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 agree with your solicitor. You could be held liable if you had known the damp patch was due to a leak and not the sealant coming away. However, you didn't know that. They have no chance in my view.

I'm not sure where your costs come from. Small claims start at £35 for a claim of up to £300. There is no level of claim that costs £350. It is £205 for claims of £3,000-£5,000, £455 for £5,000-£10,000.

Not yet. First I’ve heard of anything today when my solicitor emailed to tell me what had happened and their plan to go to SCC

That’s what I’ve paid! I’ll log in and screenshot

(Btw though- £350 isn’t an exact figure, I just guessed- I’m sure it’s in that ballpark. I wasn’t aware it had to be spot on 😂)

Well we’re about to find out with the screenshot!

So no formal letter?

Well they won’t get very far!

I’m surprised you’re assuming it’s the same leak? They could have flooded the bathroom themselves and be trying to pull a fast one. Or it could be a different leak. Five months is a long time, and if there was no sign of the leak after you re-did the silicone it could very well have a different cause. If you do respond I’d make it clear they’re going to have to prove it’s related, rather than accepting that it is.

Not yet. Like a previous poster said, I’m hoping that they are just trying their luck and getting me to try and pay out.

Surely insurance would pay for it so unless they’re trying to get the cost of the excess from me? Time will tell I suppose

To be fair there is nothing stopping them raising a money claim. They don’t check that you have written a pre action letter. You can argue that might be viewed negatively by a judge; but let’s face it, it’s not getting that far is it?

I'd say it's not possible to prove that it was damaged before they purchased it. And essentially it's buyer beware at that point when they purchased because the slow leak wasn't known to you or to them and it didn't come up in any surveys or inspections.

It's unfortunate but I think they must prove it and that will be nigh on impossible. If their survey never caught it that's not your fault.

If a patch was noticeable when you were living there (albeit you could paint over it), surely over the 4.5 months it would have returned, grown, bulged, dripped water etc before it got to the stage of actually destroying the ceiling??

Knowing there had been damp there previously, have they then just failed to notice this/ignored it?

This would be negligence on their part, and renders them completely responsible for costs.

More likely, they knew perfectly well there was a leak that needed sorting,and thought they would get a new bathroom and a redecorated kitchen out of it. I'd check the credentials of the plumber that wrote the report!

But no it won't come to anything IMO, if anyone is liable it's their surveyor.

I wouldn’t even bother replying. They are being very cheeky

I would ignore until you receive anything from the court which you can then dispute.
How are they able to prove that the leak you sealed is the same leak that caused their kitchen ceiling to collapse given that there is a period of at least 4.5 months inbetween the two events and not something that they themselves have caused.

They would be better directing their energies at their surveyor.

Their surveyor should have picked it up, and if a professional didn't spot it, how were you supposed to know?

The purchasers can jog on as far as I'm concerned. They should either be taking the surveyor to court for negligence, or (if they didn't pay for that level of survey) they will have to get familiar with the term 'caveat emptor'.

You had rectified the issue to the best of your knowledge and understanding and your repair appeared to have worked. You declared what you had done. Ask your solicitor to politely tell their solicitor to go forth and multiply.

To win, they have to prove that the cause of the leaking occurred when you owned the property, that you knew about the problem and that you deliberately hid it from them and deceived them.

They haven’t got a scooby!

Ignore the cheeky chancers. 🤣🤣

Everyone has grounds, it’s whether there is merit to those grounds which is up for debate.

It seems like that they’re suggesting that they have purchased the property that is gone ahead and completed on the basis that you rectified the issues raised in they survey one of them being the ‘damp patch’. The damp patch turned out to be collapsed ceiling.

i can’t be sure, as you haven’t clarified what their particulars say.

I wonder if they don’t mean they’re suing you in the small claims court but asking if you would support their claim against the surveyor for missing the leak? I’d be really surprised if they could sue you for this given that the whole point of surveys is because it’s for the buyer to check the property over, not for the seller to disclose any problems.

Surely the normal response would be to claim on buildings insurance rather than sue the previous owner? They seem rather unhinged - anything could have happened in the 5 months since the sale.

I don't think it's normal to have to address everything that comes up in a survey anyway. It's their choice to go ahead or not, sometimes people get money off because of a survey:
Agree that if they are convinced the leak was present when the survey was done then it's an issue with a surveyor - although from memory they have many caveats relating to not being able to see everything!

We lived in our house for 5 months before there was a major leak in the kitchen - a pipe had been slowly leaking underneath the concrete floor and gradually leaked through causing huge amounts of damage. I never even thought about it being anything to do with the previous owners! No one could tell us how long it would have been leaking for. We just claimed on the house insurance (and waited about another 5 months for it all to be put right again!)

It’s on them to prove. And if it’s small claims court costs are very limited. If their survey didn’t pick it up it’s not reasonable to expect you to know.

I don’t think they have realistic prospects of success

@Bambamhoohoouour email address is showing on that screen shot