Can't sell house because neighbour started claim

NigelWagstaff

I wonder if someone could help. There are many twists and turns in this but I will give as much info as I think is needed.

My wife and I are Lasting Power of Attorney for both her parents who had to go into care April 2016.
Both houses have a garage at the end of the garden and they sit about 300mm apart. They have been there for years.
We had a dispute with the neighbour about the same time our parents went into care. He was claiming water was blowing off our garage roof onto the side of his garage causing flooding.
We disagreed and refused to entertain the claim which was ridiculous (after fully checking everything out).
His son got involved.
We still would not entertain the claim.
His Son then gave us 24 hrs to change our minds or he would report me to the Police for Assaulting his father.
I still refused.
He reported me to the Police.
Police visit which was so frightening to start with but fortunately they took my side. I suppose it helps having a recording of the Son making his threats
This was May 2016.
Later that month we got a correction notice from the Council requesting us correct the drainage on our property to prevent the nuisance.
Contacted Council and visited to defend our position.
Council inspection took place as a result. Very detailed inspection I have to say. Also discover neighbour is complaining about Asbestos in garage roof. The roof was replaced in 2011 so not a problem, Council happy on that, also received a letter conforming we no longer had any case to answer!
Neighbour went quiet. It's now the end of June 2016.

We finally moved to sell the house in Feb 2017. Sold quickly, but as conveyance process was going on we received a Letter before Claim from his insurance company's legal team.
Neighbour gets assistance from a local Councillor who contacted our buyers Conveyance solicitor making all sorts of claims that were untrue (and I can prove this easily). He also contacted neighbours legal team and passes similar comments. If that wasn't enough he contacted our estate agent telling them they can't sell the house.

Our insurance company won't help because the "seed" of the claim dates to before the insurance policy started. Previous insurer not that interested because we did not put the claim in to them in time. So we are on our own to some extent.
Took some legal advise and formulated a letter of response to the nebulous claims in the letter.
That was sent 12/5/2017. The legal firm handling the claim say he can take as long as he wants to reply to my response.

While all this has been going on the buyers were becoming desperate to purchase the house and their house was ready to sell into a chain. We formulated a plan with the buyers and the Estate Agent to rent the house to them. All rent to come off the sale price when it's been cleared up.
When they moved in the neighbour complained they were occupying the house illegally. We have set everything up correctly and legally for them to rent.

OK so the legal firm now say he is waiting for expert assessment to back up his claim. I know he has got his on roofing contractor to do this and he has not seen in his favour as did the council.

So is anyone still reading this - thank you :T

Can anyone advise here, does the neighbour have an unlimited time to obtain evidence? What can I do besides tally up all of my costs and claim back at the end (and I will even though I have been told it can be a rocky ride).

All legal options welcome please!

Nigel

Doozergirl

Why can't you sell it? Any house can be sold in any condition and I have no idea how they think a house can be occupied illegally. The neighbours sound interesting. What are they claiming for at the moment if the council have confirmed that there is no problem?

Do you have a decent solicitor? Do they agree that the house is actually unsaleable? I'm amazed that you're allowing a vexatious neighbour to dictate what you do.

My sympathies, by the way

DumbMuscle

On the original problem (regarding the water on the garage): You have a letter from the council confirming that you have no case to answer regarding this. Send it to your solicitors to pass on to the buyers (better yet, send a certified copy and keep the original, just to make sure it doesn't get lost).

On the claim of occupying the house illegally: Get a solicitor to double-check your arrangements, just to be entirely sure (if you didn't get them to draw them up in the first place).

Push the purchase through if you can - as said, there's no legal obstacle to selling the house while the claim is ongoing - though the mortgage provider could object.

Look into options regarding harassment, libel, and other actions that might be available against the neighbour or his son (or possibly the councillor - but unless you're moving out of the area that might be a pot you don't want to stir!).

The fact that your buyers are still going ahead with this means they have more patience than I would in their situation!

NigelWagstaff

Hi there. Thank you for taking an interest. We do think the neighbour does have some compulsive obsessive behaviour and possible with some mental issues. However that aside he has stalled the sale. The buyers Solicitors have advised not to purchase until the situation is resolved, or we put a Warrantee in the contract. Our solicitors are saying we should not put the warrantee in. So there is a stalemate.

The claim is to flood damage. No monetary values are presented and has formed part of my response. We have no idea what he is claiming for in value just damage to property. He has also included a claim about the roof having Asbestos, even though he knows the roof was replaced as I said.

The meeting with the Solicitor while handling the response was excellent. However we only contracted them to assist in that matter. He has seen all the evidence and thinks the neighbour is "unhinged" in some way to use his words.

We are confident he is doing this to get back at us for not paying for some repairs and modifications to his garage last year. He even had the guttering replaced on his garage, fitted a water butt, and expected us to pay for it. I just noticed I missed that bit of info at the top! The claim could have started 8 month previous as nothing has changed.

So we are at a stalemate. I just want to know what I can say or do to compel a response before a certain date if it can be done as his legal team seem to think he can sit on it for ever! That can't be right.

G_M

If your buyers are so keen on the house, why don't they just buy it?

Letting them move in as tenants seems mad:

* you're now landlords
* your mortgage?
* tax on the rent?
* al other LL responsibilities
* almost impossible now to find alternative buyers

and perhaps most important
* they'll soon find out just how obnoxious your neighbour is and decide they don't want to buy a house next door to them!

I'm not sure what the thrust of your query now is:

* how to defend whatever claim it is the insurance company is threatening (though from what you say, no actual legal claim has yet been made - just a 'Letter Before Claim which I interpret as a Letter Before Action)
or
* how to sell the property

??

NigelWagstaff

Our response included all the documentation from the council and proof the roof was fibre cement.
Be assured they are legal tenants. We have an agent, agreement, insurance, electrical compliance, etc. etc. He is just desperate!

We don't live in the same county at the parents so we are safe that way. I hear the councillor is a bit of a headline chaser and not much use. We do know he has broken the councils code of conduct which we will take care of when it has all blown over.

NigelWagstaff

G_M they know how obnoxious he is. They just tell him to "S*D off" Yes they do want to buy and we should have taken no notice of the Solicitor. . . . . or maybe we should not eh. No problem on Tax as it's our parents and they are OK on that one.

Yes it's amazing how we pit ourselves into these corners isn't it.

Doozergirl

I don't know what to say. There is no claim. I understand that this has been declared, but if there is no claim, there is nothing to defend. The council have said that there is no problem, so how can there ever be a claim when the problem doesn't exist? You could be waiting forever. In fact, you probably will be!

I'd be complaining to the council sooner and expecting an apology letter to be sent to the solicitors etc. This is not in a councillor's remit at all.

What type of warranty do they want when there is no claim? Can you leave money on retention?

I think you need another meeting with solicitor to look at moving the sale forward.

Icecannon

It's clear harassment, get the police involved.

Guest101

I don't understand why it matters. If they're happy to buy and are aware of the dispute there is no legal reason that a sale cannot proceed.

DumbMuscle

NigelWagstaff wrote: »

Hi there. Thank you for taking an interest. We do think the neighbour does have some compulsive obsessive behaviour and possible with some mental issues. However that aside he has stalled the sale. The buyers Solicitors have advised not to purchase until the situation is resolved, or we put a Warrantee in the contract. Our solicitors are saying we should not put the warrantee in. So there is a stalemate.

One of you needs to go against your solicitor's advice. Ask your solicitor what exactly a warranty would consist of, and what it would potentially put you on the hook for later (e.g. would you need to pay defence costs against a claim which was found to be invalid, or only pay out in the event of a successful claim against the new owners? Would you need to set aside money on retention to pay for this?). Once you've done that. Talk to the buyers, set out the full case, and ask whether they are happy to proceed on that basis without a warranty (or with a warranty on looser terms than their solicitor is suggesting).