Received a misrepresentation and deceit letter from flat I sold 2 years ago: England
I own the freehold and until 2024, two of three flats (flat 2 I sold, flat 3 I retained and it is tenanted).
Today I have received a letter on behalf of the purchasers of flat 2 who say I lied on the TA6 when I said did I know of any dispute with neighbours.
Subsequently to moving in, probably within 3 months, she has become frustrated with my tenant, who is making what I consider to be normal domestic noise; having people over during the day, talking in her living room after 11pm, flushing her toilet in the night. Flat 2 says that flat 3 has drug dealers coming over. I was given no evidence of this. I said if she could supply evidence I would issue a section 8. She never did it. I responded to every complaint and I worked with my tenant to minimise noise. She lives like a monk now, no more complaints for 6 months.
Today I got a letter stating the purchaser of flat 2 is seeking damages, costs and possibly the freehold for me lying on the TA6.
She is referring to a community protection warning the tenant of flat 2 got in 2020. She left in 2022. There was some confusion about who was to blame for the noise as my tenant in flat 2 and 3 had the same first name and the issue was people shouting up to the flats to be let in and generally just being unsavoury. Also it has a shared entry way. The police worked out which tenant it was and issued the CPW, she had to sign it and live by the rules. She did that. Then moved out in 2022.
So when I ticked no to neighbour disputes I did not reasonably believe that I was being deceitful. My quiet tenant has had no complaints about her in 8 years, apart from that misunderstanding in 2020 which was cleared up at the time. The tenant in flat 2 had been quiet/complied with the CPW since 2021 and left the property in 2022.
What are the new owner of flat 2’s chances of proving a case to answer? I can only imagine she was moaning to the person in flat 1 about the noise in flat 3 and he incorrectly said she had already been in trouble for it. When she asked me about it in email about 1 year before this letter I stated the same as above.