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.

I had a very similia thing happen, thats where I found out that solicitors charge for letters received by the page. So I wrote back a very long letter, using large font and double spacing, explaining why my plant pot being blown by strong winds, and blowing into the neighbours garden wasnt my fault, how strong the wind was, the history of strong winds in the area, how my plant pot was made, and how many are made in a year, and to please provide proof it was my plant pot. You get the idea. Made my letter to them around 30 pages. Sent it recorded delivery. Cost complainers around £400 just for reading the letter. I ended the letter saying that I could do much more research into plant pots and wind if they require, and was in the process of searching for a thesis to send them, but the wording and spacing would need to be larger.....

@LadyVic the solicitors must have had fun!!

Dear Cheeky Fucker Lawyer

I refer to your letter dated xx.

Your letter fails to identify any legal cause of action that would entitle your clients to claim damages for stress allegedly caused by the collapse of our garden fence.

It is unfortunate that your clients have failed to recognise our neighbourly behaviour in taking all possible steps to remove and reinstate the fence as quickly as possible causing minimal inconvenience.

Your clients' claim is therefore denied in its entirety.

Yours faithfully

whymewhynow

Tell them to refer their client to the reply given in Arkell v Pressdram; or in the alternative, you can shout it over the fence directly.

Perfect, absolutely perfect. Thirty pages is quite an achievement

You could contact the office manager and find out the partner in charge of complaints and make a complaint. If it is a friend doing a favour you shouldn’t receive any more letters if it is a decent law firm.

@Geekygeek That is priceless. I've always had a soft spot for Private Eye.

What's the latest Whymewhynow?

Regrettably (from my POV as a solicitor) we don't charge by the page to read letters received 😎 However all firms have a Complaints procedure and take seriously any members of staff (or Partners) getting dragged into fuckwittery that's not earning the firm any fees and risks their reputation, so worth writing to the Managing Partner, enclosing a copy of the weaselly lawyer's letter, asking if it's genuine as you're worried that someone is using the firm's letterhead for fake "legal letters." (Fuckwittery for fee paying clients can easily be avoided by increasing one's hourly rate, I find, and requesting a large retainer!)

I'm late to this thread, but the SRA (who regulate solicitors) recently published guidance about solicitors who make excessive or meritless claims - see hrere www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/guidance/conduct-disputes/.

It seems to me that the solicitor here has potentially breached the code of conduct.

It is not the case that a solicitor should parrot every claim a client tells them to.