Property Buyer threatening to take us to court

[London76]

Sorry for the long post…
We are selling our property and before putting it up for sale we painted the main areas of the house and bathrooms, but did not do the bedrooms or doors.
The property was advertised as ‘freshly painted’. The buyer is now threatening court action against us as after viewing the property (before she put in an offer) and getting the survey completed she apparently realised at some point that some of the doors and the bedrooms were indeed not all newly painted. She is now threatening to take further legal action for false advertising if we do not pay to get the remaining areas painted. We are legally under contract now so neither party can pull out without reason, but any advice as to whether she has a leg to stand on? I feel the term freshly painted is pretty vague but not sure where we would stand legally and if it is indeed misleading or misrepresentation to say freshly painted but have not painted everything. She is a solicitor and using the firm she works for to send us the legal letters so it feels a bit intimidating.
I’m more annoyed that she is doing this 3 weeks before we complete, after we have already agreed to delay the sale for 12 weeks to accommodate her financially. We are already losing so much money as we’re having to pay 2 mortgages until it’s sold!

Ooh I like your conveyancer's style!!

I was going to suggest referring to the response in Arkell vs Pressdram, but I think your conveyancer has expressed it more politely 😁

I've come across this type; as soon as you fix one thing they find another problem they want sorted. I suggest you go radio silent, slap some paint up and all should be good.

I'd do the painting anyway, and accidentally forget to tell her it has been done.

She will spend lots of money on legal fees in the meantime, and all for nothing. Let her waste her time, energy and money on it, and all you've had to do is wave a brush and roller around for a couple of hours and spend a few $ on paint.

I would freshly pain "bitch" on all the doors. If it isn't laid put in the contract beside "freshly painted" how it should be finished you can do one quick coat yourselves?

@London76 if the estate agent wrote that particular and the buyer is referring back to that maybe the estate agency can foot the bill for the painting job?

Don't paint the word "bitch" , that is petty and can only lead to other problems. However you could paint the words " freshly painted" all over the place in a nice contrasting colour and your buyer should be completely satisfied.

There's usually some blurb on the estate agent's particulars about misrepresentation and not everything being perfectly checked as correct. Why on earth would she bother to sue you? Surely painting the doors wouldn't be expensive anyway.

Wow, clearly this person knew the state of the property when she agreed to purchase such. Unless you stated the “entire” property was “freshly painted”, then the site visit by the purchaser knew its condition before her offer was placed and accepted. It makes no difference who sends the letters, her firm or herself.
Painting the property now will be challenged most likely now as been inadequate and such could pull you into more litigious communications, as a sale has been agreed. This matter is about Symantec’s, the property when painted was indeed then “freshly painted”, the painted areas were accepted by the buyer, the site visit and exchange of contracts is binding and supports what was seen was accepted. The term “freshly painted” is ambiguous, does it mean yesterday, last week, last month, either-way it was freshly painted to you when you did such, its appearance was accepted by the purchaser. She is under contract, and nothing has changed from what she saw!

You really need to freshly paint it. In some ugly colour such as bright red, flirecant pink, double yellow line yellow etc. the cheapest crappiest paint see if any free groups are giving anything away. That way legally it's freshly painted and she has no legs to stand on. Also like someone. Else advised raise a complaint with the SRA about her conduct.

caveat emptor as someone else said

Caveat emptor - nothing in yoyr agreement to do it, so f her!

Noone will take her case, she is pushing her luck!

Slap some cheap paint up yourself and make sure you do a terrible job. Sorted.

I would freshly paint a huge cock and balls in every area she is whinging about

"Freshly painted" is loose. It doesn't say "ALL freshly painted" it doesn't define how fresh is fresh.

Let her crack on

You should tell her it is ‘freshly painted’ how would she prove otherwise? Freshly painted doesn’t specify within a certain time, it could mean last week or last year, perhaps you considered it to be freshly painted?

If she put an offer in after viewing it then it was on her to ask her solicitor to put it in their enquiries that the whole house would be freshly painted rather than some areas. You could have told her no way and if she’d have gone on to exchange on that basis it’s on her. If she put the offer in and exchanged without seeing it it’s on her. She sounds like a right nightmare. Breaching the contract on her end will cost her her deposit plus fees and potentially damages for you but if you breach it she could sue you for the house. I’d go and buy a couple of cheap tins of paint in the vilest colour you can find and if she comes back after then say you wanted it all freshly painted so it is, you didn’t specify the colour. I’d also consider contacting the SRA about her conduct as solicitors are bound by a code of conduct

I'm a solicitor. She's taking the absolute piss. Tell her to sod off.

She's barking and surely consumer law doesn't apply in private property sales?! I wonder if the head of her firm has actually written the letter or she's written it and nicked their electronic signature to make it sound more threatening

I would expect it to say
"Completely redecorated throughout" or "Freshly painted throughout"
For what she is arguing. I think a court would agree with me. This could have been commented on before surveys were done if it meant this much to her.

I was pondering if you put a dab of fresh paint on every door and skirting whether it would then comply because then everything would be "freshly painted" just not completely 😂

She's clearly trying to get out of the Contract because she's either found somewhere else or realised she doesn't want to spend the money now.

And "freshly" is a great vague adverb. Because clearly time has passed and nothing is freshly painted in the entire house.

Wgat a nutter, sounds like she has borderline personality disorder. Threatening to sue over some unpainted doors. Takes about 2 mins to slap a bit of paint on a door.

When selling my house 10 years ago, after I moved out when sold, I got an email via my solicitor saying the inside was shabby.

After I had moved out with my paintings and Victorian brown furniture, it looked empty. It was cleaned top to bottom by my cleaner as I moved out 5 days before the actual sale date.

Pushed back hard via my solicitor and heard nothing further.

Some people just want more than is reasonable.

I'd put on a complaint to the head of her legal practice or to the solicitors regulators. She is behaving unreasonably for potential personal financial gain.

The law may be different where you are, but in England the estate agent is responsible for the brochure particulars which they normally state should be checked out in person by the buyer.

Go to her company website. Make a complaint via their compliance/standards page.

I bet her firm have absolutely no idea whatsoever that she's using the firms resources to do this. I bet she wrote the letter herself and put it on letter headed paper - or just got a friend/colleague to do it. I bet there is nothing official from the firm/an agreement that they are legally representing her

She sounds unhinged. So I'd make a complaint asking whether the firm is genuinely threatening legal action over paint.

Just write - i received a letter from Mrs Xyz who works for your firm and is currently buying my property.

I wanted to check whether abc partners are genuinely threatening legal action against me over a bathroom door not being painted? And then send them a pic of a letter.

Unless they are real cowboy, I just cannot imagine her firm have genuinely taken this on as a case.

This seems like an issue for your estate agent under the property misdescriptions act and unless when valuing it you deliberately decieved them and made out you'd painted the entire property, that's on them for putting that on the advert. I can't see any world where that would obligated the vendor to then repaint so I'd be (with the help of your solicitor) calling her bluff and pushing back. She can then decides if she wishes to pursue the estate agent or not.