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?

*their case - sorry
@ohtowinthelottery what a sensible young man your son appears to be. Not a CF in site. That’s how I see it too, anything left for free is a bonus even if it last a short time.

I can't believe you have to go through with that.

I've done mediation before. In a case like this it'll largely be a waste of time. The mediator is just that - they're not judges and don't give legal advice or anything
They'll speak to one side, then pass on to the other. Then pass back to the first and so on.

Imo you should stand your ground. Basically point out they got it for free and are not owed anything. The second you start to faff about with offering seemingly minor concessions you weaken that position. If you can provide written evidence that they asked for so much to be left you can point out that they're essentially trying to get 2x sofa beds for free contrary to your goodwill agreement. If you wanna be fancy you can accuse them of unjust enrichment during the appointment just to annoy them haha

In my case the other side was "double dipping" exactly like this. It got them nowhere.

Don't offer them the van!

Good luck!!

Stand firm - offer NOTHING.

If you offer anything they will push for more and believe that you accept its your responsibility because you offered the van.

It's honestly better to maintain your position, give nothing and see what happens at that point before making a decision.

Surely if they’ve disposed of it already, they haven’t got a leg ( or sofabed!) to stand on! You’ve only got their word it doesn’t work, so maybe, if it gets nasty, you can ask to see it not working in the flesh before taking it any further , and then watch them panic when they say they haven’t got it.

I still don’t think they’ve got a case though.

dont offer anything

Regard mediation for your case (as you’ve told it to us) as a way of reiterating the facts and explaining where you stand, i.e. as an out-of-court but supervised forum. Do not view it as a reason to concede anything: that’s something that parties with vulnerable cases have to do.

As others say, stand your ground. Don't offer them anything and don't say anything that might be construed as an admission of liability. As your solicitor told you, they don't have a leg to stand on. On the information you have given, if this goes to court they will lose.

Do not offer the van! They are such CF'ers they will that that and ex more.

Absolutely do not offer them anything. They have no case. This is such a waste of yours and the court's time. It's honestly shocking.

No to the van!
No van
No van
No van
(Chanted!)

Er no, don’t let your solicitor handle it.

if it’s a small claim there are no costs either way but it will cost literally thousands in legal fees if you engage a solicitor.

just get a grip of yourself, read up on the process and if the other side follow through turn up in court on the day and explain yourself to the judge.

the onus of proof is on the other side and they’re probably going to flunk it.

Don’t offer anything. But small claims mediation has a 70-80% settlement rate so if you just stand firm and tell the mediator they have no case, they might get the message.

As PP have said, keep it factual.

Mediator: Please explain your side of this claim (I don’t know what they actually say, but good guess?!)

OP: I was selling my late Aunts house as Executor, which was still furnished. The buyers asked to me leave this list of goods (produce list, including sofa bed) and remove everything else, which I did.

The list was included in the memorandum of sale, and at no cost i.e. they offered an acceptable price for the property, and no further costs were added for the items left. There was no condition of sale of proof that everything worked, and, it was left as seen.

Absolutely do not offer anything back like the van.

This is good advice

I'd also state something like

The items were in the flat and were available for inspection by the purchaser throughout the sales process. No one, including myself, used the items during the sale process as the house was unoccupied during this time. Therefore the item condition did not change before completion

Or something to that effect

Was there,a sofa bed listed anywhere eg on the fixture and fittings list ax being included in the sale.if so did it say sofa-bed as opposed to sofa?

Do not offer ANYTHING, @FBIsMostWanted

You sound lovely. They sound like utter, grasping shits. I’m hoping that karma will come to get them in spectacular style. Stay strong!

Claim your time and travel costs too-

The FTB are now requesting £1500 as the sofa bed mechanism doesn’t work so won’t pull out. They are pissed!

They may have forgotten about it by the time they sober up

Did you anywhere list a sofa bed on the fixtures and fittings TA10 form? If so it is included in the sale and it is wrong to say it was free.

OK mini update! So I have had mediation and it was a total waste of time.
The basics are that they want me to pay the full price of brand new sofas as they would have demanded thousands off the asking price if they had known the sofas were “broken”. I said to the mediator they may have demanded a drop in price but they would not have got one!
Aparently they have spend hundreds of £ on reports to try and fix the sofas, and £200 getting the sofas removed. I said that most furniture companies only charge @£50 to remove the old sofas or it would have cost £100 for a days van hire and a trip to the tip!
So it looks like we are off to court. I am so angry that this is hanging over me.
The only funny thing was when the mediator was explaining the other parties point of view they inferred that they were very petty and angry.

Have they got evidence of the ‘hundreds’ they have spent? Emails about appointments? Receipts for sofa repair people? Removal company? Etc

(and check they’re genuine- it’s easy to fake things on computers nowadays).

@FBIsMostWanted that sounds deeply frustrating. I have to say that in my experience mediation is only useful when both parties are reasonable. But Your Byers are batshit!

onwards and upwards. Please don’t get caught in the weeds of their nonsense though. It’s irrelevant how much it costs to remove an old sofa. Or how much a new one is. And what they think they might have done if blah blah blah is irrelevant because they didn’t.

You sold them a house. They agreed a price and signed a contract. You left (as requested and agreed) some furniture. You did not provide any guarantees about the usability, state, or value of said furniture. And they did not ask you to provide this. You owe them nothing.