Being sued by buyer for failed sale.

ivavoucher

Tell them not to worry, when the people who you were buying from recompense you, you will be passing on every penny to them.

More seriously, I would be tempted to keep things as amicable as possible without me paying them anything at all.

If they approached me I would explain:
You have been unable to recoup any of your expenses from your failed purchase so you have already lost a similar amount of money to them. (same boat)
I would go on to say that my finances have been badly effected by covid and I simply do not have any money and that as far as I am concerned the matter is now closed.

If after that conversation they approached the subject again I would tell then to ____ right off

Leonberger

Just a brief update.
We followed your advice and ignored.

This has resulted in woman knocking on our door 3-4 times since. I have not answered as 1.corona and 2. I feel like I would just get angry and upset but she is persistent!
I was tempted to just answer and say my piece but didn’t know if this was the right thing to do. 

If it happens again I think it’s a job for the police.

greatcrested

My inclination would be to continue to ignore. The fact that she'sknocking on the door rather than starting court proceedigs says it all. There will be no court proceedings.

I would keep a written record of every visit, phonecall letter etc.

You could consider a very brief, polite (and restrained!) letter requesing her to desist harrassing you and your family.

(just in case you need to escalate things to the police for harrassment complaint)

FinallyStoppedLurking

I think the police is probably a bit of an extreme measure. 

[Deleted User]

You are in the right here. The women has literally no legal case whatsoever. No exchanged contracts. Anyone can pull out for any reason without paying massive costs/losing deposit/suing. etc. 

Ignore ignore ignore is the way to go. They'll get the message eventually. 

greatcrested

FinallyStoppedLurking said:

I think the police is probably a bit of an extreme measure. 

At present, yes.

I was looking ahead at worst case scenario. Having historical evidence would at that point be useful.

Although you are right it is unlikely to come to that, it's always best to be prepared....

Thrugelmir

Let her knock.  The novelty will eventually wear off. 

GDB2222

I really don't think that ringing your doorbell, to try to speak to you, constitutes harassment. Have you sent a letter telling them not to?  Otherwise, it's a reasonable thing to do.

m0bov

I'd be reporting it to 101, you might come home to a broken window or slashed tyres.

ic

I've only scanned this thread as its long now, but I wonder in your agreement to cover the £180, were you explicit that was for goodwill, and was final? 

Whenever I've dealt with companies over greivances (car dealership, kitchen company, etc), they are always careful in the language of the letter that provides the compensation for their poor service.  Specifically they'll always state the "offer is made without prejudice", basically meaning we're giving you some money for goodwill of our relationship, but we are by no means accepting that we did anything wrong. 

I'd agree with all earlier comments that you should have no liability for their costs (though potentially whatever was in your note may have accepted some) - you should not be dealing with the buyer, and everything should be through the solicitor.