On the 31st Jan 2008 we put our partially completed house on the market.?

On the 31st Jan 2008 we put our partially completed house on the market. We had it valued and we signed a HIPS form and originally the price was £349+VAT. The man came to do the survey and when the wife took him to show him around he said what am I doing here, the house was just a bare shell. He even rang his boss on his mobile to ask what was going on. On the 8th July I had a letter from the Estate Agents saying further to our letter of 29th May (which I did not receive) I was asked to pay but they did knock off £100 because they hadn't carried out the full survey. On the 19th Sep I received a letter from their Debt Recovery Department requesting payment. In the meantime I knew a friend who was doing a HIPS course, so I asked him about it and he showed me a paragraph that says if a property is unsafe, not suitable for occupation and serious risk to the health and safety of potential occupants and visitors then it does not require an HIP. The estate agent would not go no further than the garage because he felt it unsafe to go any further. So I contacted the Estate Agents and read out this bit of information and there answer was to contact the Debt Decovery people this I did and I sent a copy of what I had found out and that was the last I heard of it. Or so I thought. On the 4th August 2009 I received a letter from a different collection agency this with it was the a copy of the original invoice with a line right across it diagonally, I spoke to a couple of people who have had secratarial experience and they have said that when they put a line across it that normally says it's the end of the matter . On the 16th Sept I had another letter from them demanding payment or legal action would be taken against me. Could someone please enlighten me on the subject, and tell me what they deem has unsafe, the house is windtight and watertight but has I've said inside it is just a shell no stairs fitted or anything. Iwould appreciate any imformation on where we stand, if we stood our ground and let them take us to court.

2 months ago - 1 answers