Need to complain about our estate agent

Nenen

I can understand you being furious - I would be in your shoes. I can only assume the buyers are one of the EAs (or one of their mates) who assumed that you wouldn't know anything about this being so far away. I remember reading about EAs who let their mates use empty flats they were selling as places to conduct illicit extramarital affairs!

While I can just about understand that your buyers want to keep the grass looking good etc, I am amazed that they have paid for a full tank of oil before contracts have even been exchanged. If the sale falls through then presumably they would lose their money on this (unless they came and syphoned it all out - which I guess would probably constitute trespass)! Out of curiosity, why are you going for exchange and completion on the same day? If there had been a space between then they could have asked you if you'd mind them organizing oil delivery etc after exchange.

bryanb

googler wrote: »

You contradict them in writing and insist that they didn't. You ask them to cite a phone call or conversation (date, time) when this permission was granted, or show any note that they made in a file of this permission.

It would be particularly easy to make a note in a file, or even quote a non existent phone call record. Especially to a client the other side of the world.

Nenen

bryanb wrote: »

EA will probably say they had your verbal permission. Where do you go then?

I don't think verbal permission would be legal or ethical for such an important issue. Many years ago we bought an empty property which was in a terrible state. We asked the vendor if he would let our decorators have access to the property to start cleaning and decorating between exchange and completion (we were moving across the country and I was heavily pregnant and had a toddler at the time). He agreed but it all had to be done through solicitors and we had to sign a legal agreement to state that, should we fail to complete for any reason, we would meet all costs incurred etc and that no one would stay in the property overnight.

Buchanan

Only ever dealt with them in Aus via. e-mail and we have all of these on file. Our solicitor has been notified about it and we are waiting for his response, I just hate the EA and want to make life difficult for them.

princessamy86

Just a quick note: it's not the OEA anymore, it's the Property Ombudsman that you want. I'd be willing to bet your solicitor is going to be less than pleased on your behalf, so s/he might have some good advice for you. Some people who want to annoy the EA sign the branch email up for as much spam as they can. Although, obviously I wouldn't condone something like this! Mind you, someone put a frog through our letterbox once.

googler

"Mind you, someone put a frog through our letterbox once."

...and left you to guess why they did this?

pawpurrs

One local agent I know let the purchasers have keys before exchange on an empty property and they started klnocking down walls, and put a new kitchen in, took the lawn up and started landscaping!

alunharford

How likely are they to guzunder you after this? If you're not there anyway, I'd just put up with it. There's no point losing a sale because of your 'principles'.

Nenen

alunharford wrote: »

How likely are they to guzunder you after this? If you're not there anyway, I'd just put up with it. There's no point losing a sale because of your 'principles'.

I would have thought that buyers who fill the oil tank and worry about the state of the lawn before they've even exchanged are pretty committed to completing! However, that is a gamble you might not want to take and I think the OP is right to involve the solicitor.

googler

Trying_to_be_good wrote: »

You might also want to consider the possibility that putting the purchasers' property out on the street may really hack them off and they may pull out of the deal.

If you want just to annoy the EA, take the stuff to their offices.

Put in a written complaint etc about the EA's conduct, but only hack off the purchaser if you're prepared to lose them.

Well, on the face of it, we're assuming it's the purchasers' property, but since neither the purchasers nor their agents have given any sign that it's theirs, it's currently just someone's property that's been placed on the seller's land. On that basis, I see no problem with casting it out onto the street.