Buyer trying to sue

Cezza123

I sold part of my garden last year. It was all done through solicitors. I sold the land with planning permission for a 2 storey 3 bed house. I received a letter from the man that bought the land a year a go asking me to pay £5000 to have electricity cables moved off his land (the land I sold to him) as he is not allowed to build on top of them. Northern Power have quoted him £5000 to have them redirected. I had no way to no that the cables where there and sold the land I’m good faith. Where do I stand legally on this??? Can anyone advise?

davidmcn

Does his letter explain why he thinks you're liable?

macman

I think his conveyancer is the person he should be suing, not you. Local searches, wayleave agreements?

Davesnave

The responsibility for finding out what utilities lie under the ground on any plot is that of the purchaser.

So, unless you made a specific declaration that there were no underground cables present, you're in the clear.

eddddy

When I've sold land, I've been asked to fill in a Seller's Property Information Form - were you?

If you were, q8.7 says:

Services crossing the property or neighbouring property

8.7 Do any drains, pipes or wires leading to any neighbour's
property cross the property?

Did you answer 'No' to that question (or any similar pre-contract question via the solicitors)?

General_Applause

If, when the cables were dug up, a hoard of roman coins was discovered, do you think this man would be rushing to give them to you?


Tell him where to get off.

parking_question_chap

General_Applause wrote: »

If, when the cables were dug up, a hoard of roman coins was discovered, do you think this man would be rushing to give them to you?

He would probably sue OP for costs of extracting them.

phill99

He'll get nowhere very quickly.

MobileSaver

eddddy wrote: »

I've been asked to fill in a Seller's Property Information Form

8.7 Do any drains, pipes or wires leading to any neighbour's property cross the property?

Interesting point however the SPIF also has two caveats:

• You should answer the questions based upon information known to you
• You are not expected to have knowledge of matters that occurred prior to your ownership of the property

Assuming the cables were not laid during the OP's ownership and that he genuinely did not know about them they are probably off the hook even if they had filled in such a form.

Cezza123

It says I failed to disclose but I didn’t know about the cables. There is no way I could have known as not mentioned on the deeds and I wasn’t asked any questions about by his solicitor before the sale.

AnotherJoe

Then just send a terse letter back stating you have no knowledge of the cables and consider this to be the end of the matter.