Help - Vendor suing us after delayed completion!

TR1

The previous owners of our new home are suing us for delayed completion and compensation - but it's not our fault!

Here's the timeline of what happened and what went wrong on the day of completion;

- Our buyers solicitor tried to send the money to our solicitors account, but sent it to the wrong account

- Our solicitor then didn't have the money to send on to our vendor (end of the chain) and so nobody completed - due to our buyers' solicitor mistake

- In the meantime, the Estate Agent that our Vendor was using mistakenly gave us the keys to our new house (vendors moving up north and so had already made their way to their new property which was 7+ hours away). They had apparently got mixed up with another completion

- The Estate Agent realised their mistake at 17:30 and then gave us until 18:00 to return the keys. By that time, however, we had already moved in and the removal company had been and gone - so there was no way we could have moved out things out in that period of time.

- We were told to return the key to the EA regardless and so had to pack a stayover bag for an indefinite period of time,which we did

- We managed to get the keys back to our old house but had no furniture so had to get a hotel for the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun)

- Finally completed on Monday

Now, because of the delayed completion and for compensation, our vendors are suing suing us. I understand that we would then have to counter-sue our buyers (I think, anyway?). Has anyone experienced anything like this?:mad::undecided

Thank you!

steampowered

What is the vendor actually claiming for?

Has the vendor actually served proceedings or did you just receive a letter before action?

If your buyer breached their contract with you, and that put you in breach of your contract with the vendor, then your buyer can be liable for that.

keith969

I can understand you might want compensation from your buyers, to pay for the hotel. But what are your vendors claiming compensation for? Did they have to return?

GrumpyDil

Presumably they are suing because they were unable to complete on their onward purchase or had other out of pocket expenses. In essence they sue for their losses and you sue your purchaser for their losses and your losses such as the cost of emergency accomodation etc. The only thing is that as this was such a short delay hopefully any costs will in reality be minimal!

davidmcn

TR1 wrote: »

We were told to return the key to the EA regardless

Told by whom? Sounds like it would have been less hassle/cost for everyone if you had just stayed where you were!

stator

Yes the vendor can sue you for their losses. You will have to sue your buyer for the losses. He will have to sue his solicitor for his losses.
Or hopefully, after everyone has quantified their loses, the solicitors will settle the matter out of court.

societys_child

- Our buyers solicitor tried to send the money to our solicitors account, but sent it to the wrong account

You claim from your buyers, who should pass the liability to their solicitor.

Has your solicitor not advised you?

Fosterdog

societys_child wrote: »

You claim from your buyers, who should pass the liability to their solicitor.

Has your solicitor not advised you?

Unless it was OPs solicitor who provided the incorrect details for the transfer in which case it would be OPs solicitor who is liable and not their buyers.

TBagpuss

stator wrote: »

Yes the vendor can sue you for their losses. You will have to sue your buyer for the losses. He will have to sue his solicitor for his losses.
Or hopefully, after everyone has quantified their loses, the solicitors will settle the matter out of court.

This. Each of you only gets to claim against the person they have a contract with, so your vendor can't directly claim against your buyer, they can only claim against you, and you then include anything you pay them, as a loss which you claim from your buyer, together with you own personal losses such as the hotel costs.

G_M

You laim your losses from your buyers.

Your losses of course will include anything you have to pay out to your seller, as well as direct losses you suffered.

societys_child

Fosterdog wrote: »

Unless it was OPs solicitor who provided the incorrect details for the transfer in which case it would be OPs solicitor who is liable and not their buyers.

Possibly, the buyers solicitor would then need to pass it over the OPs solicitor. Either way, that's why the op needs to have a chat with their sol.