poor estate agent

maryjane01

I am buying a house and the estate agent we are buying through are terrible.

When we first viewed we were given only 10 minutes to see the place and were told by the EA they had to go to another viewing. Even in that 10 miutes we decided we liked it and wanted to put in an offer. My partner and I discussed it in the car then drove straight to the EA office, the person who said they had another viewing to go to was sitting right there in the office. Clearly they did not have to get to another viewing.

Our offer has been accepted and we wanted to take another look round and get some measurements. This time we were given 20 minutes before the same EA told us she had another viewing and basically forced us to leave, we got to take a few measurements and they are not the same as those on the property description. All rooms are smaller than on the description, some rooms just by a few inches, but the smallest room of course has the biggest discrepancy. A foot out on a 10 foot room is significant.

We still want the house but are pretty peeved and we would like the correct measurements (we did not have time to get them all). I don't think there is much we can do. I would like to tell the owner, but the house is vacant and we have never meet them, all we have is their solicitor's details. I think I would like to tell the boss of the estate agency because I think the person doing the viewings in not the most senior in the office and maybe they don't know she is cutting viewings short.

Who do people here suggest I could complain to? Can I do anything more than complain?

Tallymanjohn

As you are the buyer, & under the English system, not committed until exchange of contracts, you have the upper hand. Go back to the estate agent, speak to the most senior person you can & TELL them that you want a certain amount of time to look around the property & make it apparent that you have noticed some discrepancies in sizing - I'll bet it was measured up by the junior or their junior. Don't say anything about possibly pulling out of the deal 'cos if you definitely want it you'll only be shooting yourself in the foot, but make it plain that you are the person with the money & you want to be able to get furniture/carpets sorted before actually moving in. If it's vacant property, any decent agent would just give the key to the person with the accepted offer & let you have the run of the place for half a day. Basically, be assertive!

no1gymbunny

Talk to the branch manager and explain your situation. If you really feel that the measurements are wrong. The agent could be in breach of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 and therefore you can report them to the Office of Fair Trading. They (the EA) have to be able to prove due diligence and show their measurements for the property. Don't assume that the property was measured by 'the junior or their junior' as previously suggested. As this is such a PMA minefield, I would find it highly unusual that a junior member of the office would be given this task. In my office, the company director measures the properties herself!