Question:
The Buyers wanted the hot tub in the back yard, but the Seller excluded it. Ten days after completion, someone entered their yard and ripped the copper connecting cable, about 30 feet long, out of the grass, cut it at the wall and plugged it with cement.
I am assuming it was the Seller, because the thief took time to seal and repair the hole in the foundation wall. I called the Listing Agent to give the Seller a chance to make this right before we report them to the DRPS (police ) and she wouldn’t even call her client.
Answer:
This is most unfortunate. It is theft, but the challenge will be to determine exactly who removed it from the yard. Without something more, it would be very difficult to prove that this was: 1) the husband, 2) the wife, 3) the son, 4) the daughter, 5) the handyman, or 6) the Purchaser of the hot tub from KIJIJI. Proof for criminal offences is “beyond a reasonable doubt”. So, that’s 99% certainty.
The issue of civil trespass and conversion (theft) is much easier to prove. The proof is assessed on the basis of a “balance of probabilities”, that means slightly more than 50%, “more likely than not”. However, we still have our problem associated with the determination of the actual person responsible.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker