Purchasers threatening to sue after completion

[tanfastic]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me, I'm a legal secretary but not sure about where I stand in this.

My mum (a 66 year old pensioner) recently sold her small guest house. She sold it to a couple who had never run a guest house before but the viewed the property extensively three times before completion. My mum had dropped the price by 80k to try and secure this sale as it had been on the Market three years since my dad passed away and she just wanted rid of it so she could pay off her debt and move on with her life.

It's now been four weeks since completion and two weeks ago we got a message from the estate agents to say the purchasers needed a code for the Internet and could we contact them direct to sort this out. I tried to ring them to find out exactly what they meant but the line was engaged. To be honest we then just left it because we couldn't work out what code they were talking about.

Yesterday I got a call from their solicitor to say if they didn't get this "code" they were going to sue my mum for all the items in the hotel that she said was working but they've discovered don't. They didn't specify what. There was nothing in the hotel that didn't work incidentally, my mum is not a liar.

I tried again to ring them direct to sort this out but the lne was engaged. My husband tried a little later and managed to get the purchaser on the phone. He said he was calling to try and get to the bottom of what code they wanted to which he replied he didn't know what he was talking about, how dare he ring him and if he rang them again he would call the police! (ironic considering dh is the police)!

I have telephoned the agents who off the record have told me they are a couple of nuisances who are ringing up constantly harassing them now.

I am going to ring their solicitor on Monday to try and straighten it out but surely they can't sue for something they claim isn't working after completion?

Btw my mum hasn't got a pot to piss in. She's on pension credits with no money in the bank so not good for suing anyway.

Also the ISP that my mum had that she cancelled on completion is telling us they don't need a code as the line is free. They just need to set up with another ISP.

Can anyone advise?

It sounds like they might be being asked by BT for a setup fee to reconnect the telephone line (as your Mum cancelled the acount when she moved out).

Either that or they want a router access code so they can link to WiFi broadband. They can't do that. They need to get an ISP as you say.

They can't sue as they admit they don't know what theyare talking about. To sue someone you have to specify a damage and a cause of that damage.

I've thought of another possibility.

Did your mother/father have a website or email address that belonged to the guest house that customers contacted them on. The buyers may have thought that they were buying that email addres or web site along with the guest house so they are annoyed that a source of customers has been cut off?

Morebeta, that Is something that we thought because my mum had a really good web address that my dad bought for SEO purposes but it's her address and this wasn't included in the sale. She could possibly get a few hundred pounds if she sold it.

Nobody is telling us exactly what they want though, it's so frustrating!

It sounds like to me they are issuing threats. They did this two weeks before completion as well saying if my mum didn't leave her personal (not hotel) dishwasher , washing machine, tumble drier etc they would drop the price so she had to give them everything . She even left her personal 3k plasma tv as a gesture of goodwill (stupidly). I'm fuming!

Could you call or write to their solicitor stating you have made contact and been advised there is nothing get need and re never contacting them again?

I'm going to ring the solicitor Monday to try and get to the bottom of it (he'd left the office yersterday when I tried to ring back). I'm
More concerned about the threat to sue to be honest, my mum doesnt need the stress.

Isn't buying property about 'caveat emptor' - buyer beware?

tanfastic - it sounds like the web address is what they are after. I assumed they bought the building rather than the business and the contract specified what your mother had to leave in the property and what was included in the sale price and I assume that the web address was not included?

If they were buying the 'business' then that is a diffferent matter. They would expect to buy the web address and all the contents and the building and everything that constituted the business property. That would need to be specified in the contract though.

What did your mother sell? The business or just the property?

She sold the business and the property. She specifically asked them if they wanted the web address and website and they said no they wanted to set it up themselves. She asked them if they were sure and they said definitely they did not want it so she cancelled her direct debit with her service provider (zen). The domain name is something separate surely? Myum thinks this has prob expired anyway as she was closed for three years after my dad died.

I thought we were trying to be helpful yesterday when my dh rang them direct to sort it out. Couldn't believe they threatened us with the police!

Not sure with commercial sales but certainly in Scotland with residential sales there is usually a clause which states that the purchaser has 7 days to make sure that everything that was warranted in sale is actually working (i.e. heating systems etc) and outwith that 7 days it is no longer the sellers problem.

Thanks for the replies. Yes as far as I'm aware it is up to the purchaser to make sure they are satisfied by making their own checks before proceeding to completion. My mum answered a standard property information form correctly insofar as she was able and they never queried anything apart from could they have her washing machine etc for no extra money otherwise they were reducing the price (bastards)

When I bought my house I remember going to inspect the boiler because I didn't want to take their word for it that it worked.

I would imagine they'd be wasting their money making a small claim against a pensioner with no money in the bank who claims pension credit?

Just to update on this - i've phoned the purchasers' solicitor this morning. He seemed a pretty reasonable bloke. He says that they are claiming that my husband was abusive to them on the phone - fuming because that wasn't the case at all. What a bunch of tossers they are!

They are saying that the gas fire in the personal living quarters is not working and this is what they are going to issue a small claim for. I have confirmed that it was working on completion and in fact my mum even says she is sure it was on when one time when they viewed the property.

The solicitor says he is going to try and "smooth it over" but by the sounds of who we are dealing with I think they will still try and make a claim.

Does anyone know how successful they would be if they decided to pursue my mum for this? They have waited five weeks to even let us know the fire was faulty. Surely they should have done this immediately they moved in?

Babybarrister my mother has nothing. She had to drop the sale price by 80k to get a sale, any sale monies went to pay off the mortgage and debt my dad left her in when he died. She's lodging with me at the minute until she sorts out somewhere to live. Her only income is her old age pension. She had no money left.

My DD and her DH recently bought a new house with a few bits wrong so they got the seller to sort them out before they exchanged contracts. After they moved in they had a small leak in the loo and had to sort it out themselves as they handnt seen it on inspections. The didnt think they had any comeback following completion.

But

You can also buy indemnity insurance (when you are the seller) in case something is wrong following the sale (as in an extension not conforming to building regs) so maybe it is possible to sue afterwards!

For the repair of a gas fire seems so petty though, it was working when my mum left and they've only just mentioned it five weeks after completion. Would it be up to my mum to prove that it WAS working the day she left or would they have to prove it Wasn't working the day they moved in (if that makes sense).
I'm assuming she will get a solicitors letter in the next couple of days saying they want her to pay for a repair.

Not sure how they will get blood out of a stone though

It was up to them/their solicitors to request up to date inspection certification for electrical/gas appliances. where there isn't any, we are regularly asked for example that the sellers have a boiler inspection and put right anything that needs doing which is put into the contract and takes place between exchange and completion. Otherwise as sneezecakesmum says there's indemnity insurance that the sellers should have requested

On a totally non legal note (as I have no idea of the legalities) I would tell them to shove it where the sun don't shine and sue. They might get 50p a month out of her pension if they took her to small claims court! Do you have them in scotland??? Some people are total bastards.

Sneeze - my thoughts exactly and i more or less said the same to their solicitor. I said I felt they were bullying her as they had done all through the proceedings. She left a 2k plasma tv for them in her personal quarters that they never asked for so if they carry on being arseholes then I'm going to go round and pick it up or tell them to sell it to raise funds for their phoney claims.

Do it!!