Buyer complaining after closing

9 years ago

My wife and I sold our house last year and moved a short distance away. The house we sold was damaged in Hurricane Sandy and was completely renovated and raised in the time since the storm. All of that work had been fully permitted and inspected by our town with the certificate of occupancy issued in June of 2015. The house was in great shape, but simply too small for our soon to be growing family. :)

Our buyer had a firm date that they need to close by and as such agreed to allow us to stay in the house for the three days in between the closing for the sale of this house and the purchase of our new home. They completed the walk through the day after we left and raised issue about some scratches in the floor where an old couch had been that were present during the time they first viewed the house and their inspection. They claimed they were from the move. There was some money escrow until we were out and it was agreed that we would give them half to allow us all to move on with our lives.

We received a letter from their attorney stating that there were issues with the house about six weeks after closing. The letter stated that a week prior they were using the shower and heard a weird noise coming from the toilet. They called a plumber out and found that the sewer line was broken underneath the house. The plumber then did a deeper dive into some of the plumbing and found other issues. The plumber said that we should have known about these issues and the buyer has asked us to pay for them.

We had no knowledge of these issues and their home inspector did not note any of them either. The plumbing had been completely redone during the repair work mentioned prior and passed all required town inspections. We stated that we were not responsible given the time since closing and the fact that we did not know about any of these.

Their response was that they would gather estimates and send them over and if an agreement couldn't be reached, then they would consider suing.

It's been about 5 weeks and no estimates and no further word. Curious if anyone has ever gone through anything similar?

Featured Answer

homechef59

9 years ago

Immediately cease all communications with the attorney or purchasers. Thus far, there is no demand letter or damages requested. They are fishing. Do not return phone calls. If you receive a demand letter from the attorney, go get your own attorney. Let your attorney handle all communication and correspondence. The purchasers really don't have a leg to stand on, but their attorney wants to know if you are ignorant, stupid, blink or you will do something stupid. They are sharks and you are a dolphin. You keep swimming, until you need to push back. Get a lawyer. And, don't talk to either realtor. They can't help and will only hurt. Speak only your attorney.

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Comments (12)

ncrealestateguy
9 years ago
If you should have known about them, then I would think that their inspector should have know about them too.
User
9 years ago
Ignore them until you geto something from their lawyer.
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Anglophilia
9 years ago
They're trying to put their bad luck off on you. I cannot imagine they have a legal leg on which to stand. I'd ignore them unless something comes from their attorney.
nancylouise5me
9 years ago
I would just not respond to their letters at this time. If they take it further, then it would be the time to get your own lawyer and have him/her take care of it. You did not know of the problems when you sold your home. Why would you, everything was new and had been replaced due to Sandy. Even the professional they hired did not know, so why would a layman. Sounds like they are trolling for some extra bucks from you. Don't be drawn in unless it is necessary. So far it isn't.
sylviatexas1
9 years ago
The letter is from their attorney ! It doesn't sound to me like you would be held responsible, but you probably need to get legal counsel of your own.
User
9 years ago
I agree with Sylvia. If you used an attorney for your closing, contact him/her about what's going on. If you didn't use an attorney, retain a real estate attorney so you're prepared.

If you retain an attorney, then all correspondence will be between the attorneys and the buyer can't contact you at all.

Just a note. My wife used to be a claims supervisor with a large insurance company. Many times a claimant would make up a letterhead with some attorney's name thinking that an attorney will intimidate her. (It never worked since the adjustors are friends with all the attorneys) But she always said that once an attorney is involved, all direct contact with the claimant ends.
ncrealestateguy
9 years ago
Most RE attorneys do not litigate...
rrah
9 years ago
Agree that this is a fishing letter. Since you correctly did not bite, their lawyer has likely told them that any lawsuit would end up costing them more than they would gain. Not a lawyer, but I think they would lose. Wait and see.
rwiegand
9 years ago
Do not respond. If they come back with something more serious have your lawyer write them a letter telling them to pound sand.
njdude82
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks everyone for the responses.

Should have made it clearer that we had our lawyer respond to their lawyer saying we were not responsible. Almost 6 weeks since that and still no word.

In a perfect world, we would like to get some sort of "closure", but think the fact that we haven't heard anything since is an encouraging sign.

Thanks again.
cpartist
9 years ago
Glad your lawyer wrote them. And a sewer line could have broken after they moved in so it's their tough luck. Hoping you don't hear from them again.