Estate Agent Problems

abi113

We have had a few problems with our estate agent, just wondering if you think we have grounds to mak a complaint -

Firstly we put our house on the market after we had seen a property we wanted , we had already agreed a price with the owner (not EA) though the owner said she would still take offers as we hadn't sold (fair enough!). When we had sold we rang the EA to put a firm offer in and she informed us they had had another offer and weren't taking anymore. We ended up going round to the vendors who were really annoyed at this as the other couple hadn't even sold their property. In the end we didn't get the house but we weren't even allowed to put the offer in which is the problem.

I decided to go have al ook in the EA's the other day and saw a picture of our property and it was when we had bought it 2 years ago , they had put the old brochure up - the house looked horrendous as we renovated it for 2 whole years so it looks so different now - they had simply crossed out the price we paid £69999 and put £110000 !

We then founda property we wanted to make an offer for - the asking price was 190000 including stamp duty and legal fees paid. We put our offer in and I said that also includes the vendor paying stamp duty and legal fees - I even got her to repeat it after me and she said she will put that too him. She then rang and said he had agreed to this offer so that afternoon I accepted our buyer to have a survey done (previously I didn't want to waste his money if we couldn't find anywhere to move to). The next day I get a letter saying just the offer not stamp dutyincluded. I rang up and she denied ever saying that the vendors were to pay stamp duty but I KNOW i clearly said it. She then changed the story and said your partner rang previously and told me to say 179 (which is rubbish as as it happens he had no credit that day!) , so I said if he did say that then why did you say to me "I shall put that offer to them" implying that she hadn't already! Basically we are now without a offer on a house and no property that we like , under offer ourselves and our payer has had done a full survey.

Do you think i should complain , btw both our property is for sale with this compamny as were both teh properties we put offers in for. We feel she is taking us ona ride - she knows we are both young (19 and 20)

With thanks

morwenna_macro

Firstly, nothing is agreed until you exchange contracts. With the house you are buying, you should still insist on your original terms, otherwise no deal and you will walk away. With your buyer, you equally have no obligations. Not sure of your grounds of complaint re the offer you put in (we don't know who changed the terms, vendor or agent and even so nothing is binding). With your own property, you should insist on proper particulars being prepared (check the terms of your agreement) and perhaps threaten to go to another agent unless they buck their ideas up (can they justify their commission for no real work?). You may like to hang on to your buyer if they are in a good position and the offer is good - see if they will wait for you to find somewhere new or sort out the situation. Good luck!