Advice please re making complaint about an Estate Agent

Elizabetta

My sister sold and bought recently and has had a very bad experience, both with the Estate Agent and the conveyancer (who incidentally are friends).
Her main gripe about the EA is that following their advice she accepted an offer on her house and went on to view other properties and also commissioned surveys (in the belief that the EA had checked out her prospective buyers and that they were in a position to proceed to purchase). More than two months later when she had found another property she wished to purchase it transpired that the prospective buyers of her house did not have a mortgage offer.
Eventually another buyer was found and the transaction completed.
My sister complained to the EA and requested a reduction in their fee to compensate her for the delays, inconvenience and costs of surveys etc. Their response to her written complaint was extremely surly and they have flatly refused to reduce their fee. She is considering making a complaint about the EA to the Property Ombudsman. Does anyone have any experience of this? Is it worth a try or likely to be a waste of her time?
Many thanks

adg1

Depending on the agent they will have an internal complaints procedure your sister will need to follow to ensure simple things get sorted out before they reach the ombudsman.

Call their head office and ask for their complaints proceedure/local area directors details etc.

It should also be detailed on the terms and conditions she signed with the agent to sell the house. Get her to read them through (she did read them originally of course, in detail before she signed...??).

tbs624

Elizabetta wrote: »

My sister sold and bought recently and has had a very bad experience, both with the Estate Agent and the conveyancer (who incidentally are friends).

Next time she will know not to use conveyancers etc on an EA's recommendation. There is far too much back scratching goes on IMO and it's best to seek out your own recommendations from other buyers/sellers.

Elizabetta wrote: »

Her main gripe about the EA is that following their advice she accepted an offer on her house and went on to view other properties and also commissioned surveys (in the belief that the EA had checked out her prospective buyers and that they were in a position to proceed to purchase). More than two months later when she had found another property she wished to purchase it transpired that the prospective buyers of her house did not have a mortgage offer.

Just because you accept a potential buyer's offer it doesnot mean that the sale will go through - had the EA actually told your sister that the buyer had their MIP?

If there is a couple of months' delay between accepting the buyer's offer and finding a property yourself you shoud always go back to the EA and check the current state of play *before* shelling out money on surveys etc. Did she not specifically ask the question of the EA - "how near ready to proceed are my potential buyers?" Did she keep the EA informed of her own progress in finding somewhere to go to?

As adg1 says, if your sister does wish to pursue the matter then she should go formally via the EAs own complaints procedure first.

Elizabetta

Thanks adj1 and tbs 624 for helpful comments.
It is a small independent (one man band) firm, and they do not appear to have a formal complaints policy. When my sister voiced her concerns she was advised to "put it in writing" which she did, to the owner. The reply from the EA was very dismissive about the complaint and did not make any suggestions as to what she should do if she remained dissatisfied. She wrote a second letter again stating her concerns and received "short shrift".
At the time my sister accepted the offer the EA had informed her that the prospective buyers did have a MIP (we now know that this was apparently on the basis that the buyer's financial adviser had sent an e mail to EA saying "there would not be a problem".
The EA had been kept informed throughout about her house search, problemmatic surveys etc.
Thanks again.

tbs624

It may then be worth talking to the local Trading Standards Officer, provided that your sister can prove what the EA said about the potential buyer.

EAs can be brought to book if they have contravened the Estate Agents Act 1979

Making misleading statements

It is illegal to mislead buyers or sellers in any way. Specifically, you must not give misleading information about:

• offers for a particular property, or invent bids
• the existence or status of any potential buyer.

Source

Is the LA a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme?

Elizabetta

Thank you. Yes, EA is member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme.

hazyjo

Elizabetta wrote: »

...(in the belief that the EA had checked out her prospective buyers and that they were in a position to proceed to purchase). More than two months later when she had found another property she wished to purchase it transpired that the prospective buyers of her house did not have a mortgage offer.

What had the EA actually told her? That there was a formal mortgage offer in place, or that it was just in principle? Lots of people are being told they can get mortgages only for the lenders to change their minds once a formal application has been made. My hubby lost buyers on his old flat as when it actually came to crunch time, they were refused the mortgage as they had an undisclosed loan. And there's a current thread here about someone who was refused the mortgage after exchanging!

Also, the buyers might well have lied to the EA saying their mortgage offer was in place.

The agents we're buying through did want a letter from our mortgage provider saying we should be able to get a mortgage, but that was before we actually went ahead and fixed a mortgage offer. That's generally how it's done - people wait until they find somewhere before formally applying for a mortgage, or it could take them weeks or months to find somewhere and they'd risk their mortgage offer expiring with the length of time a sale/purchase takes. Our offer's only for 3 months. If we were turned down for the mortgage, the EAs we're buying through couldn't really be blamed - they did all they could have done to check we should be able to get the mortgage.

Jx

maninthestreet

Having a MIP means nothing - some people have posted on here about having their mortgage offers withdrawn by the lender even AFTER exchange has taken place. The EA found a buyer for your sister's property, and the sale has completed, so they are entitled to 100% of fee stated in the contract your sister had with them.