Misrepresentation of property

[Sara82]

My partner and I sold a flat earlier this year to move to a house. 3 months after moving out of the flat, we received solicitor papers through the door where the person who had bought the flat was claiming misrepresentation. We were very shocked and found a solicitor straight away.

 

The reason for their claim is that they had an argument with the lady who lived next door (the flats are two story high in a block of 4) whilst they were in the communal garden. We do not know the full story of why an argument occurred, however we are supposedly to at blame because we did not tell them what this lady was like. We had completed all the forms when selling the flat and had noted on the 'property information' form where it asks if there have been any complaints/disputes about the property 'clarification via solicitors that the garden is communal'. The reason we noted this is because we had bought a share of the freehold whilst we lived at the flat and as a result, the other freeholders wanted to tackle the lady next door (she decided not to buy a share of the freehold) about her plant pots and attitude towards the garden, hence the solicitor correspondence.

 

At the time of completing the form, there was no malice from us and we were pushed on time due to the person who was buying our flat. We filled it in the best we could and we did not state that we had any neighbour disputes as we did not personally have any.

 

Our solicitor initially seemed to be fairly relaxed about everything after seeing the correspondence. There were letters back and forth to their solicitors. It was only recently that we asked for a bill from our solicitors that we realised the costs were mounting! We decided to back off, which seems to have made our solicitor get on our case and has scared us into thinking we are going to be found liable in a court because we didn't fill the 'property' form in properly. We have tried to argue our case by saying that although this new person has had a verbal argument with the lady next door, we did not have the same level of conflict and also that neither our solicitor at the time of selling or their solicitor picked up on our comment that we had put on the form. Should they have been the ones to ask for further details if they felt we were to vague? However, the correspondence that was sent when we were freeholders is what puts our case in danger of losing.

 

We have followed the advice of our solicitor and have made a Part 36 offer which is just over half the monies they are looking for. We do not feel we are at fault but if our solicitor says we are at risk of losing if it goes to court then we have had to think long and hard about the costs that are escalating. They have declined our offer and are not willing to budge on it at all.

 

We thought that it was all about negotiating and wondered whether they are now at risk because they refused our Part 36 offer? (the claimant is with a no win no fee solicitor and has a conditional fee agreement!). Apparently they are willing to go all the way to court!

 

Any advice welcomed

[rebel11]

Hi Sara

 

Welcome to CAG

 

The guys will advise as soon as they are available.