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HIPS rip off
poplar56
Posts: 11 Forumite
We were up for sale with an estate agent with a national chain of companys.
During this period, we had a viewer who was very interested in buying and said they would when they had sold as they were in the process of doing so.
We had signed for the full package which included HIPS but were not told that if we paid at the sale it would cost over £107 more than if we paid up front. Thye estate agent filled in the agreement and we signed on the initial visit.
The estate agent had several properties sold in this one chain and we received a call from them saying we had had an offer from another office of 35k less than the asking price. As this was months ago, it seemed preposterous as we were only on for 195k and they offered 160k.
We got in touch with the only people interested and they said it was not them and we both complained that a false offer had been made to us by the estate agent to try and get that chain completed.
We told the area manager that we were not satisfied and he took us to another office in the chain. We then did not have any further viewers for nearly six months. We decided to do what Martin said and get a mystery shopper to ask about our property only to find they were not promoting or selling our property but were actively promoting another property of lesser quality nearby. Misleading information was told to our enquirer and she was told that she could be sent details of other properties which did not include ours.
We removed our property from this company only to be told that there was a fee of £107 on top of the HIPS for terminating the agreement.
We feel that if it was not for the actions which breach the estate agents code of conduct we would still be with this comnpany and we are witholding the £107.
We are now told that we have to pay by the 30th April or steps will be taken. We have told them we are prepared to go to the Ombudsman about it.
Any advice would be gratefully recived
Many thanks
During this period, we had a viewer who was very interested in buying and said they would when they had sold as they were in the process of doing so.
We had signed for the full package which included HIPS but were not told that if we paid at the sale it would cost over £107 more than if we paid up front. Thye estate agent filled in the agreement and we signed on the initial visit.
The estate agent had several properties sold in this one chain and we received a call from them saying we had had an offer from another office of 35k less than the asking price. As this was months ago, it seemed preposterous as we were only on for 195k and they offered 160k.
We got in touch with the only people interested and they said it was not them and we both complained that a false offer had been made to us by the estate agent to try and get that chain completed.
We told the area manager that we were not satisfied and he took us to another office in the chain. We then did not have any further viewers for nearly six months. We decided to do what Martin said and get a mystery shopper to ask about our property only to find they were not promoting or selling our property but were actively promoting another property of lesser quality nearby. Misleading information was told to our enquirer and she was told that she could be sent details of other properties which did not include ours.
We removed our property from this company only to be told that there was a fee of £107 on top of the HIPS for terminating the agreement.
We feel that if it was not for the actions which breach the estate agents code of conduct we would still be with this comnpany and we are witholding the £107.
We are now told that we have to pay by the 30th April or steps will be taken. We have told them we are prepared to go to the Ombudsman about it.
Any advice would be gratefully recived
Many thanks
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