Leak problem after selling a house

Karatekid

I sold a house 6 months ago. The house had a side extension put on 5 years ago. Used an architect and had I got planning permission and building control certificate issued. I had a lot of building trade contacts so used different tradesmen for the work. The buyer of the house contacted me to say there is a leak in the garage were the new roof abuts the gable wall and wants to speak to the builder. Tbh he is never off the phone asking the simplest questions about the house. I told him i did not use a single builder and he will need to get a tradesman to have a look at the problem. He is now talking about contacting his solicitor! What are my options here?

MovingForwards

Ignore him, you sold the property 6 months ago.

Simby

You should cease communication with the person who bought your previous property.

He/She completed all their checks surveys etc prior to purchase ( or chose not to) and any faults issues that develop after the sale completed are their issue not yours.

Block their number and cease all communication, it is not your problem he has no redress against you.

SmashedAvacado

1. Do nothing
2. Say something sympathetic like - "well that's a shame".
3. Say "it might be better for them to contact their insurers if there was some damage. We don't have any sort of warranty from the builder - but we are happy to assign any rights we may have against the builder if you can identify the problem and demonstrate that this was a builder issue. You can then contract them at your leisure. You'll probably need an independent builder to look at this to see what the problem is and how it was caused. By all means you can follow up with the builder, but i'd rather keep out of it thanks"
4. Block him
5. Ask him to stop contacting you because its not your problem.

davidmcn

Karatekid wrote: »

He is now talking about contacting his solicitor!

Unless his solicitor moonlights as a roofer, I can't see that will help him.

Just ignore future contact rather than engaging with him.

G_M

Only one option: Ignore totally.



Even kind or sympathetic responses will just encourage further communication or, worse still, could constiture an admission of liabiliy.

shortcrust

Another vote for block him. You’re mad to have carried on communication for this long. My friends recently moved house and they’d blocked their buyer’s number by the end of the completion day following a series of silly and unreasonable moans/demands via text message.

need_an_answer

The key to this is that the problems occurred after selling the property.

OP you have been generous up to now with the purchaser but it is now time to block their number from your phone.

It is the responsibility of the purchaser to fix issues in their property not yours neither are you there as some form of "living instruction manual" for them to refer to if they need help fixing or locating things.

SmashedAvacado

I dont actually think blocking is going to help. It is clear to me that any communication is not going to constitute an admission. There are plenty of reasons why, for example, it might be helpful to remain on reasonable terms with your buyer. one could be that a letter or parcel arrives for you in error. They wont get in touch with you / pass it on if you block them.

This is not a case of admission - any communication could clearly make the point that it is for them to follow up with the builder if they want to - but beyond that i dont see the harm of engaging with them. It might be that the builder is willing to come and sort it for them. Not every builder is a cowboy.

Karatekid

There is no single builder or I probably would have given his name. I used different tradesmen at the time and I genuinely cannot even remember the roofer as it was over 5 years ago. Building control checked the build at every stage and i got the certificate issued with no issues.

shortcrust

SmashedAvacado wrote: »

I dont actually think blocking is going to help. It is clear to me that any communication is not going to constitute an admission. There are plenty of reasons why, for example, it might be helpful to remain on reasonable terms with your buyer. one could be that a letter or parcel arrives for you in error. They wont get in touch with you / pass it on if you block them.

This is not a case of admission - any communication could clearly make the point that it is for them to follow up with the builder if they want to - but beyond that i dont see the harm of engaging with them. It might be that the builder is willing to come and sort it for them. Not every builder is a cowboy.

But they’re not on reasonable terms. The buyer is a walking talking definition of unreasonable. After six months of answering queries I think the OP has done their bit. The only sensible reaction to the buyer talking about involving solicitors over a problem which is not in any way the OP’s problem is to cease contact immediately.

ETA: Alter Ego makes a good point below. Make sure you get Great Aunt Maude’s Boots voucher, then cease all contact.