Gazumped!!

annannanna

Bit of a long story but any advice would be appreciated:

I made an offer on a house, it was accepted and we instructed and paid for the leners valuation. The valuer would not provide a value until he had seen a Structural Engineers Report as there were signs of subsidence. We paid for this report (only £250 as local firm) and they found it didn't have subsidence but did need some works and this had been forwarded back to the valuer.

It has now been 3 weeks since we sent this report and the valuer has still not responded, we were chasing constantly but kept getting told there were lost emails and one minute we were told the valuer had responded the next minute they were saying they didn't have the report so basically one big mess up.

Anyway we got a lovely call from the EA tonight to say they had been trying to get hold of me for days (lies as I have been waiting by my phone for news) and that the vendor has had another offer and as we had taken so long and they hadn't been able to get in touch with me they had accepted it.

We are not interested in getting in a bidding war so are going to walk away but just wanted to know where we stand on the following issues so any advice would be appreciated:

1. When the offer was accepted we were offered exclusivity. The EA says the offer is from someone who had previously viewed however I don't believe this as it was only on the market a week when we offered and they told us anyone else who had viewed it were not interested.

2. The EA are lying about trying to get hold of me, they could have rang my broker (who used to work at that EA!) or they have my email if they couldn't get hold of me by phone.

3. Can I try to get a refund of the valuation fee we paid, as this is due to various mess ups by the valuer and by the lender as to why this has taken so long between valuation and offer.

4. We have paid an upfront fee to our broker for his service however he always seems to be too busy to help us and we feel had he chased this more it might not have come to this. I asked the EA why she had not contacted our broker and she said he should have been in touch with them more so we feel he is somewhat responsible. Are morgage brokers regulated and who would we complain to if we wanted to take this further.

Thanks
Irate First Time Buyer who is learning a lot of lessons! :mad:

Emmzi

if you havent had a vakuation then you shouldn't pay for it

everything else is a lesson in nagging and hassling more.

annannanna

They did provide a valuation report but no value until the structural report was provided. We provided this 3 weeks ago and have been chasing the lender everyday trying to get the valuation but no one ever seemed to know what was going on.

If I wanted to complain about the EA who could I complain to? Would it be Financial Ombudsman Service?

POPPYOSCAR

We had exclusivity in writing and paid a non- refundable deposit and it did not mean a thing!!

Ended up paying more but our solicitor was brilliant and made sure we exchanged straight away, even then the EA tried to get us to sell the contract on to someone else.

Our solicitor did write a letter of complaint about the EA to someone but I can't remember who(I think it was some kind of EA trade body).But that is all it was just a letter of complaint.

These things happen in house buying.

giddypenguin

The lender isn't the co-op by any chance is it?

Have you told the EA to get stuffed then? I would tell them that the house has problems, and therefore they will get this delay with any potential buyer - you are further down the process, and so if they want a definite sale they should stick with you.

annannanna

No it's Halifax

I spoke to another lady at the Estate Agents this morning and she said she didn't know I had been offered exclusivity and she would have to have a word with the other EA I spoke to last night. I told them I am not interested in the house anymore if they are going to use underhand tactics, I don't want to pay a penny to that vendor now.