Buyer misrepresented his position - can I sue?

money_bag

Hi
We agreed a sale on our house in Dec '10. The agreement was that the buyer would complete before end of Feb '11.
We were not living in the property we were selling, and because of high rental rates close to work, were and still are renting an hours' drive from my new place of work.
Our buyer had a buyer who we understood had owned a property before but was currently in rented. I was told he had a mortgage offer in place.
A completion date of 22 Feb was agreed between all parties, including the owners of the property we were buying.
A week prior to completion, we get a call saying that our buyer's buyer cannot complete until April. It is suggested his wife is terminally ill, but I am told that this is not official, that he has asked for privacy.
We agreed to an April move, but stated we wanted to exchange contracts asap. It then transpires that the buyers buyer, let's call him Mr Ratthews, has not shown his ID, had a mortgage offer, had a survey done, searches, ANYTHING. I am told that his solicitor does not apply for searches until AFTER the mortgage offer is in. I am then told that he is awaiting a structural survey, and that once that is done, we can exchange. I am told he will book it within the week, and a week later I am told that it will take place the following Friday. on that day, we are told that he has cancelled the structural survey and that he now is a cash buyer. His solicitor confirms via email that he has proof of funds and has shown ID and paid for searches.
We push for an exchange, and we expect to exchange every day and every day we await Mr Ratthews at the bottom of the chain to instuct his solicitor to exchange. on thursday his vendor paid him a visit, (he lives with his mum) obviously cross at not exchanging, and on Friday her Estate Agent called them and ended up rowing with him, which ended in him hanging up refusing to talk to them anymore.
I called our vendor's estate agent on Friday and they had heard what had happened and already called Mr Ratthew's solicitor. They were told that contrary to the previous email which they say was a 'mistake' Mr Ratthew's has not shown proof of funds, or ID, or paid them a penny for anything, even searches.
Obviously this has cost us a fortune, as well as everyone else in the chain, thousands of pounds wasted on surveys, searches, solicitors fees, mortgage applications, on a house we can't buy. Everyone else in the chain has incurred significant costs too.
I can't help but think there must be something wrong with Mr Ratthews (mentally) and I wonder if his solicitor is dodgy, with such a tangled web. Can we take legal action against Mr Ratthews for deliberately causing expense with no intent to purchase? can we sue his 'solictor' for confirming he had seen evidence of funds and ID that he now says he had not?

DVardysShadow

money_bag wrote: »

... Can we take legal action against Mr Ratthews for deliberately causing expense with no intent to purchase? can we sue his 'solictor' for confirming he had seen evidence of funds and ID that he now says he had not?

Of course you can take legal action, let me wish you bon voyage.

The more interesting question is whether you would win. I imagine that you would have difficulty proving that the solicitor had confirmed anything on behalf of his client. Usually, the solicitor is the agent of the buyer, so you would end up suing the buyer for the misdemeanours of his solicitor and the buyer would end up suing his solicitor, I would imagine. As for the buyer, it is exceedingly odd that his wife is terminally ill, but he lives with his mother but was also in rented accommodation. But if he never called for a survey, why did anyone take him seriously for so long?

Your buyer [and his agent] should have been more on the ball. But so should you and your agent.

ILW

What could you sue for?
There is no contract to break until exchange.

money_bag

Thanks for your reply,

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I imagine that you would have difficulty proving that the solicitor had confirmed anything on behalf of his client.

We have it in writing. He confirmed via email.

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Your buyer [and his agent] should have been more on the ball. But so should you and your agent.

Since we had it in writing that the checks had been done, by his solicitor, we actually thought that was more than sufficient. Have you ever asked to personally review your buyers credentials? and how much of a nutter would you look if you did?

money_bag

@ILW, for his solicitor confirming he was a bona fide buyer and then saying it was a 'mistake', possibly Mr Ratthews, who in all likelyhood was never in any position to be buying a house. He has clearly lied repeatedly in order to keep the farce going.
I don't think he was ever even in a position to buy a house of £365, let alone £365k, so why did his solicitor confirm he was? This has cost us a fortune and so much upset.

DVardysShadow

money_bag wrote: »

Thanks for your reply,

We have it in writing. He confirmed via email.


Since we had it in writing that the checks had been done, by his solicitor, we actually thought that was more than sufficient. Have you ever asked to personally review your buyers credentials? and how much of a nutter would you look if you did?

Your buyer's buyer confirmed to you? I doubt it. So to whom did he confirm and what did he confirm? Only if it was to the buyer's solicitor is it likely to have any standing.

I think you are a little off beam thinking about your buyer's buyer's credentials. They are largely irrelevant to your situation. Your buyer could in fact check out 100%. It does not matter. What does matter is whether he got on with it. Plainly, he did not, and the evidence is there to see.

sp1987

1. You want to sue your buyers buyer, whom you have no contract with? Mr Ratthews?

2. Your buyer is contractually obligated to buy from you on the completion date set at exchange. When is this, from your facts exchange has not even happened? If exchange has not happened, the verbal agreement to buy is not binding regardless as contracts for the sale of land must be in writing (i.e. exchange of contracts).

G_M

We agreed a sale on our house in Dec '10. Such an 'agreement' has no legal standing until Exchange of Contracts.The agreement was that the buyer would complete before end of Feb '11. Such an 'agreement' has no legal standing until Exchange of Contracts.
.......
Our buyer had a buyer who we understood had owned a property before but was currently in rented. I was told he had a mortgage offer in place. Whatever you were told has no legal significance.
A completion date of 22 Feb was agreed between all parties, including the owners of the property we were buying. Such an 'agreement' has no legal standing until Exchange of Contracts.
A week prior to completion, we get a call saying that our buyer's buyer cannot complete until April. Like the previous 'agreements' this one also has no legal standing until Exchange of Contracts.It is suggested his wife is terminally ill, but I am told that this is not official, that he has asked for privacy. Correct. Not official. In fact legally irrelevant.
We agreed to an April move, but stated we wanted to exchange contracts asap Ahhhh! So you had not Exchanged Contracts? Then any discussions, agreements, intentions, hopes, dreams, fantasies so far are........ just hopes dreams and fantasies.

Can we take legal action against Mr Ratthews for deliberately causing expense with no intent to purchase? can we sue his 'solictor' for confirming he had seen evidence of funds and ID that he now says he had not?

Yes, and yes.

But you will lose.

JQ.

You cannot sue anyone until contracts are Exchanged - that is the purpose of exchange, it creates a contract between the parties involved. Up to that point any party can walk away for any reason. This is exactly the reason why EA's make lots of enquiries of buyers to ensure they are in the proceedable position.

It's a nightmare position to be in but you do just need to move on and decide what you want to do next - get you buyers to find a new buyer for their house or put you house back on the market. If it were me, my house would be back on the market on Monday morning.

money_bag

Thank you for your replies. This is the fifth time I have bought/ sold a property. I know what exchange of contracts are.
I do not want to sue for a break of contract.
I want this sorted because for six months of our lives we were spun a web of lies from someone who was NEVER going to buy a house. His solicitor helped him by sending in WRITING to the estate agent he was buying from that he had seen proof of funds, had paid for searches and was proceedable.
At the time, my EA were calling his solicitors to discuss the matter on an almost daily basis, so it is inplausible that he could have made such an elementary mistake.
More likely, I think, this stunt was designed to do nothing more than to cause other people expense and upset. Like I said, it turns out this guy lives with his old mum, he has no wife, and no, not because she died, because he is a lieing POS.
There is something that reeks about all this.
Checks were made, does anyone know of a more concrete way for an EA to check someone's position than a letter from his solicitor confirming in writing he is proceedable?
Remember this man did NOT just 'change his mind', he is a nuisance who never had any intention of purchasing, but instead compounded lie after lie to keep this merry dance going, causing us considerable cost, and all the other parties involved. Alot of people are VERY upset.

marvin

Personally I would start, if i were to do anything at all, by complaining in writing to the solicitor if you get nowhere with them then complain to the Law Society. Although I personally have no confidence in either process being any use as the solicitor is unlikely to find themselves guilty and the Law Society seems to exist to protect lawyers.

However I just think you will be heaping more heartache and work on top, sometimes it is best, even if it has caused you a lot of trouble, to just shake your head and move on.