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Estate agent lied to make a sale! Help
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Excellent. Thanks so much for your help.0
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That’s exactly what I thought!! Someone that works for the EA made a mistake, so anyone would have thought that they wouldn’t mind paying extra for the furniture they promised us to secure a sale.
We are definitely not going to take no for an answer and let them keep our deposit. The letter that we sent today actually asks for all the money that we’ve spent with the flat until we pulled out, which adds up to £1050. (£500 deposit, £350 valuation fee, £200 solicitor’s fees). Our argument is that, if we would have been told the truth from the start we wouldn’t have gone ahead with the purchase, so we wouldn’t have paid any if these fees.
The truth is, we don’t expect to get the whole amount back, but this way the EA might just give us the deposit back without us having to take them to court and paying out even more money to do that.
If you do plan to take this to the small claims court, drop the idea that you will get your valuation or solicitor's fees back. This is what happens when you make an offer on a property. Until contracts are exchanged, anyone is free to change their minds. On any sale, regardless of what was said on the viewing, until you get the official fixtures & fittings list from the vendor's solicitor, nothing is guaranteed. So the chances of getting the last two fees back are zero, & you are wasting everyone's time asking for this.
You may have a case about your deposit, as you have no paperwork to say it's non-refundable. On the other hand, as you've found out, you have absolutely no proof that the verbal agreement regarding the furniture/tv etc was made. The EA doesn't sound professional, & their rude letter to you might swing the balance in your favour, but it's still a gamble, which will cost you more money to start a claim.0 -
iv posted earlier about estate agents losing ther jobs in the credit crunch and got slated by some for mocking but this kind of stuff makes me whoop for joy as it proves estate agents are w......... the dole awaitsI say what I like, I like what I say!0
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Hi again. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but on the reply letter that we’ve received from Indigo, it also said that the £200 that we paid to the solicitors was fully refundable. I emailed the solicitors and got a reply today saying they are sending us a cheque for £200!! So that’s a result!!
It’s a shame they couldn’t just be honest enough and say that when I first emailed them advising them that we were pulling out!! But never mind…
Now, what I was thinking was that, putting the reasons why we’ve pulled out to one side, we paid the deposit and we were NEVER told it was not refundable. The receipt doesn’t say it’s not refundable. And also it was paid to Indigo. So, shouldn’t they just give it back to us??
Hi again. I don’t think I mentioned it before, but on the reply letter that we’ve received from Indigo, it also said that the £200 that we paid to the solicitors was fully refundable. I emailed the solicitors and got a reply today saying they are sending us a cheque for £200!! So that’s a result!!
It’s a shame they couldn’t just be honest enough and say that when I first emailed them advising them that we were pulling out!! But never mind…
Now, what I was thinking was that, putting the reasons why we’ve pulled out to one side, we paid the deposit and we were NEVER told it was not refundable. The receipt doesn’t say it’s not refundable. And also it was paid to Indigo. So, shouldn’t they just give it back to us??0 -
Hiya. Just thought I would update everyone on this. We took the EA to the small claims court. They replied saying they were going to partly defend the claim (??) and that they were willing to offer us £250. No further explanations. We declined the money anyway, and we had a pre hearing last week. It was scary, but we are glad to know that things are moving. The judge said that, as there aren’t any documents to back up that what we say is true, this can drag for a while. We cant afford a solicitor, so we are representing ourselves, but the EA don’t have one either..
Now we are to file and serve any documents that we feel that might be relevant and also I need to write a witness’s statement (my other half is making a sole claim, so I am the witness).0 -
Good Luck!Pawpurrs x
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Hiya. Just thought I would update everyone on this. We took the EA to the small claims court. They replied saying they were going to partly defend the claim (??) and that they were willing to offer us £250. No further explanations. We declined the money anyway, and we had a pre hearing last week. It was scary, but we are glad to know that things are moving. The judge said that, as there aren’t any documents to back up that what we say is true, this can drag for a while. We cant afford a solicitor, so we are representing ourselves, but the EA don’t have one either..
Now we are to file and serve any documents that we feel that might be relevant and also I need to write a witness’s statement (my other half is making a sole claim, so I am the witness).
Good luck sorting the scum out, you're not the only one bringing the ill behaviour of this unprofessional lot to light. Please keep us posted on how you get on.
Quote taken from Interactive Investor:
'The Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA), Christopher Hamer, says that despite property sales dropping by up to 60% during 2008, disputes only fell by a nominal amount.
Hamer reports a 3% fall in sale disputes involving estate agents last year. "I am surprised that my workload in sales disputes has not reduced more significantly," he says.
Meanwhile, as the rental market saw a boost from the credit crunch and frozen housing market, complaints regarding lettings agents jumped by a shocking 200% - and are set to rise further in 2009.
A whopping 1,043 new dispute cases arose last year, of which 743 were regarding property sales and 300 involved letting agents. In total, complaints are up 20% from 2007 and 78% from 2006.
Hamer suggests that people still have high expectations of estate agents, perhaps even more so considering the slow market. However, during 2008, he found in favour of the complainant in 65% more cases than the previous year, with compensation totalling more than £385,000.
The largest compensation in the 20-year history of the Ombudsman scheme was also awarded during the 12-month period, with an unnamed estate agent ordered to pay out £23,880. Staff were found to have given conflicting advice, and failed to act in the best interests of the client or negotiate effectively.
The maximum award the OEA can make under scheme rules is £25,000.
Despite the record pay-out, the majority of compensation last year was between £100 and £499 with just 18 case awarded amounts over £3,000.'Most people are working too hard to make really decent money:eek:0 -
Wouldnt it be better to take the money and put it to bad experience?
I mean you would get 200 from solicitor + 250 from EA = 450, which is noot too bad when 1st nothing more than bad experience was the result...
I know that feeling fooled hurts and the anger just want to make you pursue the justice at all costs, but nothing being written and the judge saying it can tale too long.. I wonder if it will not drain your body and your soul
Just a thought anyway...
Hope it turns out ok for you in the end, those big companies with their deceiving ways deserve to be shaken a bit 0 -
I see your point Tenke, but I in her case think its gone past caring about money, and its simply about Justice. I think the past three months or so are more likely to have been a drain on her, this is the easy bit.Most people are working too hard to make really decent money:eek:0
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If you're kicking yourself about this, just look on the bright side.
You haven't purchased a heavily depreciating asset and in the long run will save far more money than if you had purchased it - even with the extra tat."There's one peace not worth having, and that's a peace at the cost of the truth"0
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