HELP

[liitlepenguin]

We completed sale of our house today l. Due to the bad snow yesterday my husband went back to the house this morning to remove the last bits out the shed. We completed at 12 but unbeknownst to me my husband broke down on the motorway. He waited two hours for RAC. Got to the house at 2. Angry buyers wanted keys which he gave to them explained the situation. Took half an hour to clear shed and left. We've just had an email saying they are suing us for out of pocket expenses as they were unable to start moving in till 3pm. When completion was at 12.30. Can they sue us for the 2 hour delay ? Thanks

Bloody hell! I'm not a lawyer but I'd guess they're saying that in the heat of the moment as they've had a stressful day (as I'm sure you have!). I'm sure they'll calm down and you won't hear anything else. If they take it court I'm sure they'd have to spend more than they can claim back. Also, Id expect that any rational person deciding the case would employ some common sense and remember just how awful the weather has been. It's not as if it was a willful delay.

Can you have some wine tonight?

If they didn't have keys and couldn't get in, then their removers may charge waiting time. Whether that is worth a small claim depends on the cost.

They sound ridiculous ! They'll get nowhere with that.
Have they never moved house before? These things are never straightforward.

Depends on the contract but I think it is unlikely they will have a valid claim

Bonkers! But saying that, in all my house moves the keys have been provided by the estate agents.
How did they know the money had all been received etc? That all comes from your side, so for all they know your solicitor had not yet received their cleared funds

Thanks for your replies

I received a call at 12.30 saying completion had taken place and I asked about the keys because purple bricks were involved (being fucking useless). Solicitor then said they would call sellers who called me directly at 2 (but I was in first day of new job) but I didn't know it was her because she called off a withheld number and didn't leave a message. My husband called her at 3 and she got the keys and then we get the letter from her solicitor about the out of pocket expenses.

She's a first time buyer. I think she got a bit hysterical.

My husband went next door to our friends for tea before returning to our new rental and he said no delivery van arrived before he left at 6.
I wish I had wine