Things left in loft after completion

Nik85

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs for items I know nothing about. I never used the loft as it wasn't boarded and had no electricity. I'm very upset by this as it clearly wasn't intentional on my part but she has provided no proof of said items and with the current pandemic she won't allow me access to remove them (whatever it is) myself. I'm tempted to offer her half the requested amount as a gesture of goodwill but surely no one would pay the full amount without evidence? I think she's more fired up as she thinks I've been ignoring her messages when infact I never received them due to her not actually having my new number. Any advice?

davidmcn

Bit difficult to offer advice if none of us (apparently including you!) even knows what was in the loft. If you knew it wasn't boarded and had no electricity, surely you had looked in it at some point?

moneysavinghero

Re-iterate your willingness, as a gesture of good will, to remove the items yourself.

NinjaTune

If you didn't put the items in the loft then who did?  Have you ever looked in there since you purchased it?

I'd ask her to send photographic evidence of the items left and then arrange to dispose of them yourself.  A 'man with a van' would charge less than £600 to collect and dispose of the items.  The stuff can be left outside for contactless collection.  You may need to offer a small amount of recompense for the inconvenience, assuming you accept that the items were yours.

Seashell517

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs for items I know nothing about. I never used the loft as it wasn't boarded and had no electricity. I'm very upset by this as it clearly wasn't intentional on my part but she has provided no proof of said items and with the current pandemic she won't allow me access to remove them (whatever it is) myself. I'm tempted to offer her half the requested amount as a gesture of goodwill but surely no one would pay the full amount without evidence? I think she's more fired up as she thinks I've been ignoring her messages when infact I never received them due to her not actually having my new number. Any advice?

If the loft isn't boarded, how can there be enough stuff up there to require a skip?!

youth_leader

Sorry to read this, I've recently sold and I'd never looked in my loft either, I was too scared to go to the very top of the ladder. I would also ask for photographic evidence and arrange to have them removed at my cost.  It's such a small entry point for a loft, what an earth can it all be that she's asking for a skip?

Nik85

Honestly, I have no idea what's up there. But good point, how can it require a skip? I understand that whether or not it's  mine it shouldn't be technically be there but I myself have inherited some old tyres, bricks, toys and a bike with my new house which I wasn't planning on charging my seller for. Seems a very extreme response hence my being so upset about it. 

caprikid1

There could be some value in the items ask for a list and arrange collection.
I suspect  you could counter sue for the disposal.
How long were you at the house ? Who could they belong too ? 

macman

Nik85 said:

Honestly, I have no idea what's up there. But good point, how can it require a skip? I understand that whether or not it's  mine it shouldn't be technically be there but I myself have inherited some old tyres, bricks, toys and a bike with my new house which I wasn't planning on charging my seller for. Seems a very extreme response hence my being so upset about it. 

It's not 'technical' at all. You will have signed a contract that bound you to empty the house of all your belongings at completion, and that included your possessions in the loft, whether you knew they were there or not. The only dispute is whether £600 is excessive for clearing it. For all you know it could be rammed to the rafters with old junk. all of which has to be removed via a small hatch and ladder, carried downstairs and loaded. It could fill a skip easily, without photo evidence no-one can possibly say. Two men for a day, a skip or large van, plus tip fees if a van: that could quite easily come to £600.
I don't think it's an extreme response at all: no doubt she has a huge pile of her own junk that she wants to put up in the loft instead...

olgadapolga

youth_leader said:
 It's such a small entry point for a loft, what an earth can it all be that she's asking for a skip?

Our vendor left a load of stuff in the loft of the house we purchased, including old flat pack furniture, rolls of loft insulation, old toys, you name it, it was there. The house itself also had a load of stuff left in it, as did the garden (lots of old, rusty bikes, garden furniture, wheelbarrows, etc.). None of it of any use and none of it wanted. 

After to-ings and fro-ings between us, the solicitors and the vendor after completion, it was established that the vendor had paid someone to clear and clean the property. I would hate to see what the cleaner's house was like as this place was left in a disgusting state. They also decided to "leave things that they thought we'd like or need" including a halg-drunk bottle of alcohol in the fridge (fridge was also not wanted but we sold that for £200).  I was slightly flabbergasted by their assumptions!!

We eventually agreed that the vendor would pay for a skip and we'd clear it out. This was purely because I didn't want a third party in my house (we'd just moved from a rental and I hated the intrusive inspections, etc.). I think that they paid £200 for the skip. 

The difference here though is that I had photographic proof of all the stuff that was left here. I would definitely be requesting photos of the stuff that is allegedly in the loft of the house you sold.

AdrianC

Whether the OP had put the stuff up there themselves, or it had been left by the people before; whether the OP knew it was there, or not: Irrelevant...

The OP exchanged and completed on a contract requiring the loft to be emptied. It wasn't.

So the OP is definitely liable for the cost of clearing it. Is a skip warranted? <shrug> It's eminently foreseeable that there's enough small stuff up there to fill one...