Estate agent witheld information

Maciek1984

kai666 wrote: »

No, it's the surveyors job to know, that's why you paid him or her £500

So your telling me the person who went to look at the house from the estate agents and said "hello Mr Smith, ive valued your house and we'll put it on the market for 250k" is not trained or even paid to know anything about property?

kai666

Maciek1984 wrote: »

So your telling me the person who went to look at the house from the estate agents and said "hello Mr Smith, ive valued your house and we'll put it on the market for 250k" is not trained or even paid to know anything about property?

That's irrelevant, he's being paid by the seller to sell the house, not to stop people from buying it.

BitterAndTwisted

CORRECT! They know about markets, they possibly know about particular houses in their area but they cannot be expected to know about construction methods. That's why RICS surveyors go to university adn work ruddy hard to achieve their professional qualification and estate agents don't have one. A third in a humanities subject at best and a facility to buy cheap suits.

Cissi

Maciek1984 wrote: »

So your telling me the person who went to look at the house from the estate agents and said "hello Mr Smith, ive valued your house and we'll put it on the market for 250k" is not trained or even paid to know anything about property?

I think this is called flogging a dead horse...

One more time: Estate Agents are paid by the VENDOR to sell the house. Period. They are not surveryors, and they don't work for the buyer. They are legally obliged to not tell lies, but they are NOT obliged (or qualified) to survey the property - you employ a SURVEYOR for that. And you employ a solicitor to look over all the paperwork. Which is why your solicitor flagged up the issue in this case (and I'd have thought that any surveyor worth their salt would have done the same, but this depends on what kind of survey you opted to pay for).

Incicentally, how much money exactly have you paid the EA?...

silvercar

So what did the surveyor say?

googler

Maciek1984 wrote: »

So your telling me the person who went to look at the house from the estate agents and said "hello Mr Smith, ive valued your house and we'll put it on the market for 250k" is not trained or even paid to know anything about property?

They could be trained on construction methods, but don't have to be.

They get paid by selling property. If property doesn't sell, they don't get paid.

They get paid by the SELLER, and only once the property SELLS.

They are regulated by the Properties Misdescriptions Act not to say anything false about a property, but that act only covers what they say - not what they don't say.

It's up to you to determine what you're buying, and up to you to decide when and how you determine it - whether you do this by acquiring knowledge for yourself, so that you know an Airey from an Orlit from a Dorran when you go view any of them 4 times, or whether you pay an RICS surveyor to point that out to you once you've hired and paid him/her.

maninthestreet

Maciek1984 wrote: »

.
Im pretty sure they cant just highlight the positive aspects of the house and not tell you about any of the defects or problems with it.

Er, yes you can. There is no legal obligation for the vendor or their agents to volunteer information like this. However, they must answer any questions asked by a prospective buyer truthfully.

Maciek1984

Thanks for your help guys!

Its appreciated

sonastin

maninthestreet wrote: »

However, they must answer any questions asked by a prospective buyer truthfully.

And don't forget, truthfully often means "I'm sorry sir, I don't know the answer to that. You'll have to speak to your solicitor and get him to find that out for you".

JwTHBF

Im not sure you can do anything as the estate agent may not have known.

I know there is a service being offered where there are 'surveyor accompanied viewings' which is where you can take a surveyor with you to view a house. Maybe that could help in the future? Im thinking of trying the service myself.