Previous owner asking to buy back property!

Ditzy_Mitzy

robatwork said:

I have no idea when the perfectly serviceable "pouffe" became footstool. I'd suggest referring to this thread as the "pouffe in the loft" or "buried pouffe" for reference.

Surely it ought to be 'one of our pouffes is missing' or even 'Pouffe 54, where are you?'  

lincroft1710

elsien said:

I do remember one occasion on here when someone was advised to use Arkell vs Pressdram and did so in a formal response because they took the advice at face value hadn't first looked it up to check what it was.
People really should do their own checking but I do feel those offering A vs  P advice should also be careful about how they do so. 

Using A vs P says to the other party you will not be intimidated by their nonsense. It should only be used where it is blatantly obvious (as in this case) that the other party is trying it on and there is absolutely no merit in the claim.. 

Tiglet2

If the previous owner insisted that his solicitor write to your solicitor, it was probably just out of courtesy to his client that the solicitor did so.  I'd ignore it, as I'm sure the solicitors would if they could.  They've done their bit by passing on the mad client's concerns, but they probably don't think it's anything worse than seller's remorse.

TripleH

You could dig up the time capsule and return it saying you didn't want to be accused of stealing it....

I wouldn't worry, keep the letter and any other correspondence including details of them arranging to collect items.

The arguement is that they had time to query then also what evidence do 'they' have that 'you' took it? It could have been lost in moving or they could have binned it themselves or it could be in the room with my missing faberge eggs.

HampshireH

TripleH said:

You could dig up the time capsule and return it saying you didn't want to be accused of stealing it....

I wouldn't worry, keep the letter and any other correspondence including details of them arranging to collect items.

The arguement is that they had time to query then also what evidence do 'they' have that 'you' took it? It could have been lost in moving or they could have binned it themselves or it could be in the room with my missing faberge eggs.

Time capsule was removed by neighbour / sister next door and reburied in her garden

amexblue

Any update on this one at all? This was really bizarre.

Abbafan1972

amexblue said:

Any update on this one at all? This was really bizarre.

Yes, the OP posted an update on page 27, 1st post. 

amexblue

Abbafan1972 said:

amexblue said:

Any update on this one at all? This was really bizarre.

Yes, the OP posted an update on page 27, 1st post. 

I mean since then.

TBagpuss

JuanBallOfWimbledon said:

Hi everyone, sorry I’ve not updated in a while, I had no idea people had been commenting until I saw the post had made its way to the first page again. I hadn’t been checking as, in all honesty, I knew it would be a long post, and I’m just exhausted with it all

So, sister came back and she appears very lovely and normal. She popped over the day after she returned to say hi. While neither of us mentioned the specifics of what happened, she clearly knew and basically said ‘ignore my sister, she’s a bit loopy (her word)’. She explained that her parents bought this house in the early 50’s, sister was born in the front bedroom and has never lived anywhere else her whole life. She got married and came back to this house with her new husband, raised her kids here, nursed their mum in her final days here etc. She said they’re a bit of an eccentric family, and often get suddenly fixated on an idea, totally obsess over it and then just as quickly they fall out of love with it. She expects this is what happened with the house in the country, it was a very sudden decision and they obsessed over how quickly they could do the conveyancing and move (which I believe as they were constantly pestering us about how quickly we could exchange and complete). She thinks they’re now regretting it massively, however she also thinks they’ll get over this wanting to ‘come home’ phase before long too. I’m hoping she’s right. We didn’t get into talking about it, just nodded and made sympathetic noises, just in case we’re later accused of gossiping. 

Anyway, all was quiet after that for around 2 weeks. We then received contact from their solicitor, via ours. They claim ‘valuable’ belongings are missing from the stuff we sent back. 7 ornaments, an antique footstool and some antique lace tablecloths. When I initially made contact re the belongings they left behind, I wrote a list of what was there and sent photos. None of these things appear in either. They are adamant and are threatening legal action. I know we don’t have this stuff, and I’m fairly sure, if it is indeed missing, they’ll find it at some point amongst their masses of stuff. The house when we viewed was absolutely packed to the rafters with stuff. Ornaments, fabric, furniture, boxes, millions of books, all sorts of boxed gadgets, more fabric… I think that’s why they struggled to sell, it was overwhelming just viewing the place. I don’t know how they could possibly a) notice these things are missing, b) immediately assume we have them, and c) how they’ve managed to unpack and check it all already. As I said, they didn’t even realise they’d left mountains of stuff behind until I told them. We’ve left it with the solicitor, so we’ll see what comes from that. I’m honestly drained from it all and my wife is in a real state over it, she’s especially concerned as we both have jobs that require clean records - I’m trying to stay more rational. 

Oh, and the time capsule was indeed in our flowerbed/border. The sister kindly dug it back up and buried it in her garden. 

I hope things have gone quiet, however, if you wife is still worrying, then dhe needn't. Based on what you have said the police would not be interested - there's nothing close to enough evidence to allow them to even consoder a charge (they would have to be able to say tat that way a reasonable changce of obtaning a conveiction, and that requires being able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you took the stuff (AND there would be the added hurdle of showing that you did so dishonestly, which given that they abandoned it and you went to the trouble of boxing up and listing their junk for them, would be pretty hard)

What you may want to consider doing however is speaking to the local police yourlseves, explain what's been happening, raise that you are concncered that this is bordering on harassment and ask them to make a note of what's beien going on so that there is a record of it if things excalate and you need to proceed with an injunction or taking harassment act proceedings.