God what is wrong with this man??? Rant and legal advice sort!

[Fio2]

FFS I have just had a letter through post off my solicitor regarding my old house. The twat who has bought it has raised some 'issues'

1. There arent enough keys for the doors and he cant get in or out of some of them. We didnt provide enough keys - (but they were all we had and we coped)

2. There has been alot of rubbish left that is requiring clearance (ie the compost heap, which was there when they viewed it grrr)

3. The garage door was broken. (was when they viewed and when the survey was done, thick surveyor hadnt noticed) anyway she tried to close it (it was soooo obviously broken) and it 'nearly' fell on her head and if their daughter had of been there it could have killed her.

4. there is not BT linbe at the house (???!!!)

Apart from making me want to go round and punch the living daylights out of him, what should we do. Dh says ignore it because he cant do anything anway but I am worried about it and so f"cking mad. I bet none of this will make sense I am absolutely fuming!!!!

yeah cam's probably right. It will have cost his letter! ha ha.

FWIW, when we moved in here the people before had taken FITTED wardrobes & cupboards (& left blooming great holes everywhere) that were here when we viewed the house, and a wire post catcher that had been screwed to the front door (again leaving holes). They hadn't attempted to put anything right. We just put it down to experience. This man is an idiot

(We once lived next door to someone who took EVERYTHING with him each time he moved- lightbulbs, established plants from the garden, doorhandles, light fittings, you name it.)

well it has all started again. Our solicitor now says we HAVE to reply to his letter and what are we offering in compensation? grrrrrr We have drawn up a draft letter basically denying all points and saying how distressing we are finding it all, but to be honest do we really have to have anything to do with this? I am going to try to get an appointment at the citizens advice bureau asap to see where we stand but surely we dont just have to GIVE him money for nothing. Our solicitor thought he was being ridiculous but she is so dopey, I dont know what to do he is making me feel sick

why do you HAVE to reply to the letter?
that doesn't sound right at all. CAB is a good idea.

Your solicitor doesn't sound very good. Is there another one you can ask? I can ask dh tonight, but I know he'll say its not his area - I'll ask him anyway though!

message withdrawn

yes she is part of a practice, she is very young and most probably has only just started out. I dont resent her for this but she is rubbish and HE knows it, that is why he has been a complete prat all the way through. Do you think he has any standing for compensation? We havent got the money and my husband is livid, saying over his dead body he is getting any more money out of us!!

I don't understand how your solicitor can insist on your replying. Didn't you say further down that the copy forwarded to you had been editted. That doesn't sound very professional to me and I'd be wondering what other points were raised , perhaps relating to the solicitor's competency ?

To respond to the original points,(not a legal opinion btw !)

As long as you handed over all the relevant copies of keys I don't see how they can complain.

Did they ever ask that the compost heap was removed or was there anything in the contract which may have lead them to believed that, regarding the condition in which the garden would be left ?

Garage door - if they had not specified that it was to be secured or made good don't see how they can complain

BT link - was one confirmed on the itemised list of questions, fixtures and fittings inventory. If not surely they should have asked specifically before exchange.

It must be such a pain for this to drag on. Hope you get is sorted out.

this is it I did agree to remove all rubbish/waste from the house upon completion, which I did apart from the compost heap (if you can call it that!) he is claiming though that there is garden waste and 'large items' left. Which we havent a clue what he is on about. It all seems pre-planned before they moved in, well they havent moved in apparently. I sent one of my friends round to check () as I have moved 200 miles away. Apparently they are decorating and have removed a victorian cast iron fireplace out of the lounge. This is another thing that is worrying me, that he will claim we took it.

Also if we do write a letter should I include that he made a demand of 4,500.00 before we moved out of the property or the sale would fall through? We refused this and he still bought the house, but I thought it would show him in his true light iykwim

I don't think he has a leg to stand on - its buyer beware as long as you didn't take anything you listed as staying on the sellers info doc. The only thing he could quibble is the compost heap if you did agree to clear garden rubbish. I would point out the value of it (ie is equiv to £xxx of fertiliser but if he'd rather buy his own mass produced fertiliser then .....).

Speak to the head of practice - but make sure they're not planning to charge again for the letter, this is part of the selling process. Start from the point of compensating for what?? and work from there. I would say this could be resolved easily tho.

We've just moved and they were such dickheads that I ended up taking a strategic lightbulb for everytime they pissed me off. Think they had 1 left in the end.... not mature but strangely satisfying. They also complained that we hadn't labelled the door and window keys and tried to get me to travel 100 miles to go back and show them which was which. They were sadly disappointed in this request. There's something about buying a house that makes sane people lose touch with reality!

I dont think this man is in reality anyway, he seems to live in a fantasy world where he is boss

Oh fio2- easy talk to the partner in charge of your dippy solicitor. She may well be a trainee if she's this clueless. Just ring up and ask to talk to the partner in charge of conveyancing. They'll sort it out easily.

Dear Mr Tw@tfaced-ar£e,

In response to the poits raised in your letter dated XXX;

1. We left you all the keys for the property that we had. Unfortunately it is not possible for us to leave you keys which are not in our possession.

2. Please provide a detailed list of the items you believe require clearance. The only item we left in the garden was the compost heap which we believed to be part of the garden and that it was actually an asset to a gardener.

3. I suggest you take up the point regarding the garage door with your surveyor. The garage door has been in a state of poor repair since we purchased the property 4 years ago. (NB Did this show up on the survey you had done when you purchased the property??)

4. I refer you back to the fixtures and fittings list which we returned to our solicitors on XXX. This did not say there was a BT line at the property, not did we ever claim there was such a line.

We are not prepared to offer any compensation for any of the aforementioned points.

Now off and leave us alone.

Yours sincerely,
Fio2

Soupy! I have just wrote a very similar letter, how weird!

no btw, the garage door did not come up on their survey. The surveyor never even asked to have access to the garage AT all. I thought this was a bit weird at the time

oh sorry noi it didnt show up on our survey when we bought it because we only had a valuation report when we bought it, sorry having a thick day

Definitely speak to the Conveyancing partner. They should write the letter on your behalf but I think soupy's pretty much hits the mark. Don't see what compensation he could demand apart from possibly cost of clearing the compost heap.

Fio, what a bldy nightmare. Agree with everyone else - get a more senior solicitor to tell him (in legal terms of course) to f* off. You do not need this kind of aggravation. Some people should be banned from ever buying houses.

well I have emailed a letter to my solicitor very similar to the one soupy wrote, so hopefully this will be an end to it. I have most probably put my solicitors nose out of joint though, because I have included about the letter being cut and pasted and things missing from it. I said it was concerning and unprofessional. My view is though it was 'his' solicitor who removed certain parts due to them being imflammatory, so I hope twat head feels like the prick he is now. have a feeling this wont be over though

Excellent letter Soupster

Fio2,

as a solicitor can I just point out to you that, indeed, this bloke sounds like a complete tosspot and sadly like a lot of people I have to put up with every single day. You are a poor thing and I know how you feel (incidentally there isn't anything he can do) xx :0

Don't give in! Don't give him a penny! He's hoping you will pay him to go away - he's a chancer. A compost heap is NOT rubbish - it is part of a garden - like a lawn or shed or shrub. Grrr. What a tosser.

thanks allyco, I am releived to hear that. Thanks evryone else for making me feel better about this, and telling me not worry

Couldnt find my second thread on this but an update is: The second letter he sent from his solicitor with the photos in and stuff was unanswered by us. I couldnt even be bothered and guessed he didnt know where we lived anyway.

I have not heard anything since.

Had a letter from our solicitor this weekend saying that the sale/purchase of our property was now complete and the files have been sent into storage.

Me thinks this is the end of the matter yippee!!!

OH thank god for that, fio - when I saw the thread title I thought he was at it again! Well done!