Are estate agents allowed to lie about offers?

Kavanne

This leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth as I have a feeling an EA did this to me, I offered 157k and EA phoned back saying they had another bid but if I went to asking price that would be a yes.... so I did up it to 162500 I love my home but would have been nice to have a 5k smaller mortgage

localhero

The starting point is that unless the seller specifically states they are removing a particular fixture, then they must be included in the sale for the price you agreed.

Don't mention anything about those, as the EA or the seller may be tempted to negotiate the price upwards.

The sellers must provide details later of what stays and what goes, and so if they do want to remove a fixture, then you will want the price lowered to reflect that.

A fixture is anything attached to the property, rather than freestanding, and so in the case of the garden for example, a pot plant is likely to be taken, whereas a shrub would have to stay (unless they specifically state they want to dig it up and take it).

If the estate agent is lying, they are playing a risky game because personally I would be tempted to call their bluff and walk away. Definitely play it cool, as now is not the time to be involved in a phoney bidding war - if anything, bid the price down.

blueocto

I would just take what they say with a pince of salt; back yourself up by putting things in writing, or popping in unannouced - its easier to lie over the phone than it is in person.
The EA involved with our current purchase were so annoying, always asking me to come in and see their mortgage advisor, refusing to quote me on a cheaper price stating that the vendor would never drop (which they did).
In the early stages when making our first offer, straight away she said (yes She said, not the vendor) they wouldn't accept it and suggested upping my bid - i said NO! lol
In the end we've gotten it for what we wanted, if the seller has accepted then they must be happy also. The EA just bs money out of you...

chewmylegoff

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

With fixtures and fittings it is common and perfectly legal to negotiate a price a fraction lower for the stamp duty band and make up the difference in the fixtures and fittings. You can only do it for about £5K although that is not written down anywhere. A fixture and fitting is anything that could be unscrewed/pulled up and taken away i.e. carpets, light fittings, fitted wardrobes, cooker, hob, curtains, blinds, garden ornaments, shrubs etc. Most people do leave them because they do not fit where they are going but there is no obligation to do so and in any case the parties have to fill in a form saying what is included in the sale.

actually you can pay whatever the items you are buying are reasonably worth. to take an extreme example, if there was a solid gold table worth £1m in a property that had a market value of £175k, you could pay £1.175m and split it £1m for the table and £175k for the house and attract no stamp duty. the revenue would be suspicious and come to investigate you, but it would be a legitimate transaction.

the "fixtures and fittings" avenue (a bit of a misnomer as anything that is fixed or fitted is treated as part of the property so cannot be sold separately - e.g. you cannot apportion some of the money against an integral oven in a fitted kitchen whilst you could if they were leaving a freestanding one) is only legitimate if the items you are paying for separately are actually genuinely worth what you are saying they are. if you do it simply to sidestep stamp duty and pretend that a dirty carpet is worth £5k, then the revenue will fine you lots of money and make you pay the stamp duty anyway.