Claim on missives *Scotland

bennybutton

We have just sold a house. Our buyer is claiming a broken window - that when the window is opened it hangs off loosely from the hinge. It is a bathroom window.  We thought it only opened along the lower border instead of the side.  The buyer opened it along the side and it hangs loosely.  It closes ok.  If as it is being claimed it is broken we were not aware of this prior to moving out.  It was also one of the windows that the home surveyor tested randomly when doing home report albeit they also only opened it along the lower border (and there is no specific mention of this in the home report)

Would this be a valid claim on missives? Our solicitor doesn't think so but she's asked for our reply and forwarded on to the buyers solicitor.

user1977

"Doesn't think so" sounds a bit odd, surely she knows whether or not it would be a valid claim?

I can't see how it would be, unless you had agreed to something unusual in the contract. There's no warranty in the standard conditions about windows.

What exactly does this "claim" say? 

bennybutton

Thank you for taking time to reply

Nothing specifically that we agreed. The contract followed the Scottish standard clauses and I can't see anything about windows.  There is a disclaimer that the seller has to keep the property in same condition between point if sale and conclusion however if this is indeed broken it wouldn't have happened between sale and conclusion because we weren't even aware it was broken.

We got forwarded the email from the paralegal of the buyer who just said that the buyer is claiming a broken window and to treat this as a claim under the missives.


We got forwarded the user1977 said:

"Doesn't think so" sounds a bit odd, surely she knows whether or not it would be a valid claim?

I can't see how it would be, unless you had agreed to something unusual in the contract. There's no warranty in the standard conditions about windows.

What exactly does this "claim" say? 

user1977

Suggested reply "under which clause of the missives please?"

sheramber

Does your missive say anything about claims
.
Mine said no amount under £300 would be considered. I think the amount is now £400 minimum. 

How recently was the date of entry?

Any claim needs to be within 5 working days from entry.

bennybutton

sheramber said:

Does your missive say anything about claims
.
Mine said no amount under £300 would be considered. I think the amount is now £400 minimum. 

How recently was the date of entry?

Any claim needs to be within 5 working days from entry.

Thank you. The claim was within 5 days of entry and you are right there is £400 minimum 

user1977

bennybutton said:

sheramber said:

Does your missive say anything about claims
.
Mine said no amount under £300 would be considered. I think the amount is now £400 minimum. 

How recently was the date of entry?

Any claim needs to be within 5 working days from entry.

Thank you. The claim was within 5 days of entry and you are right there is £400 minimum 

And none of that is relevant if it isn't a valid claim in the first place. There is often a hurry to make sure there's no argument the solicitors didn't make the intimation in time, without really checking anything else.

bennybutton

user1977 said:

bennybutton said:

sheramber said:

Does your missive say anything about claims
.
Mine said no amount under £300 would be considered. I think the amount is now £400 minimum. 

How recently was the date of entry?

Any claim needs to be within 5 working days from entry.

Thank you. The claim was within 5 days of entry and you are right there is £400 minimum 

And none of that is relevant if it isn't a valid claim in the first place. There is often a hurry to make sure there's no argument the solicitors didn't make the intimation in time, without really checking anything else.

Thank you, I find that reassuring. Fingers crossed it doesn't come to anything more.

Brie

Having used these sorts of windows at various hotels I often have the problem that it works fine one way (i.e. from the bottom) but not from other ways (from the side).  So is it simply a case of the buyer not knowing properly how to use a window that opens in 2 ways?  I've had ones that seem to be only on one hinge until I close it completely and then carefully open it in the side way.

BonaDea

Is it a sash window?  I had a property in Scotland once with sash windows that you could hook to the side and then open sideways, to clean the glass on the outward faces as well as the inward faces.   Is that what your buyer has done?  If that's the case it's not broken.

user1977

BonaDea said:

Is it a sash window?  I had a property in Scotland once with sash windows that you could hook to the side and then open sideways, to clean the glass on the outward faces as well as the inward faces.   Is that what your buyer has done?  If that's the case it's not broken.

It sounds more like a UPVC tilt-and-turn window (quarter turn to tilt from the base, half turn to hinge from the side). Probably just needs some adjustments to make the hinges work properly, not a big deal - but it's the buyers' problem.