Help with defence of small claim over house purchase

[ikcdab]

I sold my mothers house in January this year.

The buyer is now suing me for misrepresentation.

 

 

Immediately prior to completion,

the buyer noticed that there was a fault with the heating.

I offered to have it repaired but this was refused

and the buyer demanded £2000 off the purchase price which I declined

on the basis that the buyer had refused my offer to have it fixed.

 

I have now received court claim papers.

When i signed the property information form the heating was Ok and i stated this on the form.

The heating was later turned off for the summer.

 

 

As the purchase took almost a year,

I was asked later to confirm that the information form remained current

and I confirmed this as I was not aware of any changes.

 

There is no doubt that at completion there was a fault with the heating though when it stopped working is not known.

It was working when I signed the form but by completion it had stopped.

the buyer did not undertake any surveys.

 

I have tried to negotiate and I have offered £1000 in settlement without admitting liability, but this has been refused.

 

I attach the particulars of claim and my proposed response and I would welcome any comments.

Thank you.

response to claim form.pdf

Particulars of Claim.pdf

Edited October 24, 2016 by ikcdab

[dx100uk]

trying it on IMHO

 

 

dx

[havinastella]

Their POC is a fairy tale. Defend in full.

[Andyorch]

I assume you had a solicitor to handle the sale ikcdab ...you need to inform of the claim and let them deal with it....thats why you appoint them in the first place to deal with the conveyancing. .

 

Regards

 

Andy

[ikcdab]

I assume you had a solicitor to handle the sale ikcdab ...you need to inform of the claim and let them deal with it....thats why you appoint them in the first place to deal with the conveyancing. .

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

Yes we did, all was done properly and above board. The solicitor has put us onto another solicitor in the practice who has greater expertise in this area. We are seeing him next week.

[king12345]

£1200 pain and suffering

He's a comedian...

[Andyorch]

Yes we did, all was done properly and above board. The solicitor has put us onto another solicitor in the practice who has greater expertise in this area. We are seeing him next week.

 

Excellent...make copies for them and you retain the originals....make sure you follow the process...you have 19 days to acknowledge service from the date on the claim (date being day 1) then you have a further 14 days to submit any defence if defending in full.

[ikcdab]

Excellent...make copies for them and you retain the originals....make sure you follow the process...you have 19 days to acknowledge service from the date on the claim (date being day 1) then you have a further 14 days to submit any defence if defending in full.

 

Thank you. Date of claim is 30 Sep 2016. Therefore service date is 5 October. I have submitted acknowledgement of service so I unbderstand I have 28 days to submit the defence ie. 2 November. Its MCOL so I will be submitting on-line.

[Andyorch]

If you are only seeing them next week and your defence is due 2nd Nov...its cutting it a bit tight.

[ikcdab]

If you are only seeing them next week and your defence is due 2nd Nov...its cutting it a bit tight.

 

I hope not. We're meeting him on 31 October. I already have written out my defence (as per the attachment above) and it shouldnt take long to edit this and submit by 2 Nov.

[Andyorch]

Ah you already have a rough draft of your proposed defence. (I only looked at the particulars)

[steampowered]

After reading your draft defence, it seems to me that a critical point is that you were asked to confirm whether your responses were still current in October/November 2015. The possible weakness in your defence is that the buyer may claim you should have checked the heating before confirming that everything was still current in October/November, unless that confirmation was clearly preceded by a "to the best of your knowledge" qualifier.

 

I personally would leave reference to the confirmation out of your defence. The buyer hasn't referred to the October/November confirmation in the particulars of claim so you could be shooting yourself in the foot. In paragraph 2 perhaps just say the heating was working when you signed the TA6 and leave it at that.

 

It would be worth taking a copy of the October/November confirmation and a copy of your TA6 when you go to see the solicitor.

[ikcdab]

After reading your draft defence, it seems to me that a critical point is that you were asked to confirm whether your responses were still current in October/November 2015. The possible weakness in your defence is that the buyer may claim you should have checked the heating before confirming that everything was still current in October/November, unless that confirmation was clearly preceded by a "to the best of your knowledge" qualifier.

 

I personally would leave reference to the confirmation out of your defence. The buyer hasn't referred to the October/November confirmation in the particulars of claim so you could be shooting yourself in the foot. In paragraph 2 perhaps just say the heating was working when you signed the TA6 and leave it at that.

 

It would be worth taking a copy of the October/November confirmation and a copy of your TA6 when you go to see the solicitor.

 

Thank you, thats a very helpful remark. I have updated it.