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.

how did they get your email address ?

In not sure why it happened so fast. DH and I have never been left anything in a will before. Our neighbour had no family left and no children and everything else was sold/given away before she died.

The new neighbours seem in their 20s with no children that we've seen.

Putting my planner hat on. The plot even without our land would be sufficient for two houses probably more semi-detached detached than detached if the existing house is demolished. Our street is quite with wide roads and a good sized turning area. With our land you would definitely get two good sized detached properties.

Once I'd got over the shock of this, I think I'd go for the nicey-nicey approach of their solicitor having either made a calamitous mistake (in misreading your email) or deliberately lying (denying your email) and offer to back them if they wanted to sue the practice

I worked as receptionist in a Scottish law practice in the early noughties. Unfortunately the email does sound like something one or two in that practice would send, they were totally up themselves.

Problem between them and their solicitor. Don't go worrying yourself.

Is there any way this land might be described as a meadow?

I wouldn't engage any further your position is clear and you have told them that so end of. Don't invite any further drama into your life.

Its there problem and maybe they saw it as an investment opporuntity building another house on the land but tough luck now.

They haven't gone about this in a nice way so I wouldn't be overly neighbourly or nice or try and help them out and understand whats happened it will just make it endless.

I remember buying my first house, I went through every single page of every document I was sent even the searches to make sure I understood exactly what I was buying. If they didn't and then didn't have a good lawyer thats their hard luck and a lesson learnt

The Latin is risible.

Obviously daddy is the highest authority in her life 🙄

My confusion is also with the solicitor email in how did the solicitor know that you had been gifted the land as they would not have that information?

OP, I think you're doing the right thing to be friendly and maintain cordial relations.

That said, the sensible part of me thinks you should disengage either by apologising profusely for the muddle and saying they need to go back to their solicitor, or by contacting the original solicitor directly.

However given the CF gold that is that email, I'd love you to phone her Dad to see why on Earth he's involved!

Wonder if the DF acted as conveyancer and said it would be ok when now it isn't, so the DH has told the wife to sort it out! Just don't fall for any sob story or pressure. It's your land and it's not for sale!

Disengage completely. The land is yours and you do not wish to sell. Anything else is their problem and their problem only.

I'm late to the party here, but goodness, this is gold!!

I imagine your NDN's father to be an arrogant, bumbling Count Arthur Strong type who sails through life blustering and insisting that 'he knows he's right' and expecting that to be authority enough for the truth of whatever rubbish he comes out with.

Why exactly is she asking you to speak to her dad? What does she suppose is in it for you? Does she imagine that you're desperate for him to be able to assure you that you're wrong about having a choice as to whether or not you sell your own property?

The PP who said that stupid people assume everybody else is stupid was spot on.

Her dad came up with the cod Latin, without a doubt. He's never heard of Google Translate, or even a just a half-decent Latin dictionary. I reckon his mission is to mansplain to you what the Latin is understood to mean to 'those in the know'. He's a gluteus capitum (well, if he can make it up....)

Also, why does she refer to 'your solicitor'? Why does she assume that you have one? Most people don't. You might have used the services of a solicitor when you needed them for your own conveyancing and probate/confirmation, but now that that's all dealt with, bill settled and you're legally enjoying your own house and land, why ever would you have one on standby at all times?

Is their solicitor in anyway connected to the lovely neighbour who left you the land
Same solicitors office?

Carpe diem, carpe terra?

Seriously though OP, I would be taking comprehensive photos of the land just in case. And screen shotting the Google maps satellite view picture of it. And putting it all in a 'just in case the madness escalates' file.

friendlycat I wondered that too. Our neighbour had told her priest who mentioned it at the funeral as a public thank you of sorts to us. I don't know why she asked him to do that but she did. Some of the things he said matched the letter she left for us. Our other neighbours used to take her to church so would have known. Our other neighbour across the road is a major gossip and is very nosy, she always tries to question new people. Maybe she mentioned it.

I'm not going to involve myself in anything further as I know definitely it's our land and it's probably best to stay out of it.

You're doing the right thing in staying well out if it OP.
It's unpleasant but at least you know from the off that your new neighbours are con artists and bonkers .

My confusion is also with the solicitor email in how did the solicitor know that you had been gifted the land as they would not have that information?

I presume a will is in the public domain? They might be local or have known the deceased neighbour (or had contacts who did). You can probably work out quite a bit by cross-referencing the will and land register details with the sale dates and sold prices.

My money is on them having calculated this for quite some time. They might have heard of (or gone scouting around locally for) a house with enough land to build two more new houses on, owned by a single elderly person in poor health with no close family to inherit and waited until the time came. Nobody (not even you, her close friends) would have predicted that she would split the land off and bequeath it separately to the house. She was obviously a very smart, savvy lady, as plenty of people would think it was either not allowed or otherwise an immense amount of work to split up the property named in a single deed.

I also wouldn't rule out the possibility that they're connected to the charity or somebody in the charity tipped them off about it.

"Talk to my dad"

Nah, don't. You've made your position clear. You didn't say you'd sell to the first solicitor that asked and you've now told her to her face that you aren't selling. What more does she think you need to do?

If they faked the email, shame on them. If they got scammed it's not up to you to 'make it right' for them.

While I totally agree you shouldn’t talk to the dad, I am also really intrigued by what he was actually going to say😂.

Was he going to mansplain to you why you have to sell the land, try and bully you into selling the land or try and negotiate a deal?

You sound lovely, OP. However, it does seem like you are being sucked into their issue. Why on earth would you speak to her dad? It’s like they’re trying to emotionally chip away till their problem becomes your problem which then becomes incumbent on you to solve.

There really is no issue here. The land is your land. Their discussion needs to be between them and their more-weird-latin-shit-than-even-Boris-knows solicitor. You have zero obligation in this, even as the nicest of neighbours.

For the love of all that’s holy, please do not get involved in this stuff. You can can still be a good neighbour while disengaging massively from this oddness, which is not of your making!

I wouldn't put it past their dad to land up on your doorstep to 'discuss this'. So be ready to be polite but firm. Empathise with their plight and how terribly their solicitor has behaved, but then close the conversation. The land is not for sale and you expressed that clearly and in writing.

"I'm not going to involve myself in anything further as I know definitely it's our land and it's probably best to stay out of it."

I just popped back on here to say stay strong OP! And take lots of video/photos as PP have said in case, encouraged by Dad, they try anything.

I really want to know what the dad has to say about it. I wonder if he’ll start speaking Latin ?!

While I totally agree you shouldn’t talk to the dad, I am also really intrigued by what he was actually going to say

You speak exactly for just about all of us on this thread there

He's either going to bluster on with his pretendy Latin and 'professional knowledge' that he learned from 'Enid Blyton's Teach Yourself Basic Law Book 16' as to why you must sell; or otherwise, he's going to turn on the waterworks, tell you how heartbreakingly sad his daughter's life has been at every turn and how her one remaining unfulfilled childhood dream that hasn't yet been shattered to pieces has always been to own that particular piece of land and use it for solitude to memorialise and reflect on her beloved grandmother who always predicted that she'd one day have her own piece of land as she herself had always pined for but died with her lifelong dream tragically unfulfilled etc. etc.

Of course, he understands that you probably won't want to just give it to her, but because it's so sentimentally precious to her, he'd be willing to give you even as much as £1,000 for it by way of a thank-you for doing the decent thing....