Is it legal for Estate Agents to lie to buyers?

jungle_jane

Hi all, I am in the process of buying a house and one estate agent in particular has stood out for the amount of outright lies that they told me about a place I am wanting to buy.

Are they allowed to actively lie? Here are some examples:

• They told me that I could only buy the house if I had had and appointment with their financial advisor. I said that I didn't want financial advice but they assured me it was only to be sure that I could afford the place. As it turns out the bloke that called me did not qualify my finances and only wanted to sell me his services

They told me that the house had suffered subsidence but that they had proof that this was historical and got quite huffy when I asked to see the paperwork. It turns out that there is no proof at all - all they had was an insurance claim rejection that would not pay out the claim

They told me that the previous purchaser's 6 month mortgage deal had expired and that's why they weren't buying the property anymore and it was back on the market. When I checked Property Bee though, the place had only been subject to offer in December. They told me it was last August.

They told me that the house had previously been on the market for a certain price but when I looked on Property Bee it had actually been on for £20,000 less

They were emphatic that there has never been any movement on the house despite not being able to produce any engineer's report. The movement is clearly visible due to the massive crack in the middle of the house, the front of the house clearly sinking by at least 2 inches and the fact that the previous purchaser was unable to get a mortgage on the place while the insurance company faffed about washing their hands of it.

I know that estate agents work for sellers, but I am wondering whether they can tell outright lies to buyers? Where is the line drawn?

Mallotum_X

Like everything in life you get good ones and bad ones.

Estate agents are just guys who sell second hand stuff for other people. Think of them more like a used car salesman and trust them to that degree and you wont go far wrong.

If its obvious you are being told lies about a house I would be tempted to walk away as you may not get straight answers to things you cant spot as lies.

mufi

To give the EA the benefit of the doubt, you can't rely on Property Bee's accuracy if an EA has briefly taken a property off the market and put it back on as new, or if it's changed agents. This erases the history.

jungle_jane

Yes I have walked away from it - the agent and vendor were unwilling to provide any information about the reasons for the insurance claim and said they were far too busy to investigate the issues. The lies were pretty obvious too - and not from just one agent. In total I dealt with 3 of them from this particular agent and they all had the same pattern of being blatantly untruthful. I now wont even look at a property if it's through them.

mufi I agree about property bee, zoopla and most other house hunting tools..although in this case the house had not been removed - it has been on the market for 70 or so weeks without being removed so I can clearly see it's history going back 18 months.

In saying that I have met some really nice agents in my area and do realise it's not the entire industry!

ILW

Agents tend to have to rely on what a seller tells them.

mlz1413

Are the agents NAEA registered?
if they are registered with then you could complain giving the points of your post.

If they are not registered with an assocation then short of complaining in writing to the owner / manager I doubt much will change.

Tracey1_2

[FONT=&quot]I had a similar issue today with feeling I was being 'tall-taled'. I viewed a house today for £130k and put in an offer of £122k (I have viewed 2 other houses in the same street but the first went before I was in a position to buy and the second needs so much work done it is daunting) The agent came back and said the vendor was looking for £125k - I replied that I wasn't going up to the threshold and as the porch needed attention, my top offer was £124. They again came back to me and said that the vendor would accept the offer on the condition that I went through the agent for my mortgage (I have an MIP through London & Country). Surely this is nothing short of blackmail! I feel that it has either come from the agent or they have convinced the vendor to make this condition by saying the sale would drag on otherwise. Can I ask for the vendor’s contact details to speak to them directly? I feel they are trying to back me into a corner by saying how many viewings they have booked. I've told them that I will hear what they have to say but will go with the mortgage deal that suits me - they still want me to go in tomorrow so they could 'cancel any further viewings if we got things sorted'. Surely this is not legal and fair behaviour. I don't want to lose the house (as I know it is a nice property in an area I love) but I refuse to be blackmailed. They then started to go on about using their solicitor - even when I said I had my own from my last house purchase). In my experience, it seems like agents are really pushing their mortgage products at the moment. I have a feeling that's how I lost out on my last place (a repo - the other buyer went through the agent for their mortgage. Another example is when I contacted an agent to view a property, I was called back by someone wanting to set up a mortgage appointment - I told him I just wanted to view the (darn) property at this stage! I have tried to get in touch with L&C to ask their opinion, but have not had a reply. I would speak to the vendor but they have already moved out of the property. Can anyone advise please?[/FONT]

FireWyrm

It's not only legal, it's practically compulsory.

Caveat emptor....sorry. Eyes open, wits about you in this business.

DVardysShadow

Start a new thread? Done!

It's here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3672845