Estate Agents messing everyone about!

8889jen

Hello

I have put in an offer on a house which was accepted. The estate agent said that it would be better to go with their 'in-house' solicitor as it would speed up the sale as the sellers were using the same solicitor. I said that I may be interested, but the offer was subject to a survey. Then I started to have all these forms sent to me from their solicitor which I did not sign as I hadn't recieved the survey back.

The survey came back with a DPC problem caused by a new re tarmac carpark belonging to a church, I was told that I should hire a specialist damp company to go and look at the DPC near the carpark as it may have to be rectified and could be the churches fault. I was also told by my surveyor to use a local solicitor instead of someone in a call centre that knows nothing about the surounding area, so I sent the Estate Agents Solicitor a polite email explaining that due to the problems found on the survey I will not be using them and I would be using a local solicitor instead, as someone locally would be able to liase with the church etc... and so the sale would go through quicker.

Today I recieve a telephone call from the estate agent asking why I have pulled out of the sale because the vendor's solicitors have told them that I wont be using there services and no longer wish to purchase the property? I told him that I haven't!! and that I had the email to prove that I never said such thing!!!! Now the vendors were aparently had to pull out of buying a new home which they had put a deposit down on all because of this stupid Solicitor!

Now I really cant understand how they have got their wires crossed here! I'm really angry and feel as though they have been completly out of order making me out to me some kind of idiot thats messing them about. From the moment I stepped foot in there and they heard the word 'offer' and they've done nothing but push and push and its got to a stage now where I feel like just going round to the sellers house to explain whats happened and that I still want to buy the property because I am sick of all the rubbish the estate agents are comming out with!!

What do you think? Sorry its so long but I think whats happened is really discusting as they never even bothered to consult me!

Thank You

theartfullodger

What do you think?

Par for the course... I wouldnae trust an EA further than I could throw one, & I have a bad back....

Sorry to hear your story tho'...

Cheers!

Lodger

cte1111

I expect the solicitor's secretary only read part of the letter and assumed the rest. This seems to be common practise. Do the vendor now know that your offer is still on the table?

LisaLou1982

I dont understand why youve titled your thread "estate agents messing everyone about"

You sent an email to the solicitors saying that you didnt want to use them. Yes, you said you were going to use a local one but typically any client calling to say that they are no longer using a solicitor (who rightly or wrongly) has been instructed would automatically ring alarm bells.

To be honest it sounds to me like youve got yourself into a state about something that really is very small and easy to deal with. The simple solution from now on is to communicate with everybody properly so that messages dont get confused. You should have informed the estate agent straight away when you changed your solicitor - by not doing this, the sellers solicitors will have no record of where to send the draft contracts and would have sent them out to the wrong place. This will result in long delays which noone wants or needs.

It is perfectly normal when purchasing a property to instruct your solicitor straight away - so im not surprising that they were pushing you to get one instructed and pay the fees for the searches. This is usually expected to be done within a week of agreeing a sale.

Im guessing from your post that this is the first time youve bought a property and therefore probably dont have the experience of timelines etc. Unfortunately not all EA's provide the knowledge for the sellers and buyers and possibly this has happened to you. Ask them if they have a timescale for you so that you can see what is expected of you as a buyer at all stages and this can also help you see what your solicitor should have done by each process of the sale. I used to send this out to all of my buyers and sellers when i was an EA so that it prepared them for where they should be and also outlined what they could expect of me and what i expected of them. If they cant send you one, PM me and i'll send you a rough guide. The EA will push you to exchange and complete as soon as possible - that is what the seller is paying them for!! They wont get paid until you move in.

I can see that you are obviously stressed out about it but my advise to you would be to make sure that you telephone your EA and solicitor and speak to them directly every time you have an update or a question regarding the sale. This will make sure that they update their files and stop inaccurate communication errors

Fire_Fox

Why are you blaming the estate agent for the SOLICITOR not reading your e-mail properly?

8889jen

No disrespect ,but why would it ring alarm bells if a buyer wants to use a local solicitor instead of someone in a call centre who has no common knowledge of the local area? More like it rings alarm bells because the Estate Agent won’t get their commission by you not being referred to their in house ‘solicitors’ nothing to do with concern for the properties problems and getting them rectified as quickly as possible. More of a case off ‘stuff the properties condition and the buyer! Let’s just get the sale!’ Buying a house is something that should take careful consideration, not something that should be rushed into. I think EA’s seem to forget the term ‘Subject to a survey’ Everyone knows that you don’t put any money down or sign anything before you have a completed survey and yes it is ‘’ It is perfectly normal when purchasing a property to instruct your solicitor straight away’’ but after the survey has come back and once you have the go ahead that the property is structurally sound. As I said no disrespect but they had no right in saying that the sale had fell through! when I had it in writing to say otherwise. I think it’s best to always communicate in black and white with them because if something in writing can get misunderstood and twisted then what hope do we have speaking to them on the telephone!

8889jen

Solicitor read the email incorrectly and contacted the vendors----the vendors contacted the EA

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the EA then told the Vendors Builder that they could not purchase a house due to the fact of the sale falling through without even contacting me to comfirm so! The Solicitor should have contacted me firstly but for the EA to not even bother I find appalling!

LisaLou1982

Sorry Jen but i think you're getting completely the wrong end of the stick here.

You were the one who corresponded via email - you should have called the estate agents to let them know that you wished to change solicitors. If you dont communicate with them then the alarm bells ring when a buyers doesnt communicate with the EA - to be fair, they should have called you first before going to their vendors, and i agree that it was bad that they didnt as it wouldnt have made much difference to leave the seller another few hrs before telling them if you had pulled out or not. - Although on the other hand, having a call from a solicitor stating that the buyer has pulled out (rightly or wrongly) generally construes someone who doesnt want to deliver the news themselves.

I think what a lot of people forget is that unless you are a developer or strong investor and buy properties frequently, things and processes change. 20yrs ago it was normal to charge extra for carpets, take someones word that they would complete on a property and amble along with a sale.

Todays market is not like that. I think that its you that is making this in to a bigger deal than it needs to be - as i said before, this may be due to the fact that you're not familiar with the process, and if this is the case then ask to be put on the right track. However, it is now expected that all parties instruct their solicitors within 7 days of agreeing a sale. ALL sales are subject to survey, no-one forgets this, but likewise, in the 5yrs i worked as an EA, i never found a buyer or a seller who intentionally wanted to hold up the legal process.

If youre worried at this stage, what are you going to be like when your survey comes back advising you to obtain damp, electrical, gas, roof and other surveys??! If youve opted for a homebuyers then its a certainty that they will advise you to obtain further reports on all of those things, and potentially more depending upon the area/type of property you're buying.

david29dpo

Get round to the vendor now and explain whats happened. i too despise these hard sell tactics but i do agree Email may not have been the best way to communicate in this case.

DVardysShadow

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

Sorry Jen but i think you're getting completely the wrong end of the stick here.

You were the one who corresponded via email - you should have called the estate agents to let them know that you wished to change solicitors. If you dont communicate with them then the alarm bells ring when a buyers doesnt communicate with the EA - to be fair, they should have called you first before going to their vendors, and i agree that it was bad that they didnt as it wouldnt have made much difference to leave the seller another few hrs before telling them if you had pulled out or not. - Although on the other hand, having a call from a solicitor stating that the buyer has pulled out (rightly or wrongly) generally construes someone who doesnt want to deliver the news themselves.

I think what a lot of people forget is that unless you are a developer or strong investor and buy properties frequently, things and processes change. 20yrs ago it was normal to charge extra for carpets, take someones word that they would complete on a property and amble along with a sale.

Todays market is not like that. I think that its you that is making this in to a bigger deal than it needs to be - as i said before, this may be due to the fact that you're not familiar with the process, and if this is the case then ask to be put on the right track. However, it is now expected that all parties instruct their solicitors within 7 days of agreeing a sale. ALL sales are subject to survey, no-one forgets this, but likewise, in the 5yrs i worked as an EA, i never found a buyer or a seller who intentionally wanted to hold up the legal process.

If youre worried at this stage, what are you going to be like when your survey comes back advising you to obtain damp, electrical, gas, roof and other surveys??! If youve opted for a homebuyers then its a certainty that they will advise you to obtain further reports on all of those things, and potentially more depending upon the area/type of property you're buying.

Well, yes, a good lot of apologism. But I don't think that Jen has got hold of the wrong end of the stick:

I sent the Estate Agents Solicitor a polite email explaining that .... I will not be using them and I would be using a local solicitor instead, ....

Today I recieve a telephone call from the estate agent asking why I have pulled out of the sale because the vendor's solicitors have told them that I wont be using there services and no longer wish to purchase the property?

Jen has not pulled out, merely sacked a solicitor. Yes, she should have told the EA. But someone along the line created mischief by misconstruing it as withdrawing from the purchase. It was vendor's EA and vendor' EA's recommended solicitor too, so you would think they would between them look after the vendor's interests bynot upsetting the buyer.

Milliewilly

At least Jen has the email proof of what she said and can show the vendors and EA. Think of the difficulty if she had phoned them trying to prove what was said.

It is not her fault and why is the EA advising to use the same solicitors as the vendors??? Smacks of a massive conflict of interest here and any solicitors would advise agains this or make you sign a disclaimer. She hasn't sent any of the solicitors forms back so they actually have not been formally instructed. The EA and Solicitors have messed up here.

I would contact the Vendors directly and point out its the EA and their solicitors who are at fault as they will be peeved if they've lost their deposit.

Someone posted a thread on here not long ago about a carpark next to a church breaching the DPC of the house they are buying - is it the same one?!?