House purchasers threatening to sue us over defects

Hi everyone, hope this is the right place to post this. We sold our house in 2019. The purchasers had a survey done and everything. There was no issues.

They have now discovered a serious issue under neath a floor where sewerage is seeping in. I don't really know what the problem is but I told them we did have a blockage once which was addressed. Then their solicitor sent us a letter asking for a copy of our survey that we had done when we bought the house in 2016. Being nice we sent it onto them trying to be helpful. It does say in our survey their is a possible issue with the sewerage and we should get it checked but we never did, to be honest i don't remember reading the survey as the company doing it gave us a verbal ok on buying the property. For nearly 3 years we lived there with once having a plumber out who solved the issue which I regarded as normal for most people in a house?

Now their solicitor has sent a new letter with a very threatening tone, that we knew about the issue when we sold them the house and with held it and they will be looking for us to contribute to the costs of repair (something like 15 grand!)
I can't get my solicitor on the phone but Im just in shock here. Can they do this?

Relax, you've nothing to worry about.

Sellers are under no obligation to disclose defects to a purchaser - the doctrine of caveat emptor (buyer beware) applies.

Either ignore the letter or get your solicitor to reply (telling them to politely buzz off).

It's a try on.

It was probably not a great idea to send on your own surveyors report to them but, hey, that's done.

The over-riding principle in house sales/purchases is Caveat Emptor - let the buyer beware.

If they had a survey done, and it did not show the issue, perhaps they should take the matter up with their surveyor?

I think you should send the most recent solicitor's letter on to your own solicitor and take their advices.

mf

Buyer will no doubt find that their surveyor has enough small print so they are not exposed either.

Just spoke to solicitor. He said not to worry, yes that it is buyer beware, they must have gotten nowhere with their own surveyer and are hoping we will cough up but they've no chance. He will write back to them telling them to buzz off!
Gave me a fright though. The cheek of them, if I was elderly or vulnerable I would have been scared stiff by the letter.