Buyer seeking compensation after completion.

Section62

saajan_12 said:

Basically, sounds like you were in the wrong by completing late per the contract, and so would be liable for damages. The issue is really what ludicrous things they have come up with for damages. At best there's £2-300 of vaguely legitimate causes of action, but if they go with the other guff to a court, they'd probably be laughed out for the lot. Comments in line..

DrFrankFurter said:

£200 due to wasted time spent waiting for keys and removal men to arrive between 13:00 and 23:00 on Friday 7th. (10 hours x 2 people x £10 per hour). - If that's backed up by what their removal men charged for the extra wait time, then that sounds okay. YEP

AIUI the buyer wasn't moving in until the day after - the reference to "removal men" is to the OP's own removers (the second trip) and the buyer had to wait for them to arrive and load.

I agree if the buyer's removal people were sitting around waiting then their additional charges could be a valid claim, but that doesn't appear to be what happened here.

pretamang

another vote for ignore completely.

thanks for sharing, most of these 'claims' are ridiculous & laughable

p00hsticks

tooldle said:

For clarity then, what time did completion happen?
Is it correct that completion happened with a good deal of your possessions still inside the house?
You'd left by that stage and asked the new owner to be available to let an extra set of removal people into their property, in order to remove the rest of your possessions?
The second removal attempt took circa 4 hours, after which the new owner locked the property and left?
Is this the correct sequence of events?
If so, I'd laugh at the claim from the purchaser, but I would consider my position i.e. you did not give vacant possession on completion and the buyer was inconvenienced by having to accommodate your removal men and wait for them to leave, so as to secure their home. A small gesture would be appropriate in my opinion, given they did accommodate your request. 

I typed a very similar response to the one above earlier and then inadvertently deleted it as I went to post. Although the buyers claims are laughable, it does sound as if you did fail to give full vacant possession with all your belongings out of the house at the agreed completion time and the buyer did have to let your removal men in and then presumably remain until they had finished the second lot of packing so they could secure the house again. In your shoes I think i would have sent them a card and some sort of small token of appreciation (e.g. flowers, chocolate, bottle of wine) for having done that, but having now received a letter like that I can understand why you are not feeling grateful to them!

Flugelhorn

oh dear - it all sounds awful. the buyers are having a laugh and best ignored. appreciate you are unlikely to move that distance again but TBH I would have packed and moved the day before completion as then everything is sorted and you can be on the IoW ready to move into the new place

lookstraightahead

I'm really confused by this. Were your things still in the house after completion? Where were you when the removal people turned up? 

RM_2013

I’m sorry you’ve had this letter out of the blue.  I don’t know where you stand from a legal point of view and you could  ask your solicitor for advice.

From your buyers point of view yes they were messed around and it must have been frustrating but she’s gone completely over the top with this letter. 

Claiming for costs they “might” have incurred and laundry costs etc.  she’s chancing her arm in my opinion and that’s a polite way to describe her behaviour.

when you move house you expect stress, graft in moving your stuff in, getting dirty you expect delays and inconvenience and there will always be niggling issues such a lightbulbs not working etc.
shame some people are so entitled and unreasonable.

hooe you have settled into your new home in the IOW 

housebuyer143

diego_94 said:

She can go Whistle, she's not due anything. 

But I do sympathize with the sellers about not everything going in one van. It was your responsibility to make sure that the removal company were fully prepared for the amount of stuff you were due to move. You should of insisted they should of come round for a visit to assess things and make sure the van was the right size. Asking for a van that would fit 3 bedrooms is no good, again your responsibility to make sure this was all correct and in hand.

Sound like you were a bit tight and chose a cheap firm. A good reputable firm would not of taken on the move without visiting your home first.

In their defence, I had a company come around and quote and the van they sent on the day was only enough for half my stuff, no idea why they thought it was all going in the one. They had to make two trips to get it all out. 
Can't really blame the OP, there is only so much they can do.

Bonniepurple

housebuyer143 said:

diego_94 said:

She can go Whistle, she's not due anything. 

But I do sympathize with the sellers about not everything going in one van. It was your responsibility to make sure that the removal company were fully prepared for the amount of stuff you were due to move. You should of insisted they should of come round for a visit to assess things and make sure the van was the right size. Asking for a van that would fit 3 bedrooms is no good, again your responsibility to make sure this was all correct and in hand.

Sound like you were a bit tight and chose a cheap firm. A good reputable firm would not of taken on the move without visiting your home first.

In their defence, I had a company come around and quote and the van they sent on the day was only enough for half my stuff, no idea why they thought it was all going in the one. They had to make two trips to get it all out. 
Can't really blame the OP, there is only so much they can do.

We had this last year.  Thanks to the Stamp Duty holiday ending, it was extremely hard to get removals.  The ones we ended up with looked good on paper, but were dire in practice.  They sent one van and it seemed to be the workers wanted to pull one over the manager (the guy who quoted) and wanted the overtime.  I’m disabled and I ended up running rings round them.  In the end our then next door neighbour got home from work, took one look and opened her car boot up for us.

I really should have complained but a) I was too exhausted and b) they had our address.  

OP, were your buyers FTB by any chance?  Regardless, I would draft (but don’t send!) a letter with the costs broken down as follows:
For packing the house up - £5000
For leaving toilet rolls and light bulbs - £15000 
For leaving the lawn - £1.50 per blade of grass 
etc etc

People are just weird.

Bendy_House

Hi Dr Frank.

Please separate, in your mind, 99% of the content of your first post from the relevant bits.

The important bits, I think, are: "She wasn't even moving in until the day after and we were gone in time. The estate agency told us the buyer was moving in on Saturday so we needed to be gone by Friday, which we were", and "In answer to questions, yes our items were gone on completion day."

If that is the case, then they simply do not have one.

Like others, I question whether this letter actually came from a 'solicitor', for two reasons. One, even the most scumbaggy of scumbag solicitors would surely still retain the marginal shred of dignity to not write such utter ludicrous carp. And, two, the letter concludes, "...if they don't get a response within 7 days she will seek further legal advice." What? A solicitor is going to seek more legal advice?! Wow, they are clearly as incompetent as they are scumbaggy.

Unlike some advice proffered so far, I would suggest you do reply, so as not to run the slight risk of you 'losing' by default. Ie, even if their 'case' is nonsense, if you are told you need to respond by X date, and you do not do so, then you are in a much weaker position. I suspect, tho', that this ain't a legitimate letter in any case, so only reply if the letter is clearly from a legitimate solicitor. If in doubt, phone them up and ask if they sent it - if they say 'yes', then laugh your head off, tell them you look forward to replying, and put the phone down. If the letter is clearly from the buyer, then - yes - simply ignore it. Or, 'return to sender'.

The reply - to a 'legit' solicitor - should be as short and succinct as possible. No emotive stuff, no long explanations, no stories. Cut to the chase. I'd suggest something like, "All our items - apart from some garden pots and flowers your client verbally requested they retain - were removed on the date of completion". That's it.

Even if this is technically not 100% accurate, there is no way on this planet that they can make a legitimate claim, as they wouldn't be able to evidence it.

If you wished to - tho' I wouldn't in the first instance - you could add the name of the removals company "should they wish to discuss any delays on the day".

Do NOT get sucked in to any discussion or argument. Just repeat that mantra. It'll drive them nuts! AND cost them each time their 'solicitor' sends you another letter.

NameUnavailable

DrFrankFurter said:

Thank you all so much for your responses. In answer to questions, yes our items were gone on completion day. We didn't ask her to help with any of the removals, the firm promised us they would do this. Nothing has been left at the property. If there was anything left all she had to do was ask us to arrange for it to be taken which we happily would have. The letter is from her solicitor and it says if they don't get a response within 7 days she will seek further legal advice. I feel better after these responses, thank you! 

I think it has gone like this - your buyer has said to the solicitor that they want to go after you for compensation. Solicitors have said 'yes we can look at the case and advise further, minimum fee £500' they have asked if anything else is possible, solicitors have said 'you can draft a letter and we will send it on your behalf for £30' and that's what has happened.

Why would a solicitor say that their client will seek further legal advice? Surely they have already given that advice and the claims are based on said advice!

You mention a broken light but haven't said if this was broken when they viewed the property or broken sometime after the offer was accepted and you moving out - if so they would potentially have a basis of a claim for the damaged light.

I would either ignore or send a reply via your solicitor saying that you will be giving the matter your consideration, and leave it at that. No further reply. Or, if the light is down to you, offer £100 full and final settlement.