Buyer trying to sue

Thrugelmir

Cezza123 wrote: »

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.

You completed no enquiry forms? Did you employ a solicitor to act on your behalf?

Cezza123

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your replies. I will speak to my solicitor tomorrow and will keep you posted. The man has been difficult through the whole process and I just want to stop having to deal with him. He has taken a foot more of land than he should have. Part of the contract stipulates that the purchaser erect a 5 foot panelled fence for the boundary. He actually put up a 4 foot fence which isn’t panelled and has huge 6cm gaps between each panel and is now rotting as was made with untreated wood. He’s been a nightmare to deal with the whole way. The £5200 pounds he wants me to pay is to have the cables diverted from the land to my property and £1800 of that amount is to have electricity connected to his side which cannot possibly be my responsibility?!

Cezza123

Yes I did. I don’t remember that question coming up and the form wasn’t really appropriate for land sale it was asking about fixtures and fittings which have nothing to do with selling land. Anyway I will double check all this with my solicitor tomorrow.

G_M

You have 4 options.


1) write back in one sentence denying all liability. Do not ramble on trying to explain why.

2) As 1) above, but then 2nd paragraph requesting that he install a fence as per the contract (enclose a copy highlighting the relevant bit)

3) ignore totally - this may be best as any response by you just leads to a counter-response and an ongoing correspondance

4) speak to your conveyancer and get solicitor to respond. You'll probably have to pay for this.

antrobus

Hmph.

How do I find out where underground electricity cables are?
https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/internet/en/help-and-advice/need-help/how-do-I-find-out-where-underground-electricity-cables-are.html

We encourage anyone carrying out work that involves digging to request plans before hand to avoid underground electricity cables. This is vital for your safety as well as ensuring we can provide a reliable supply of electricity.

How to request plans:

Go to LinesearchbeforeUdig and register to create your account. You can then submit your free enquiry.
You will receive an instant response showing assets near you
The companies with electricity, water, gas, fiber optic etc will then send you plans of where their cables and/ or assets are near you. Please note that each company will do this in accordance with their processes.

davidmcn

Quite - even if they had asked the specific question, any sensible developer would also have made their own enquiries rather than relying on the vendor telling them it was all fine.

Cezza123

My Dad remembers the question and says he’s pretty sure I answered ‘I don’t know’. He helped me fill in the forms at the time as I am a single parent. We are going to check with the solicitor today. If that is how I answered that question then surely his solicitor should have picked up on that and carried out searches before contracts were exchanged or am I missing something here?

Sibz

Cezza123 wrote: »

My Dad remembers the question and says he’s pretty sure I answered ‘I don’t know’. He helped me fill in the forms at the time as I am a single parent. We are going to check with the solicitor today. If that is how I answered that question then surely his solicitor should have picked up on that and carried out searches before contracts were exchanged or am I missing something here?

Yes he/they should have.

I liked a previous posters suggestion that if you are replying via a solicitor that you include the demand that he sort his fence out to the details included in the sale agreement.

Davesnave

'I don't know' is a perfectly valid response to that question.

You are not expected to know, or to do the research the purchaser can easily do for themselves. By denying knowledge, you place the responsibility for checking on them.


I agree that if you respond, the inaccurately placed, non-compliant fence should be mentioned. It's a great extra point in your favour.