Buyer threatening legal action for defects 18months after sale

Mojisola

steampowered wrote: »

Contrary to the other posters, I think your friend should respond to this.

Certainly a response is mandatory under the court procedure rules if a formal 'letter before action' is received.

The response should be very short and along the lines of saying that your friend does not believe there is a legal case to answer as she (i) did not know about the issues (only say this if it is true) and (ii) was not under any obligation to disclose issues in any event, without going into more details. State in the email that she does not intend to engage in further correspondence regarding the matter over email.

That sounds as if she knew about the problems!

Not a good idea.

steampowered

Davesnave wrote: »

Until I had personal experience, I found it hard to get my head around the idea that odd individuals (and they usually are!) might attempt to extract money or upset others simply through bluster or lying, rather than having a genuine case to pursue.

It is worth bearing in mind that people can have wildly different opinions depending on their personal situation.

Add a bit of emotion and you can have people asking for very unreasonable things but feeling like they are totally justified.

It sounds like the buyer is under the impression that the seller is under a duty to disclose problems to the buyer. This would be correct if he was buying a car from a showroom but is not correct as he was buying a property.

Also, there is a possibility of the buyer having a valid legal claim, if when the pensioner sold the house she wrote that the roof was in a perfect condition on the enquiries form.

davidmcn

Mojisola wrote: »

That sounds as if she knew about the problems!

Not a good idea.

Best be careful how it's worded, but this is how defences are often narrated in litigation i.e. by closing off several avenues at once: "You (a) knew about this and
(b) were obliged to disclose it to me and
(c) owe me £1m"


"(a) no I didn't
(b) even I did, I didn't have a duty to tell you about it
(c) it can be fixed for £50"


(though tbh it sounds more like "email from a nutter" than "letter before action")

steampowered

Mojisola wrote: »

That sounds as if she knew about the problems!

Not a good idea.

It is an accurate statement of the legal position.

That is exactly what one would need to say in response to legal proceedings, if the buyer decides to take this further - which he may well do. People often bring hopeless cases in small claims without taking legal advice.

kingstreet

Arkell v Pressdram response...

cloo

So, imagine this buyer posted here: 'I bought this house 18 months ago and didn't have a survey or notice anything amiss and but I've found these problems, can I sue the vendor?

How convincing a case does that sound and what do you think everyone would tell him?

InterestedParty2018

The buyer should have had a survey undertaken when purchasing to avoid the situation of buying a defective property. He is now suffering as he took the risk.

Unless your friend lied at the time, there is nothing to be worried about.

Sherbertfizz

Thank you to all so much for taking the trouble to respond - I have passed on the information, which my friend has found very reassuring. Unfortunately she was so panicked by the email that she did respond before taking advice - nothing prejudicial but here's hoping that nothing further ensues.

Davesnave

steampowered wrote: »

Also, there is a possibility of the buyer having a valid legal claim, if when the pensioner sold the house she wrote that the roof was in a perfect condition on the enquiries form.

I can't imagine which of the many questions on the TA6 would cause someone to give that response. So far as I recall, it doesn't ask a home owner to describe the condition of their roof.

That's a matter for the buyer's surveyor to comment on.