Strange solicitor's letter

[whymewhynow]

I'm wondering if anyone can help me with this.

I had a dispute with our next door neighbour: our fence fell onto their garden, there was no damage, we had the fence repaired within about three weeks of this happening but they said that was not fast enough, that they should have been able to choose the contractor etc etc. We just told them that we were paying and so it was our choice who did the work, got on with it, fence is now up, looks nice.

We have now received a solicitor's letter saying that we must compensate them to the tune of £2000 for the stress that having the fence fall down caused them and give them another £400 towards their legal costs otherwise they will take us to court. I can't really see what their claim is for apart from some mild inconvenience but surely you can't get a lawyer to send a completely bogus letter like this one.

I've checked and the legal firm seems to be legitimate but the solicitor who has written on my neighbours' behalf has, on both the company's website and his own email sign-off, nothing to do with property law, his specialism is a different branch of law completely. Is it OTT to wonder if the solicitor is a relative/family friend who is writing this quite threatening letter as a favour.

I'm very tempted to write back: "See ya in court" but not sure that is entirely sensible.

Ignore it

Remember, solicitors work for the client. They will write anything the client wants, and get paid for it. It doesn’t have to be reasonable. (My ex’s solicitor wrote that I should still pay for him to go on a fishing holiday abroad two years after we’d divorced, because I promised it to him when we were married 😂).
You don’t even need to answer.

Just ignore it. I doubt very much they will take you to court.

I would write back and say that see what happens I certainly wouldn't roll over

😅😅😅

Bonkers. I don’t know how they survive ‘the stress’ of waking up in the morning.

I would ignore it. If they are paying a lawyer to do this for them then more fool them.

Ignore it and let them take you to Court, it was your fence, you repaired it and paid for it.

Let a Judge decide if they are due any compo after reading their medical reports

It's clarity bollocks one way or another.

Put any photos you took of the fallen fence, showing no damage etc. gather invoices etc for the work. IF they take you to court then 💁🏻‍♀️They'll get nowhere.

Unless there's something specific in your deeds, you're not obliged to even have a fence. You can easily get a copy if your deeds if you don't have them
to hand.

On your deeds it should show whose boundary it is, if it's yours, you get to choose the fence. If it's theirs they have to replace the fence if they want one.

So other than a very specific thing in your deeds, they're on a hiding to nothing.

If you wanted, you could always call the solicitor to see if it's genuine & see why on earth he thinks you owe them a single penny.

your neighbours are idiots, try not to stress.

I would write back to the solicitors, a really long letter, advising you will be countersuing for emotional distress costing them more money

I'm sure it's not advisable, but to placate my own simmering rage at the injustice, I'd write back outlining the steps we'd taken as you describe above OP, all of which sounds reasonable.

They've been watching too much American court TV.

Don't waste your time replying, wait to see if they take it further. Grey rock.
Don’t give them any insight into your thinking, intentions or feelings on the matter. No explanation, let them stew - very important.
Enjoy the fact that every letter received probably costs them approx £250 and let them keep sending.
Don’t take any notice of threats or fortune telling in the letters; no-one can ever guess what a judge may decide.
If your neighbours try to speak to you about it (as they will eventually, to save money) tell them to put it in writing via their solicitor.

Just to add, “See ya in court” would be an excellent face to face acknowledgment, with a smile and a wave.

Tearing the letter into tiny pieces and posting through their letterbox would also enlighten them about your thoughts on the matter!

If you reply to their solicitor does it cost them more money? I'd be tempted to write back asking for details of how that figure was come by

You don’t even need to replace a fence, you could be fence less and there wouldn’t be a thing they could do about it other than put their own up on their side of the boundary.

A solicitor will write a letter saying whatever the paying client wants them to write -it’s easy money. They must go home and laugh themselves silly recounting these idiotic conversations with their OH. Ignore it.

When I was in law school; many moons ago. I was told a solicitor should be generating £80 every fifteen minutes. As that is what it cost to pay salary/ run an office.

If you write back to solicitor they will be charged. I’d grey rock it though.

If you have legal cover with your home insurance I’d be tempted to ask them to write you a reply though.

Why did the fence fall over - did the wind blow it down?

Emotional distress 😂
For what? Taking 3 weeks to replace a fence?
Thats a reasonable amount of time considering getting quotes and many areas still have a backlog.

Knowing it would cost them I’d be tempted to write back.

They are probably pissed off because they promised family/mate they would be doing the work, considering they have said they should have been consulted who did the fence.

I'd write "not known at this address" on the envelope and post it back to the solicitor. That may confuse and enrage them plus they'll get charged for sending another copy. Then ignore. Twats.

Your Neighbors are living in cuckoo land . The fence between me and my neighbor has been blow away because of high winds. The fence is my responsibility and I will put it up when I am able to ( currently been six Months). My Neighbor mentioned it once I just said to her legally we don't have to put up a fence at all if we didn't want to.

Does fencing even have to be replaced?

It's not a legal requirement is it?

Ha! X post there!

I’d respond with essentially the fence falling was an Act of God, therefore you have no liability whatsoever. And that any further letters will result in the solicitor being reported to the SRA for unethical business practices or incompetence by sending frivolous letters threatening legal action when they know, or should know that there are no grounds for legal action.

The things people think of to get solicitors to put in writing is a constant source of amusement to me.