SYH4free (sell your house for free) scam or real?

not_loaded

Hmm... Yes... Looking back, the right action at the right time might have saved some people a lot of heart break. 5th February post #122.

pixie42

Hi all. I have received my money which was paid by Visa. I have checked and it was SYH who have refunded, not Visa. Yes, I too have been asked to make a bank transaction otherwise the sale of my house will not proceed. My solicitor has spoken with the buyer's solicitor and he believes it to be genuine, but she is checking to see if his solicitor has identification documents which should have been provided once he had 'hired' them. Until I have confirmation of my buyer's ID, I do not intend to give them any money. I have also asked for a tenancy agreement as we have agreed to rent the house for approx 6 weeks until the purchase of my new house completes.
I don't know if any of you were thinking of doing this to save you going into rented, but if so, they should be able to provide you with some sort of tenancy agreement or licence. If not, I would avoid.

My sale has been going on since before Christmas and I have been told the buyer is an investor purchasing 4 other properties. Yes, this could quite easily be genuine.

I will keep you posted with any happenings as I am just at a loss with all this, very tired, frustrated, very much upset (probably the exact same feelings you are all having) and feel gutted for my poor vendors who have now been dragged into this too.

binnybin

Silly question but if your exchange is so close why do they need the 1% just to give it back to you in 2 weeks, surely if you were going to pull out (their explanation of why they require the 1%) you would have done so before now?

pixie42

Not a silly question at all! :-) I asked them this. I was told that if the funds were not there held in trust until completion, they would be breaking the contract therefore the sale could not proceed.

CathP_2

pixie42 wrote: »

Hi all. I have received my money which was paid by Visa. I have checked and it was SYH who have refunded, not Visa. Yes, I too have been asked to make a bank transaction otherwise the sale of my house will not proceed. My solicitor has spoken with the buyer's solicitor and he believes it to be genuine, but she is checking to see if his solicitor has identification documents which should have been provided once he had 'hired' them. Until I have confirmation of my buyer's ID, I do not intend to give them any money. I have also asked for a tenancy agreement as we have agreed to rent the house for approx 6 weeks until the purchase of my new house completes.
I don't know if any of you were thinking of doing this to save you going into rented, but if so, they should be able to provide you with some sort of tenancy agreement or licence. If not, I would avoid.

My sale has been going on since before Christmas and I have been told the buyer is an investor purchasing 4 other properties. Yes, this could quite easily be genuine.

I will keep you posted with any happenings as I am just at a loss with all this, very tired, frustrated, very much upset (probably the exact same feelings you are all having) and feel gutted for my poor vendors who have now been dragged into this too.

Don't pay them anything, if you've got your money back leave them well alone. Get your house up with an Estate Agent. I realise it costs a lot of money but we put our house up with an EA last weekend and it has now sold.

There are no buyers at SYH4Free trust me!!

the_barber_2

I have to agree with CathP, there is no way there is any buyer for our properties. I believe they know that I have twigged that this is a scam about 6 weeks ago. They haven't returned a single call since then and I have been calling them on most days. As I informed you all last week, the so called buyer should be paying a deposit this week, funny how it coincides with them having to give back our 1% only for them to request us to do a transfer directly into their account. If completion is so close I would be delighted for them to keep the 1% on completion, but it seems they don't want it, figure that one out. Please, none of you do a transfer. Also all the phone lines were constantly engaged today. Just a matter of days now I think before they dissappear. Do not give up on getting your 1% back and then steering well clear. Good luck.

binnybin

Phones are constantly engaged today too

redwood66

Macxter - I think most of us who have done some investigating know which building they are in - or were - probably . The Regus Business Centre at St James Park. Their phones have been on a 'pause engaged' for 3 days and tonight they are disconnected. Looks like we have lost out. I paid via bank transfer and they have been promising my money back since 26th january and obviously have just been stringing me along by telling me every couple of days that a cheque is in the post and now a BIG FAT ZERO because they have obviously ceased. Dont worry there will soon be a new website under a different name and number somewhere. Lets not fall into that trap again. To all who have lost like us, I am really sorry, the frustration is crippling and I do hope they get their JUST DESSERTS soon.

pixie42

I have seen another thread where a lady states her son did actually sell his house through them but did not receive his 1% back. It could be that buyers are getting stung too. Perhaps if you have the name of your buyer and their solicitor, as I have, you could contact their solicitor direct (or through your solicitor) and ask if your buyer is genuine and do they still want to proceed with the sale but privately. My buyer's solicitor is in conversation with my sol to see if the buyer is coasha. Apparently he is purchasing another 6 properties. So who knows, he could be genuine and may still want to buy your houses? Perhaps it's worth going down this route to try and get something still positive out of this mess. If anyone wishes to contact me direct with the name of their buyer and his/her solicitor if you do have that, I can let you know if it's the same as mine, however I am not able to share their details on the forum for data protection reasons until I discover if it is genuine or not.

I wish all of you luck - I know you deserve it right now and I don't know about you guys, but I certainly believe in Karma - what goes around, comes around and I hope it hurts!

redwood66

Hey not gone after all. The only number ringing today is the main one not legals or accounts just the 0845 4670310. I think they may have moved this week though or maybe they are off enjoying everyones money. Pixie42 I have sometimes wondered if they were scamming buyers but why would they if there is a genuine introduction there. One thing I do know is that when you go to auction to buy a property the fees are usually 5% which I was horrified at but this includes the sellers costs, so I suppose 2% to a buyer is alot cheaper eh? God knows but they are getting away with it. Good luck in your quest. I am still trying to get my money back NOW with the help of trading standards but WELL who knows??