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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

New neighbours

667 replies

Plannergirl9 · 10/06/2020 12:12

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.

New neighbours
OP posts:
EnterFunnyNameHere · 10/06/2020 14:53

I would say you're willing to sell the land for £10M, when they say it's too much, respond "I think you'll find you're legally obliged to buy it"...

Grin
Nanalisa60 · 10/06/2020 14:54

Yep I will sell you the land no problem the price is £100,000.

Plannergirl9 · 10/06/2020 14:56

The email was signed by someone claiming to be a senior solicitor at a particular company. No mention of the company or solicitor on the law society of scotland. I'll check the English equivalent. There is no website either.

The language of the email feels dodgy.

OP posts:
OVienna · 10/06/2020 14:57

Puto, qui eorum advocatus misit inscriptio post nimis Limoncello.

fairlyplump · 10/06/2020 14:58

How dare they, this is your land, and the argument is between them and their solicitor, nothing to do with you!

Itwasntme1 · 10/06/2020 14:59

I have never, in at least six house sales, encountered a solicitor who would communicate in Latin to a client.

Either they were ripped off by someone pretending to be a solicitor or they wrote the email themselves and are incredibly stupid.

How has your neighbour left it? What dies she think will happen next?

AcrossthePond55 · 10/06/2020 15:00

Sounds like the name of the 'law firm' should be 'Dewey, Cheatham, & Howe'.

Cherrysoup · 10/06/2020 15:01

Bonkers. Ignore neighbour bar telling them their solicitor is not qualified/doesn’t exist. At no point have you even said you would potentially sell. The ‘solicitor’ is an idiot.

OVienna · 10/06/2020 15:01

Lol, Pond

overtimewoes · 10/06/2020 15:02

Does the email include the email address of the solicitor? You could email an innocuous question about fees or something?

BMW6 · 10/06/2020 15:02

LOL at that email from their "Solicitor"

harriethoyle · 10/06/2020 15:03

There's no way that email was sent by a legit solicitor. None at all!

AnotherBoredOne · 10/06/2020 15:03

Curious, is there email from the same one sent to you in your original purchase?

Blanca87 · 10/06/2020 15:04

This might end up in classics. 😂😂😂

ThisShitCrazy · 10/06/2020 15:04

I think the line 'a nominal amount' is key here. How would anyone know what value to put on a piece of land you have no intention of selling?

Something very dodgy going on there OP

HoneysuckIejasmine · 10/06/2020 15:04

Ha, as if a solicitor would send that!

copycopypaste · 10/06/2020 15:06

So if I get someone claiming to be a solicitor and get them to agree that I can buy Buckingham palace then bobs your uncle Grin I'll kick the queen out tomorrow

ThisShitCrazy · 10/06/2020 15:06

This might end up in classics. 😂😂😂
@Blanca87

I hope so, I fucking love a CF thread, mixed with a wanky NDN thread.

All we need now is them to block OPs drive and we have the triple!

GetOffTheTableMabel · 10/06/2020 15:06

Since you are now neighbours, could you be relentlessly sympathetic and friendly about the predicament that their solicitor has placed them in? They have absolutely no cause to get pissy with you about this. You were asked a question and you answered it with complete clarity. If you get grumpy with them, they could redirect some of their justifiable upset towards you and you both end up with hostile neighbours when neither of you actually did anything wrong. They shouldn’t have been rude but it must have been a major shock for them. Could you overlook the rudeness and sympathise and offer to act as witnesses if they wish to take action against their solicitor? There should be no need for you to lose the moral high ground or feel in anyway that your neighbours resent you. You did nothing wrong and you are definitely better placed than their crappy solicitor to make them see that.

ElsieMc · 10/06/2020 15:07

Again this is nonsense op. Most solicitors now use Plain English. The only latin that they need to be aware of is caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.

No solicitor would write this, honestly. If you know the firm it may be helpful to contact the managing partner making them aware of these "emails". This is because it is unfair on the firm involved as well. Having said that op, why should you put yourself to this trouble. The only reason would be to put your own mind at rest about the authenticity or otherwise of this "email".

CaffiSaliMali · 10/06/2020 15:07

Can you check the email address of said solicitor against the email address of the one you corresponded with? Are they from different accounts?

Either they ended up with a dodgy solicitor, or they've faked an email to try and up the pressure on you.

It seems odd that they would believe you would give up land for a peppercorn amount just because it was a gift to you in the first place.

I agree with a previous poster who advised you to take plenty of photos of your land today in case they try anything funny.

Bet you're glad you sorted the land registry and fence out before lockdown now!

BMW6 · 10/06/2020 15:07

As this land is considered to be donatus the sale would be considered peppercorn in nature in potentia'.

translates as "as they inherited the land they should give it to you for next to nothing"

As if any real Solicitor would ever write such utter bollocks!!

Windyatthebeach · 10/06/2020 15:09

What is Latin for Fuck off?

SirVixofVixHall · 10/06/2020 15:09

So the solicitor allegedly sent them an email partly in latin, saying that you might agree to sell ? Lol. Even that doesn’t state that you will definitely sell, just that it is possible.
Find it hard to imagine any solicitor making the wild assumption that as you had been bequeathed the land you would re-sell for a nominal sum.
Highly entertaining though. Tinkly laugh and ignore. They need to address this, it is absolutely nothing to do with you.

florascotia2 · 10/06/2020 15:10

Interestingly, none of those cod latin words and phrases appear in this official glossary of Scottish legal terms:

www.scotland-judiciary.org.uk/29/0/Glossary/a#A

or in this:
www.lawscot.org.uk/for-the-public/what-a-solicitor-can-do-for-you/buying-and-selling-a-property/glossary-of-property-terms/

@OVienna - haha!

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