Threatened with small claims court 5 months after selling house?

[lmw850]

We completed in our house at the end of May. It was a difficult process as after our buyers survey results were released, they asked for a £20k discount.

I pushed back on a lot of points as ultimately the survey was a farce. It said that we needed a whole new roof beyond other things.

Buyer sent a roofer round & he confirmed it needed some repairs but not a re-roof. We paid for this, along with various other bits that the buyer asked for. We ended up paying around £1000 for the repairs that they requested.

One of the many points raised in the survey was there was a bit of damp on the ceiling kitchen. I advised the buyer that we had recently noticed a small stain as the silicon from the shower had completely come away, however we repaired this and noticed no further issues.

Today I have received an email from my solicitor to state that the leak was bigger than we knew and that the kitchen ceiling has fallen through. A plumber stated that it was from a pipe under the shower and had been leaking for a long time. The buyer is now wanting to take us to a small claims court.

Where do I stand if A - I didn’t know that the leak was as bad as it was and B - buyer has lived there for almost 5 months?

Surely it is the buyers responsibility to follow up on issues raised in the survey, like they did with the roof report?

Who’s to say that the ceiling wouldn’t have collapsed when we were still living there if the leak had been happening for a while?

I’m sorry that this has happened to them and I hope they have insurance to fix it, but what would they be trying to claim against me?

I’m not a legal expert but I’d tell them to jog on . They need to do full surveys and investigations to satisfy themselves before exchange . Otherwise where does it end. do they come back 3 yrs later because the electrics weren’t up to scratch , 8yrs because the garage gets damp etc etc.

So your solicitor emailed but didn’t give their professional opinion as to what you should do?

Did the survey pick up the leak? Did you rectify the leak/damp issue? If so they may have grounds. If they’re bothering to go down a small claims then they must have grounds. What’s the particulars of their claim exactly?

That’s a very naive view to think that someone going down the small claims court has grounds.

Well I’d be interested in what the OP’s
solicitor thinks

If you are in England, it’s up to the buyer and their surveyor to do all the checks before purchase. Sold as seen.

It picked up that an area of the kitchen ceiling was damp. We’d only recently noticed it and when we checked the bathroom (directly above the kitchen), we noticed that the silicone had come away in the shower. We then re siliconed the shower & sink, and painted over the damp patch, not long before the survey took place, therefore understood why it may still feel a little damp.

Before we moved out, there was no indication that there was still an issue as there was no further evidence on the ceiling & it seemed as though it had dried out when we left.

I advised all of this and they never took it any further, only followed up on the roof & various other things.

So they had a survey. The survey said there was a leak. They proceeded to do nothing about it. Not your problem.

She advised that it is the buyers responsibility to check these things prior to completion and that if it does go to the SCC, that and also the fact that we are now 5 months down the line should go in our favour.

This is correct. Let the buyer take you to SCC, you won’t have to pay anything.

I’m a solicitor. If the leak had been ongoing for months, damp would have been detected in the ceiling during the survey. Whether it was or was not detected, if the leak was causing water to permeate the ceiling then, a failure by the surveyor to detect that would be negligent. That’s an issue for the buyers to take up with the surveyor (who has PI cover to deal with such claims).

After 5 months there is a real possibility that the leak occurred after completion. That would be their issue to deal with. As claimants it is for them to prove, on balance of probabilities, that the leak was present before completion. I think they would find that difficult to prove. I would suggest that they take it up with their surveyor, whose function was to identify any faults existing at the date of survey which required rectification.

So what actual action did she say to take? Respond? Ignore?

How soon after completion did the ceiling collapse?

This won’t have been the first time you’ve heard about this Op.

Small claims only after evidence that have tried to resolve

4 1/2 months

And what engagement have you had regarding the leak (not just the ceiling collapse) since completion or were you only made aware of this today from your solicitor advising of both the ceiling collapse and small claims action?

Thank you.

I’m not saying that the leak wasn’t there before completion, it may have been but we just weren’t aware. The survey states that there was damp on the kitchen ceiling potentially coming from the shower cubicle and that it may be worth checking the bathroom floorboards.

I went back with explanations for many of the points raised in the survey, which included us noticing a leak and then noticing the failed silicone in the bathroom, so we removed all the silicone and re-did it. Since we did that, there was no further evidence of an issue.

Off the back of that, there was nothing further mentioned about it. It was obviously a bigger issue than we all thought at the time and had they have asked us to look into it further, like they did the roof, we would have done so & obviously found it. But unfortunately we didn’t know and it has caused a bigger problem 4 1/2 months after we have moved

Exactly that. Not heard a thing until today, their solicitor has contacted mine and asked her to make contact with me as this will be going to a SCC, explained what has happened and would I be able to assist.

I just don’t know where I stand as it was an issue I didn’t know the severity of, thought it had been fixed and they were happy to continue with the purchase on this basis?

I had similar but 18 months after we sold. The buyer said the woodburner and chimney were not installed properly and that they had to remove it all and put in a real fire instead and wanted us to pay. Our solicitor gave advice of basically trot on and ignore. The woodburner was installed 7yo previously by people before me and had all the certificates etc. ultimately its down to their survey

This. They're trying their luck.

If you addressed the issues raised by the survey, to their satisfaction and they went ahead with the purchase, they have no call on you, as long as you did not knowingly hide anything.

Remember OP, there is no guarantee that their solicitor is telling the truth. They regularly don't. It sounds like they are trying to worry you into offering them some money. Ignore them.

Looking back through the survey, it was mentioned. However I explained that we had re-siliconed what we believed to be the cause of the leak and that it hadn’t reappeared and that was the truth. Nothing more was said about it until today

Doubt that will stand up in a small claims court . My friend bought a house with radiators fixed to the wall … turned out that’s all it was … no pipe work .
no recompense as it’s up to the buyers to check thing’s thoroughly!

Before filing….

Before filing, they should have

Attempt to settle the dispute:
Send the person or company a formal letter detailing the problem, your desired outcome, and a deadline for them to respond. Keep a copy as proof.

And they didn’t?

They won’t if youre not paying them.

Op I would just let them. Put in a defence pointing out the onus is on the buyer to satisfy themselves before purchase and as you say, you didn’t know.

they probably won’t do it. It takes 20 mins to raise a small claims case, and costs £350. They would’ve just done it if they were going to.
for context I raised one in February and it is being heard in January 26. It will cost me another £350 for the hearing.

its probably not even worth the cost for them.

This is a fairly common scam now.

I was hassled by my buyer's solicitor about 5 months after completion. They wanted me to pay them £560 to clear the woodshed of logs. Said they would take me to the small claims court unless I handed the money over.

I pointed to a clause in the sale document which said all fuel should be left behind.

I didn't hear from them again.