Property Misdescription - Estate Agent Refusing Liability

Richard_Webster

Do estate agents actually look at HIPs for properties they are selling? May be they should!

mclaren32

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Do estate agents actually look at HIPs for properties they are selling? May be they should!

Same goes for buyers though.

gezoneill

mclaren32 wrote: »

Same goes for buyers though.

Im not an expert in reading deeds. Thats what I pay my solicitor for and he spotted the problem straight away.

gezoneill

princessamy86 wrote: »

:eek: This sounds like a total nightmare. Really, if the bank knew, they should have made it clear to the agent at the start. That is literally how it happens with a repo, often the first we know of it is a contractor bringing keys into the office.

With regards to the PMA and the incorrect details, I do think the agent is in the wrong. It is their job to check it all out, and if the garage door is bricked up I would have at least thought somebody would have the common sense to check out the reasons behind it. As far as I am aware (dredging up first year law module), you relied upon the information to enter into a contract with the vendor, and have spent money to this end. Your solicitor will advise better, but IIRC you are entitled to your money back (think it's called damages?) as you were provided with false information which you had reason to believe was true, and you later relied on that information to enter into a contract with the vendor to purchase the property.

I think you'll just have to persevere with contacting Trading Standards and the Ombudsman, the EA isn't going to pay up without a fight. They're probably hoping if they stall you long enough, you'll just go away, but if you escalate it through the proper channels there becomes a point where they can't ignore you anymore. In the meantime I would certainly look for another place to buy!

The garage wasnt actually bricked up when we saw it, the bank decided to brick the garage off and sell the house with problem still intact after we identified the problem.

Cheers for the info tho its much appreciated, Im just going to perservere and see what happens. I think they may be slightly worried as they are constantly ringing me and I keep saying that any discussions must be in writing to record the outcomes, which they dont seem to want to do. I'll see what happens tho and post the outcome, if nothing happens then at least Ive given the EA grief for 6 months.

Ive found a new property and hopefully the sale will go through in the next 2-3months.