Being sued by buyer for failed sale.

Leonberger

I’ll try and keep this short.
We sold our house pre lockdown to an investor with nothing to sell.
We found a house to buy, spent £££ on surveys to find it was structurally unsound and pulled out due to estimates of £30k+ work. We had nothing else we liked to move too.

Then corona happened, lockdown, lost lots of my work and were worried financially and decided to stay put so pulled out. Buyers understandably !!!!!! off but we apologised and explained that we were trying to do what’s safest for us financially as everything was so uncertain.

They asked us to pay for the survey they had done. As a goodwill gesture we agreed although we didn’t receive it from the last house and just sucked it up as buying and selling houses.

Now we have received a letter billing us for their costs of £600 as we pulled out and details of their bank to transfer it too. They say we agreed this in writing when we agreed to pay the survey costs (we didn’t!)
We have received numerous letters and have been stopped in the street by them multiple times.

They say if we don’t pay they will take us to court.

Does anyone know where I stand in telling them to get lost or should I pay what they are asking (even if we don’t have it- it is a recession and we aren’t working full time as a lot of people aren’t!)
Would they have a case if it did go to court?

Thanks 

bradders1983

Did you agree in writing you would buy the house and/or cover their other costs? If not, call their bluff and let them crack on.

pimento

Had you exchanged contracts? If not, tell them to go away and stop harassing you. You weren't even under obligation to pay for their survey.

moneysavinghero

If they thought they had a case in court, they would have gone to the courts by now. They are just trying their chances. Ignore them. They would only have a case if actually had signed something promising to pay their costs  - did you sign anything at all?

Leonberger

 No we did not exchange contracts.

We agreed in writing to pay £180 for the survey as a goodwill gesture. Nothing else. They sent us a letter asking for it we did not offer it upfront however now they are asking for the full amount of costs incurred.
They say as we agreed in writing to pay the costs (of the survey) we are liable for it all and they want it transferred now.

We have paid nothing yet as were waiting for their bank details to pay for the survey and to be honest we really don’t have the money. 

Leonberger

Nothing in writing at all other than standard solicitor stuff pre sale- no contract.

princeofpounds

No they wouldn't have a case, unless there was clear agreement from you to pay these further costs. All expenses a buyer incurs prior to exchange are at their own risk.

The one issue here is whether a court could infer agreement from your actions (in refunding the costs of the survey) for refunding something more than the cost of a survey. That's something I think a court would be very reluctant to do without clear evidence that it could be linked. Can you think of any way in which you might have implicitly accepted this, even if you haven't accepted it expressly?

Your best bet is to tell them you'll see them in court then - you paid for the survey out of goodwill (NOT as compensation) and that's all you will pay. If they start to harrass you, report to police on a non-emergency number.

FWIW it was honourable of you to repay the survey costs, shame it bit you back.

moneysavinghero

Just double check that there is no small print hidden in the document you signed. Pay the £180 due and then ignore them.

princeofpounds

Sorry, cross-posted so only just seen this:

"Leonberger said:

They say as we agreed in writing to pay the costs (of the survey) we are liable for it all and they want it transferred now."

So, what are they referring to? Word for word? 

Also, no survey costs £180 - so is that a typo, or is this a dispute about the amount vs. what you said you would do?

Leonberger

The investors live near us- hence why we paid it as we didn’t want bad feeling in the street as we see them often. 

They originally sent us a letter saying how disappointed they were that we pulled out and that they had X costs and would we consider contributing to at least the survey amount.
We sent a non official letter back stating that we would as a goodwill gesture and were waiting for some money to be released to us and then we would arrange to pay it. 

They have now gone back on this and want half of the full costs- £600. I’m half tempted to tell them I’ll go back on the survey amount too since I haven’t paid it yet however I’m not sure if they will have a case as I did agree to it in the letter.

davidmcn

I would refer them to Arkell v Pressdram.