Buyer wants compensation!

theartfullodger

Tell buyer you have made a charity donation of woteva £££££ as compo. Obviously donate that (can reduce your tax!)

TBagpuss

Respond today that the house was ij the same condition on completion as on exchange and that the washing machine and taps  were working on the day of completion as they were used on that date. State that you have already offered to collect the BBQ and any other items left in error 
If she were tp try to take it further, I believe that if she were to sue she would have to show she had taken reasonable steps to mitigate any losses, so it would be hard for her to claim for the cost of removing those items where you had offered to do so. 

In the unlikely  even that that she does try to pursue it further, then in any defense, state that the items were working on completion and that she first raised the issues 2 weeks later, so it would appear that any faults developed fter she moved in. 

Thrugelmir

Don't engage. Ignore. 

NameUnavailable

A property must be left clear of any belongings or rubbish unless otherwise agreed, so respond to state that you will arrange for collection of the loft items/toys/BBQ and suggest that the vendor leaves them outside the house at an agreed date/time to be collected (covid compliant procedure).

Ignore the rest.

Tiglet2

Your solicitor will only forward you the invoice as he has been asked to by the buyer's solicitor.  It doesn't mean you have to agree it.  In fact, as TBagpuss has said above, just state that the property was in the same condition at completion as it was at exchange.  Seriously, the transaction as far as conveyancing goes is the transfer of property from one party to another, the solicitor doesn't really get involved with whether the water pressure is low or not.  That's for the buyer to investigate with inspection viewings and surveys.  If they did not inspect the taps or pay for a full structural survey then that's down to them.  Once you have responded to the solicitor as above, don't engage with it any further.

greatcrested

Do NOT respond. All you will achieve, whatever you say, is to prompt a further demand or complaint.

Do not let this develope into an ongoing exchange of correspondance.

Ignore completely since

a) the claims are absurd and not worthy of response and

b) ultimatey the only thing the buyer can do is sue, which will

i) cost them money and

ii) result in a failed claim against you adding your legal costs to i) above

iii) be contrary to the advice of any solicitor they seek advice or help from

ARS14

NinjaTune said:

You shouldn't have "shrugged off" the stuff in the loft, you should have removed it.  If she found toys under furniture then I doubt you are "OCD clean" as you obviously haven't hoovered under the furniture.  Rubbish should have been disposed of, not left but I think lots of people do that if collection day is close to completion date.  I was lucky that we completed on bin day so I didn't have that dilemma.

With regards to the other stuff, if she didn't complain until a couple of weeks later about the water tap not working then either she's telling porkies or hadn't washed in all that time.  Same goes for the washing machine as presumably she didn't use it for a couple of weeks.  Not a lot you can do about low water pressure if that's par for the course in your area.  You've offered to collect the BBQ so that's been resolved.

Personally the only thing I'd consider paying for is removal of the rubbish and items you left behind.  I'd make sure I wasn't also paying for removal of stuff from her renovations.

I can assure you that I swept and cleaned under the sofa. However, as I took my son with me when I cleaned the property (lockdown rules don't allow me to leave him with anyone whilst I do it) he took some small toy cars with him to keep him occupied whilst I was cleaning, it was probably one of them she found).

The rubbish was left in the bin in the communal area where bins are left, there was enough room in the bin for her to put some of her waste in and bin collection day was the week after completion so she hardly had to wait ages as a single person I doubt she created enough waste in that short space of time, especially if she's using the appropriate recycling bins. Also any walks past the waste bins, so neighbours could have disposed of their rubbish in the bin too, as they new the house was vacant.

Completion day was on bin day for one of the recycling bins and I had put that out for collection so it was empty for her. Had it been refuse bin week, the same would have applied. 

ARS14

Slinky said:

Sounds like a first time buyer that a previous landlord will have been cheering to see the back of..........

First time buyer who's lived with her parents all her life. 

eve824

Our buyer did this - he was a nightmare throughout. He even tried to claim the cost of a brand new replacement oven off us saying the 10 year old one we left behind needed replacing as it was dirty!! In the end took us to court for £2k and when we got a solicitor to write a defence saying his claim was a nonsense claim (solicitors own words) he closed the claim. Idiot. Must have been short of money / overstretched himself and thought he could bully/scare us into paying for some of his post completion purchases. Just ignore OP.

NameUnavailable

eve824 said:

Our buyer did this - he was a nightmare throughout. He even tried to claim the cost of a brand new replacement oven off us saying the 10 year old one we left behind needed replacing as it was dirty!! In the end took us to court for £2k and when we got a solicitor to write a defence saying his claim was a nonsense claim (solicitors own words) he closed the claim. Idiot. Must have been short of money / overstretched himself and thought he could bully/scare us into paying for some of his post completion purchases. Just ignore OP.

I think some people assume they have the same consumer rights as when they buy a new TV and it goes on the blink or pair of shoes that fall apart after a week.