Can buyer sue me for taking curtain poles/curtains

IveSeenTheLight

steampowered wrote: »

Call her bluff, she is not likely to issue a small claim over £30 poles.

I would have thought curtains are a fitting rather than a fixture anyway, so wouldn't have been included in the sale.

Indeed, I think there is a cost for raising a small claims dispute.
Any legal advice would determine the value is not worth it.

I'd like to think that if they did raise a claim and the evidence should you offered to return / fit then the worst case is the judge determines that you fulfill your offer, but may determine on your side that you made reasonable efforts to resolve and determine in your favour.

I once had a claim made against me which I disputed and debated in the small claims.
Not only did the pursuer have to pay the original claim fee, but also had to recompense me for my time debating the issue.

For £30 odd pounds, it simply is not worth it for them.

cloo

Yes, I'd call her bluff, send a message saying something like 'I'm very sorry you are inconvenienced by the lack of curtains, it was a mistake made by the people who cleared the house for me. There is not really anything I can offer beyond what I have already and I think we should lay the matter to rest given then low value of the items in question and the small cost of replacing them' and hopefully she'll realise she's being daft.

saajan_12

ceminem wrote: »

She verbally communicated to the estate agent that she wanted the fridge freezer, this is not formally documented however.- irrelevant, as there is a formal document, everything should be covered there. Similarly, you wouldn't want the buyer claiming they disagree with the EA's INFORMAL rosy description of the property in the ad.

Could I offset them costs by charging fees for the time I spent helping to answer her post completion queries.- Not at all, you had no contract to charge for those answers you chose to give. Otherwise I could charge you for this reply! In fact I could split this into 17 separate posts and charge for each. £100 per response. Actually £1000 per response..

Stop trying to get into a legal argument where you have no leg to stand on.
- YES the buyer can sue you for the cost to reinstate the curtains and dispose of the fridge.
- YES they would likely be successful, plus court costs.
- Whether they will bother is another matter..

skint_chick

Offer in writing to put the curtain poles back up and replace the curtains. Then buy some cheap replacement tab top curtains from Argos - they're between £7 and £15 depending on colour/width/length and perfect for rentals. Ikea is cheaper if you have longer windows or want longer length curtains. Curtain rails are £1.50 in Ikea and £5 in Argos. If you still have the poles then problem fixed for less than £30 rather than a long drawn out mess which might end up in you having to waste a day of your life in small claims court to defend yourself. Not worth the hassle of arguing about it. Your time is more valuable than a few quid here.

The_Real_Cheddar_Bob

just don't respond any further to her personally. If the letter arrives from her solicitor then respond at that point.

RADDERS

It just shows how attitudes change, when we moved into our new house the owners had taken everything. If it could be unscrewed it had gone. Curtain poles, curtains, blinds, all the bathroom fitting plus side panel from the bath, every light bulb, wall lights leaving bare wires, television aerial, rubbish bins, every carpet that was supposed to be left they took the lot.
To add insult to injury they then left a skip load of rubbish on the drive and wouldn't give us the keys to the house until after 7pm at night. It was a bloody nightmare and when we reported it to the solicitors he said they only thing we could get sorted was the rubbish everything else it would have cost us to sue and being young and naive we believed him lol
Hated that house from the moment we got the keys, moved our furniture into the lounge and then had to move in with my parents until we could get it sorted. Sold it two years later :T

Mojisola

If she's willing to pay a solicitor to write to you, she probably won't let this drop easily.

pinkshoes

Were there photos of the curtains in the house advert?

If not, ask on Facebook for a free pair then put them up, and say you have found the old ones in the skip in the plastic bag you left them on.

If you are offering to fit curtains and poles at a time convenient to them then a court would not look favourably on their demands.

Miss_Samantha

Penitent wrote: »

Is this a generational thing?

It's more of a petty thing, I think.

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - I'm Baby Boomer generation (in my 60s) and thought didnt cross my mind of taking the curtain poles from my last house. If they'd been particularly expensive/stylish ones that I still wanted = then I would have mentioned I was taking them (so buyer didnt expect to get them).

I did take my curtains - as they werent cheap (though not expensive either) and didnt say anything either way about the curtains. I needed them for current house - as the existing ones were cheap/awful/not my taste.

So my assumption for everyone is basically
- leave the curtain poles
- take the curtains (if they're left its only because they are cheap/old/etc anyway - and one assumes the buyer will just use them for a matter of weeks before buying their own).