PHOTO: Zyl Hovenga-Wauchope was accused of defamation after a dispute with his real estate agent.(Supplied)
Legal letters are scary-looking documents and, even for those trained in the law, having one land in your inbox can be a frightening experience — especially when they are accusing you of defaming someone in a public forum.
That is exactly what happened to 27-year-old Zyl Hovenga-Wauchope when he posted a letter to his real estate agent on Facebook.
He is now being threatened with defamation action, and legal experts are warning consumers to beware of what they say online, or they could wind up in a similar situation.
‘Quite surprised’: A legal threat
In May, Mr Hovenga-Wauchope penned a letter to his real estate agent, after a dispute with his property manager at his previous Canberra home.
He then published that letter to his Facebook page, and shared it more widely.
The dispute was over an end-of-lease inspection, and a water bill.
Within days, an email from his agent’s lawyers arrived. It disagreed with his complaints and claimed the Facebook post was defamatory, and demanded he remove the post and replace it with an apology.
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