Some impartial advice please : sold home, buyer being an arse

[legrandefromage]

Sooo...

Sold house, two surveys in, buyer pops by to measure up, house clean and tidy

We've moved, buyer has moved in in, then we get an email via our solicitors asking, no, demanding £500 for loss of earnings due to having to take time off clean

The buyer has been friends with our now former neighbours for some time.

Our former neighbour is also batshit crazy, see this thread: https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/how-come-i-end-up-being-the-bad-guy.472750/

She left some random wood on our lawn the day of our move, shiplap, it doesn't match anything in our old garden, I don't know wny either

The email from the buyer said the house was in a disgusting state and that we were filthy and hadn't bothered to clean.

I detect the tangy whiff of the mad neighbour in all this. Pictures sent to us, show some crumbs in the fridge and some dirt from under the dishwasher where it gets loaded

We did miss cleaning the new downstairs pooper, that I'm embarrassed about

Our neighbour told the buyer we we weren't bothered about cleaning

I don't get it, our contract simply states clean and tidy not immaculate, yet the buyer has been round 3 times, two surveyors, was it so filthy??

Here's a couple of pics about 2 minutes before I shut the door for the final time

 

[mk one]

Last house we sold the new buyers moved in and then demanded money to repaint a room as it was not a good job. Left it to the solicitors as they had obviouly viewed the house and agreed on the sale as seen. The room was fine btw, turns out it was a younger family memberwho thought they could get money back which seems the way of the world these days sadly. Obvioulsy they didnt get any and probably had extra fees to pay as well.

 

[legrandefromage]

The wood of mistery

 

[doctor-bond]

I have zero legal training but do have a grubby house, and as this is bicycle forum, I’ll jump straight in with advice: ignore them; what are they going to do, spend more on solicitors and take it to a place where they have to prove the loss of earnings and have a debate about what clean means? For a monkey? Stay cool.

 

[Betsy]

Did you write CNUTS on the lawn in weedkiller with an arrow pointing to the nighbours house?

 

[TreaderSteve]

Fuggin' mental. What is wrong with people? They've not got a leg to stand on - as doctor-bond said, stay cool.
Frig me sideways, my house would be immaculate if I wanted a week's wage (£500) equating to 5 full days of 8 hours cleaning. Your solicitor should be offering a bit of free advice regarding this and not seeing this as a further way to make themselves a few quid as a go-between.
The purchaser won't be able to prove a thing so as above ignoring it is probably an entirely fair response. Chancers/ wnakers. Don't embroil yourself and entertain their approach.
Nice kitchen worktops by the way! I wish I'd bought similar and not oak.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

Not sure what the laws are around property transactions where you are.

Let me put this in some perspective - they had just purchased a house and had to move in. In my experience, that takes some time. And when doing a move, sometimes you might have to do some cleaning. And they want £500 for sweeping up some crumbs, running a brush around a toilet bowl and stacking some random timber out of the way? £500 for lost earnings while doing basic chores? That nobody else would take time off work to do?

Ignore it. Let them take you to whatever civil claims court you have in your area, and when you get the subpoena, write back and tell the lawyer "I'll be there, but I'll likewise be claiming costs for lost income when I win. This might NOT go in your clients favour, so instruct them wisely."

Not that anyone should listen to advice from me. My cousin runs a grain farm. He has been divorced for 5 years, all settled. Last year, his mother passed away and the farm got transferred to his name. Now the ex-missus is after "her share of the farm". I suggested he fill a jam jar with dirt from the top paddock, send it to her with a note saying "please find enclosed your share of the farm". And he did. His ex isn't taking the joke so well. So again, don't take advice from me.

Good luck, you're not dealing with people who are playing with a full deck.

 

[2manyoranges]

A self-focussed self-righteous take on buying a house. I hope your solicitors tell them to get real.

I thought they might be more upset that you bricked up the only entrance to the garage? How did you escape?

Do do de do do, do do de do do.....(Great Escape Theme).

 

[jonnyboy666]

i just assumed that being british, if you move in to a place and you don't consider it clean enough, you just clean it while muttering "dirty bastards!" all day and that's the end of it.

on a serious note, i've heard of end of tennacy agreements to clean for inspection, but house sale is effectively sold as seen, you could maybe argue that something was not as agreed but arguing for equalivalent of your pay for time spent cleaning is bullshit. sounds to me they made an offer for the house and are trying to get some of that back because (like in retail) people begrudge paying bills.

 

[CassidyAce]

...
We've moved, buyer has moved in in, then we get an email via our solicitors asking, no, demanding £500 for loss of earnings due to having to take time off clean
...

Loss of earnings due to having to take time off to move house sounds more like it.