Buyers refuse to pay

We recently sold our PPR in Qld. Prior to settlement the buyers asked to buy some of our furniture. After a meeting we agreed on some furniture and TVs, and the price. It was an informal agreement on sms. I sent them my account details before settlement, but they did not pay at settlement. At first I thought they were just busy and forgot. A couple of weeks later, they still have not paid, and now say they are holding back because there are “issues” with the house!
They did building and pest (prior to the contract becoming unconditional), and then pre-settlement inspections, and never raised any issues then... they even commented that the house seems almost new and complimented us on how well the house have been maintained at the meeting we had!
I am very disappointed as we have always been very accommodating with their requests, and went out of our way to make sure the house was pristine for settlement (including hiring professional cleaners - internal and external, pool-spa and gardening, folder of instructions/manuals etc). We even left them some nice items (eg vases, statue and paintings) which matched the house decor. Not sure what to do ... any advice ?

 

sue them? this is a separate contract to that of the house sale.

 

Yes, we kept it separate to avoid complicating settlement. The furnitures worth about $3k so lawyers fees might be more?

 

Consult with a debt collection agency like Marshall Freeman. Ask if you can add their fee on to the debt they pursue for you. Worth exploring.

 

Thanks for your advice. Will look into it.

 

I aint messin wid you....

 

Can I have a free statue?

 

They asked for the statue...it’s only a small 1m figurine...

 

Good luck.. small claims are always very hard to enforce in court.

 

I can tell you from experience that you have a long and hard road ahead. You can’t just go to a debt collection agency and employ a couple of thugs to show up at the door and demand money. You have to go through due process and either do it yourself or engage a solicitor.

1. Write a letter of demand (which they will likely ignore). Wait a few weeks.

2. File in the magistrates court (few hundred dollars) and pay a bailiff $700 or so to have them served. Wait a few weeks for a response (they will probably ignore).

3. Go to court and prove your case. Hopefully have it ruled in your favour. They probably won’t show up.

4. Send them the court order to pay which they will probably ignore.

5. Figure out how to enforce the court order where the whole process has cost you more time and money than what you would have been paid in the first place, particularly if you’ve used a solicitor.

OR

1. Write it off as a lesson that next time you will have it written into the contract as a mutually agreed amendment under special conditions with a specified amount adjusted at settlement.



Personally, and I’m not being flippant, I wouldn’t waste your time. It will genuinely cost you more stress than it’s worth and probably more than you’re owed and there’s no guaranteed outcome in your favour. Unfortunately it’s just the way the legal system works in small claims. Given you clearly didn’t want or need the furniture anyway it’s a cheap lesson.

- Andrew

 

A friend sold his property with some large and no longer needed items like the pool table and a massive cabinet. The solicitor included this in the settlement as a special condition to avoid such issues.

Possession was given with the property sale and its doesnt assist that the furniture contract seems to have been made by SMS. I hope that the SMS specifies the items agreed.

 

-------------
Yes, the SMS listed all the items and price agreed upon. Even says that payment will go thru the night prior to settlement! I should have insisted on the payment earlier (maybe before moving out) or got the solicitors involved, but was naive in trusting the buyers who seemed nice and never thought this could happen.

 

-------------------------

Thank you for sharing your valuable experience and advice. The consideration of going down this path was driven mainly by principle rather than the actual dollars, and the thought of letting such action / people get away without consequence. However, it is useful to know that hiring a debt collection agency is not as straight forward as it initially seems or as they advertise. Lesson learnt indeed, and your advice much appreciated.

 

Personally I would still explore the debt collection agency. The principal is important, and it's not about hiring thugs. You may be able to make a nuisance of yourself, via the agency and potentially cause them credit problems .It's your call. If it's better for your mental health to walk away then of course do that, but if not then this is an avenue that you have. You could ask the agency for testimonials, check out if they've successfully helped others in similar situations.

 

Agreed. If you have spare time, think of it as a hobby. If you can keep your cool (the way revenge is best served) during the process, you might actually learn some valuable skills.

 

I agree if you can keep it level and not stressful.

I'd start by rocking up on a Saturday morning and discussing it with them in person. Friendly style.

 

Yes, of course there is the principle component of it all. In my younger days I was far more about principle than practical outcomes and would pursue things that would often cost me more time and money than it was worth. For example, I once sued a vendor for a broken dishwasher and dragged him through magistrates court, debt collectors etc. Looking back, I got a kick out of it at the time but I wouldn't bother these days.

It all comes down to your personal tolerance and how much time, energy and money you want to put towards enforcing your principles. There is some arbitrary figure that is elastic for everyone depending on their personal situation - for some it would be $10,000 when some people wouldn't get out of bed for less than $100,000.

You can pursue these options if you like of course, but it's much easier for people to gee you up on these forums and get you to do it as none of us will be the ones going through the motions and having it hanging over our heads for weeks or months from now.

My point is that it's not a simple process and practically not worth your time. Having said that, I do completely empathise with the desire to do it and try to punish them on principle as I've been there and done it myself!

Cheers,

Andrew

 

Lawyers love people with principles

 

Unless you have that in writing you may have a hard time enforcing this.....if it is on the contract of sale...why was the money not included in the sale.

Personally never go into informal agreement...people are funny....