Can a property purchaser sue a previous managing agent?

Can a property purchaser sue a previous managing agent?

0:01 AM, 7th February 2025, About 12 hours ago 3

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Hello everyone, We let and managed a property for which we found and installed tenants.

The landlord subsequently sold the property through a different agent and the purchasers have now issued a county court summons citing the vendor as the 1st defendant and ourselves as the 2nd defendant based on a fault in the heating system.

We became aware of the fault and tried to get it fixed but the landlord then took this job away from us (based on cost) and tried to fix it (unsatisfactorily) himself.

We never had a contractual relationship with the property purchasers (never heard of them until now) so does privity of contract apply i.e. they can’t sue us as there was never a contract between us and them?

Many thanks

Jonathan


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Julesgflawyer

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11:02 AM, 7th February 2025, About 30 minutes ago

No one can simply "sue" someone else. The claimant (purchaser) needs to set out fully the basis of their claim, eg is it in contract, tort (commonly negligence), breach of statutory duty or whatever? They also need to set out the facts which they allegedly constitute the various elements of the "wrong". If all you've had so far is a claim form, this detail should be in the separate Particulars of Claim. It may be that this claim against you is hopelessly misconceived, or it may not. You should take proper legal advice once you have full details of the claim.

Julesgflawyer

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11:06 AM, 7th February 2025, About 27 minutes ago

No one can simply "sue" someone else. The claimant (purchaser) needs to set out fully the basis of their claim, eg is it in contract, tort (commonly negligence), breach of statutory duty or whatever? They also need to set out the facts which they allege constitute the various elements of the "wrong". If all you've had so far is a claim form, this detail should be in the separate Particulars of Claim. It may be that this claim against you is hopelessly misconceived, or it may not. You should take proper legal advice once you have full details of the claim.

Ryan Stevens

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11:25 AM, 7th February 2025, About 7 minutes ago

You were only agent for the owner, and the owner had already taken the repair away from you, so it seems improbable that you would be liable.

Having said that, the law is an ass.

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