had a survey done and the surveyor requested the boiler was serviced, despite mum having evidence it was only serviced recently, which she did.

I completed all mums paper work for her move, and there was no mention of the oil tank. A big thing was made of how much heating oil was in the tank and we had to put in writing how much would be left.

Her solicitor has requested that mum calls her, so I'm going to do that for her on Monday.

It's just annoying as mum followed all the paperwork to the letter, even taking her rubbish to her new house as it stated that bins must be left empty.

We did speak to her plumber and he said to do nothing as it's the surveyor who should have checked, and there's no way mum could have known the inner skin had blown. Looking into my own oil tank you can't see a thing.

Will let you know how we get on when we speak to the solicitors.

Tenapenny

Oh by the way I wasn't happy with the solicitor situation. Mum can't drive and doesn't have the internet so the whole point of her being with her solicitor was were they were local and she could just drop her paperwork in to them.she had to pay £500 up front. When her first sale fell through, her new buyers were with the same solicitors. They then moved mum to their branch 8 miles away. When I complained they said mum would loose her £500 as they had already done some work before her last sale fell through. Not to happy it's the same firm dealing with this either.

G_M

Does the soliitor usually discuss your mum's conveyancing etc with you? Unless you have POA for your mum, it'd be best if you are with your mum when you ring, in case the solicitor refuses to discuss things with you without her consent.

I don't know your mum's age or state of health, but get the impression she is elderly and/or immobile and/or mentally 'fragile' (not sure the politvally correct term!). Combined with the iaccissibility of an oil tank's inner skin, it seems highly unlikely she would have been aware of the condition of the tank.

As the buyer had a survey, she could refer the buyer to that survey report on which they relied.

Let us know what the soliciter says, but personally I would not be offering 1p, let alone £2K.

Davesnave

Tenapenny wrote: »

I have seen the exact letter. Mums solicitor has wrote to her to advise that her buyers are seeking compensation. The letter states that they have had an engineer visit who claims that mum would have known the inner skin on the tank was blown and that it had been like it for some time. There is no evidence provided in writing of this visit.

The buyers had a survey done and the surveyor requested the boiler was serviced, despite mum having evidence it was only serviced recently, which she did.

So, the buyers' surveyor, didn't spot it, but your Mum "would have known."

Really?

And while she was knowing this, because it's been like it "for some time," her delivery guy filled the tank for her without comment?

She also had the system serviced, but again, there's no record of this serious fault.

I smell something, and it's not kerosene!

Freecall

I totally agree with G_M's comments above. I can understand that the buyers are hacked off, they have just purchased their wonderful new home and the first thing they discover is that they are going to have to shell out a large sum on a new oil tank.

It is human nature to want to blame someone and I imagine, in their eyes, the previous owner is seen as the villain.

This does not make it your mother's responsibility though. I could walk out tomorrow and find my oil tank needs replacing. I would also be hacked off (I was last time it needed replacing) but because I have lived in my house for over 30 years I have no one to blame - it's just one of those things.

I am sure that as G_M says, your solicitor will refer the buyers to their surveyor.

lincroft1710

Your mum's solicitor should write back to purchaser's solicitors as follows :

"We refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v Pressdram"