Help being taken to small claims court.

[FBIsMostWanted]

I inherited a flat from my great aunt and have just sold it. The FTB that bought it wanted most of the furniture and as I already have a house and don’t need it I agreed to leave most things. Most of the furniture is 15 plus years old but my aunt had amazing taste and didn’t stint on quality.
One of the things left was a sofa bed, probably @10 years old and I’ve never used it.
The FTB are now requesting £1500 as the sofa bed mechanism doesn’t work so won’t pull out. They are pissed!
At first they text me wanting money and when I said that the sofa wasn’t integral and wasn’t paid for so I wasn’t going to buy them a new sofa they have gone to the small claims court.
I have spoken with my solicitor and he said that they never asked for the condition of the sofa and didn’t pay money for the sofa so they don’t have a leg to stand in but do they? Would the courts side with them?
I have no receipts for the furniture and didn’t even know about the bed not working.
Anyone experienced anything like this?

Lordy. What chancers!

You’ve done the main thing which is not to ignore the claim. I see so many people end up with default judgments against them that way.

After that it’s really one for you: costs are rarely recoverable in small claims and it’s a process designed for litigants in person, so only use a lawyer if you feel you really have to. If you want qualified advice about anything I’d try CAB or a local law clinic.

Get any paperwork in good order and paginate it (put sequential page numbers on) so you can easily cross-refer. Busy judges are always v grateful for logical, clear, easy to follow paperwork. It doesn’t sound like there’ll be many papers anyway.

Small claims hearings are often quite informal, sitting at a table, but you could be in a court room Judge Judy style. The judge will conduct the hearing as s/he thinks best, generally with little formality. Call the judge ‘Judge’. Sir or madam would do, though strictly speaking that’s been changed now.

Good luck! (I doubt you need much luck though.)

Following for an update just from the sheer cheeky fuckery and batshittedness of this. I hope they get to you this side of Xmas op.

I wonder how much a secondhand sofa bed would be worth anyway. I seriously doubt it would be worth anything near £1500.

Did they provide evidence that it doesn’t actually work?
people like that are perfectly capable of pretending/not checking it works, and then suing

How to renounce executor role?
To cut a long story short, I am estranged from my mother and no longer wish to be executor for her will. How do I extricate myself?

@OhWhatsTheBloodyPoint you need to start your own thread, so people can advise you.

@FBIsMostWanted you have nothing to fear. It's actually quite funny, though I appreciate less so if you're the one having to deal with their nonsense. I hope one day you will look back and laugh at it, all the best.

i didn’t go to a ‘live court’’ for my small claims court case. It was all done online.

absolute CF

Tried to delete above as realised posted in wrong place - apologies - but it wouldn’t let me

Very valid point.

It’s totally irrelevant. You can’t take something that’s given for free then sue because it’s broken!

I think I've not been very clear here. I'd love the judge to ask how they even know its broken and for them to be shamefaced into admitting they don't have a clue as to how to use it.

Of course this case will be thrown out.

@FBIsMostWanted you can absolutely claim your travel costs and the cost of taking a day off work if you win, particularly as the claim is utterly hopeless. Bring a payslip to show the judge your salary and work out your daily rate based on working days per month (ie 22, not 31 for eg)
whether they pay you what is ordered is another matter of course.

My view is that they had no intention of things going so far. They expected you to roll over and offer them some money to make it all go away. I reckon they will play chicken until the very last moment and will have very squeaky bums towards the end. Well done OP for not taking any of their nonsense.

Well, if the CFers don’t pay up, the OP can take them to the small claims court 😄

Thanks everyone, you have made me chuckle with your posts! Still no movement on the claim though it looks like nearer Christmas.
I have written a statement about the timeline, conversations and what evidence I have (just the standard sale documents and the emails I’ve had from them). I don’t have any sale or warranty receipts from the sofa as it’s so old and I’ve explained the provenance of the sofa too.
Just to answer another question: No they have provided no proof that the sofa is actually broken, they say they have a report but refuse to show it to me and said “See you in court!” I haven’t even seen a receipt for a new sofa so they are very likely to be utter CF chancers who have no intention of buying a new sofa.
If they had asked for the flat to be cleared it wouldn’t have impacted the price, the price was the price furnished or not.

No, the courts won't side with them, the case will get thrown out of the preliminary hearing.

Wait for the judge to ask them what their issue is and enjoy watching them try to explain 😉

If any of the correspondence/ papers describe the item as a ‘sofa’ rather than a ‘sofa bed’, they have even less of a leg to stand on, since it’s perfectly fine for sitting on

Has the court made orders for each side to disclose relevant documents to each other? If so, you could apply for an order that they produce this report by a specified deadline failing which the claim will be struck out.

Any update

I don't imagine there will be a hearing for such a ridiculous claim. The court will throw it out after your sensible response.

Good luck OP. I hope these CFs are laughed out of court.
My DS is in the process of buying a house as a FTB. The vendor is leaving a number of items - including a fridge and freestanding cooker. Their reason for sale gives a genuine reason why they wouldn't need these appliances but I did say to DS that he can't really be sure if they actually work (no reason to believe they don't as vendor currently living there) but at worst we'll have to remove to the tip and buy new if it turns out that they don't. If he gets a year's use out of them, all the better as he's starting from scratch on his own.
No way would he be threatening the vendor with court if the items are faulty. He agreed the price of the house before he knew the items would be left. Vendor just put them on the form - they knew DS was a FTB so probably thought he'd be grateful. I feel sure he could go back and say he doesn't want them but we'll just see it as a bonus if they work and a minor (easily resolvable) inconvenience if they dont.

What bonkers buyers! When I went to court and won the judge did ask me what I did for a living and added on extra for my time without me even asking! So I hope when you win the judge allows a counter claim for your time.

I can't believe what I'm reading here. The absolute chancers. This is the one of the worse examples of cheeky fuckery I've ever read. I strongly suspect this will be thrown out and I can't see mediation being ordered. What on Earth for? Furniture they got for free! The mind boggles 🤣

Hello my village! Thanks all for still keeping up to date with this saga. Well I have a little update, I’ve just been given a date for mediation, it’s the end of November. Looks like it’s an online thing you need to dial into. I don’t know how much good this will do as I don’t plan on offering them anything.
I might offer to have a man & van come and dispose of the items if they don’t want them but I heard from a neighbour that they have already got rid of them so we’ll see. I don’t know if that would change the claim or there case but I plan on asking if they still have the sofas.
So hopefully next update end of November.