New neighbours

[Plannergirl9]

Sorry this is a long one. TLDR: Essentially we were gifted land from ex-neighbour when they died. New neighbours who bought her house has told us we must sell it to them.

A bit more backstorey. Our elderly neighbour lived next to us until they died in late December. She had a side bit of garden like an allotment that we used to help her with (hatched area on diagram). Unbeknownst to us she gifted us that area of land in her will. The rest of the house and land was to be sold and the money given to charity.

After the will reading we have had the land registry changed to confirm we now own the land. The house was put up for sale late January. In mid February we received a letter from a solicitor asking that we sell the land to the potential buyer of the house. We emailed back saying no we won't sell. We then heard nothing more from any solicitors. House was then sold during lockdown.

The new neighbours moved in on Monday. Yesterday they came to our door asking for the name of our solicitor so the land purchase can take place. We told them we were not planning on selling the land and that we told their solicitor that. The new neighbours didn't take it well. Apparently they only bought the house on the provision that they could buy the land and this was agreed with us via their solicitors.

The new neighbours got quite loud and angry about us apparently misleading them and left to speak to their solicitor. They seem to think we legally need to sell them the land as there was a written (email) contract between them and their solicitor who confirmed to them by email prior to the sale of the house that we would sell the land.

Aibu to a) not sell the land even though we technically didn't buy it and b) that the fact their solicitor has mislead them is not our problem?

Neighbours land is in red.
Our land is in black and the hatched area is the land they expect to buy.

Suggest a round the table type legal meeting with both solicitors... Offer up your kitchen as a meeting place.

OP just produce a sale agreement for half a million peppercorns, on parchment, signed with a quill and a candlewax seal, countersigned by their 'solicitor'. Leave it on their front stoop under the troll statute.

OP, are you in Scotland or England? It would be very unusual for a Scottish solicitor to do the conveyancing on an English purchase as they’re two different systems. I think around the Birders firms are used to doing transactions in the other jurisdictions and the larger firms may have people who can do the conveyancing in both jurisdictions but you’d be able to find those firms online! Reminds me of Legally Blond when she’s using “legal terms” in court! Have your neighbours definitely bought the house?? Sounds like something someone would write if they were trying to sound like a Lawyer Person...like if they were 12 or in an overseas scam factory. House purchase/sale scams are not unheard of and can involve eye-watering sums.

i know that there is no NEED for you to get a solicitor but personally I would consult one who can write to neighbours solicitor telling them to fuck off. I would then send a copy to the new neighbours and then discuss it no further. I would also get in fenced in and incorporated into your garden pdq good luck

I would make sure there was a lock on the gate and take loads of photos
Then I would ignore them

Next time you see them ask if they know their solicitor isn't registered?

God that’s a good point.

If the house was left to charity there’s a good chance no ones checking on it, and during lockdown they may not have been actively marketing it.

Perfect timing for a fake sale.

Wow that email is so missleading.
They must have written it themselves.
Also any solicitors would write to you, they always want hard copies.

I wouldn't enter into any communication to defend your position. Let them get your email correspondence from their solicitors. Not an interpretation or second hand relaying of the information.

The land you inherited was never on the market, so I find it bizarre you would have to go to any lengths to prove you didn't agree to sell it. The onus is on them to produce the documentation in connection with this that shows you did. Not that parody of a solicitor's letter.

Certainly sympathise with them on their choice of 'Solicitors' if they maintain that letter is from them. Suggest that they should make sure they even own the house they are living in.

Where would all this end? They sound tiresome, but happy to be confrontational with you over something which was not agreed by binding contract. Every time you meet them, you may need to say 'I'm not selling my shoes/trousers/bag/etc.

I would just say no loudly and repeatedly.
Failing that tell them to get their solicitors to contact your solicitor.
They are Entitled CF who are trying it on. Bet no ones ever said no to them before.
Ignore them.

What is Latin for Fuck off?

Offus fuckus?

That email is hilarious. I spend my days writing legal documents and I have never ever encountered anything like that. Either they've been screwed over by a shit (or fake) solicitor, or they've cobbled that together themselves to try and create a legal obligation on your behalf OP.

Either way it's complete bollocks. No-one can create a contract with a third party without their permission, otherwise I could sign a document with OP to oblige all the other posters on this thread to pay us £1m each.

If the neighbours bring it up again I would just reiterate that your response to their solicitor was that the land was not for sale, and this is therefore between them and said solicitor.

Out of interest, do the details of the solicitor who contacted you initially (and to whom you said the land was not for sale) and the details of the solicitor who supposedly sent this hilariously inept bunkum match?

Bonkers. I don't believe a solicitor actually wrote that.

the sale would be considered peppercorn in nature

That has made me smile.

Oooh, a made up solicitor's letter, they have excelled themselves in CFery and in Latin too

Tell them to take a running jump

.

@TonytheDog
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3932916-Are-we-complete-idiots?msgid=97328222#97328222

Ah good - I was about to suggest Offus Fuccus but I see a PP has already got their Latin dictionary out.

Allow yourself a fun moment op. Translate a few sentences into completely Latin and send it back.
Doubt you will hear from them again.
Google will help!

Sorry I'm supposed to be home working.

I couldn't find the company or solicitor in the law society of England website. Funnily enough. The email wasn't from the original letter about selling the land.

I've had an email from the female neighbour asking if we could speak to her dad. They didn't seem to be particularly young when we saw them. 🤷‍♀️

I want to try to at least appear to be sympathetic for neighbour relation sake. I'll phone her dad later. I've emailed back suggesting she contact the 'solicitors' for a copy of all correspondence. I did say I had never seen a solicitors email like that before even though we have bought quite a few houses. I also said welcome to the street and told them tomorrow is bin day.

Looks as if their solicitor went to the Harry Potter School of Law.

The solicitor writes school sick notes for their children too

Why engage any further and stress yourself, op? There's no need to call anyone's dad

I would be wary of getting too involved in discussions OP. This is cut and dried - not your issue, not your problem. By entering into conversations you may be giving the impression there is wriggle room on this.

This is so odd! I don't believe that the NN have made up the letter, because why would they use the words "in potentia" with regards to the sale, twice? I don't know any Latin but even I could hazard a guess that it means potentially (which is what Google confirms). So the letter doesn't really add to their argument, it just shows that their solicitor told them in an extremely confusing manner that the OP potentially might sell the land (and because it was gifted to her, potentially at a peppercorn price).

The only way I see this could possibly advance their case is if it made you feel sorry for them because it was all a terrible misunderstanding. But that was never going to happen after they were initially so aggressive and rude.

My bet is that one half of the NNs dealt with the house purchase, blithely told their other half that yes I checked with the solicitor and we can buy the land, and great news the solicitor says it will only be cheap because it was gifted to them.

And now they've suddenly realised they've been very naive and very stupid.

And one shudders to think what sort of cowboy solicitor came up with that crap, if that is who wrote the letter.