estate agents

saraphina

I am currently buying a repossessed property that was due to complete within 28days. This date has now elapsed and the property has now been put back on the market despite everything still in motion. (I have a 1st time buyer for my property so there is no chain).

My gripe i feel is with the estate agent. My paperwork with my solicitor is set to go, but my buyer still hasnt given her mortgage offer in to her solicitor and therefore is not in a position to exchange etc yet. I feel the EA should have been instructing her about the time restraints that were in place therefore ensuring they could be met and informing me of the actual state of their progress. Each time I spoke to the EA they have said everything is going to plan.

I enquired with the EA on a couple of occasions whether my seller was happy with the situation was progressing and was told that they were. During a conversation with the EA about another matter, I again enquired whether they were still happy and was told that actually theyd given a deadline for the next day and that they were legally bound to readvertise the property if deadline had not been met. I feel sure this information was not going to be passed on to me by the EA had I not mentioned it in the conversation as the conversation had drawn to a close.

I and my buyer now face the possibility of losing our purchases/sales. Has there been any breach of contract by the EA, as in their literature they state that we would be kept informed every step of the way.

Incidentally, the person responsible for the sale actual terminated his employment on the day the information about the remarketing was passed on to me. He had also disclosed previously, his displeasure at not being able to receive any commission for sales he'd arranged prior to handing in his notice (mine being one of them) and also that nobody in the branch would benefit either.

Maybe im being a sceptic and I know house buying dosent always run smoothly, but I feel i could lose the property I want, due to the actions (or non actions) of the EA.

I think im going to write a letter of complaint to the EA but any suggestions of further action i should take would be gratefully rec'd.

toonfish

your buyer is at fault IMO, if you are ready to proceed and they are not in a position. Did your solicitor impose a 28 day clause on them?

this is however quite common with repossesions and deceased estates, and you might find the eventual lucky buyer (presuming you lose out) is the same person that got "lucky" on the last few - certainly if my recent experience is anything to go by.

saraphina

not sure what you mean by your second paragraph. be grateful of an explanation

toonfish

saraphina wrote:

not sure what you mean by your second paragraph. be grateful of an explanation

OK, I have arranged 2 mortgages for repossessed properties where the 28 day deadline has not been met and in both cases the subsequent buyer was the same person when the house was remarketed. Since then it has come to light that the same buyer picks up a fair selection of deceased estate property

lush_walrus

Repossessions are a completely different kettle of fish to buying most other property. In the past banks were able to sell repossessions for ridiculously low money just to recover their personal debt. Now the process is governed and as a result, the prices are higher and the 28 days to complete is in place with them (something also often used when buying brand new properties).

The EA you were buying from should have informed you of this, from what you have said it is unclear whether you were or were not aware. Same with your buyer, it is in your EAs interest (assuming that the EA you are buying from and selling through are different) that your buyer is informed of this, as ultimately these are real deadlines, and if they elapse it is pretty common to end up in the situation you are in (and for the EA selling your property, that means no commission). Do you actually know that the EA has not been chasing up your buyer? It is quite normal for mortgages to be slow, especially if your buyer did not have an offer in place before viewing and offering on yours.

28 days to exchange is very tight for most people in a chain or with mortgages (the average sale takes more than 8 weeks at the moment, depending on the lender), and as such generally reposessions tend to sell to FTBs or cash buyers.

I feel for you in your situation, but it may be worth continuing to pressure your buyers to get a wriggle on, as you are still in with a fighting chance as this is just about the most quite period of the year.

Toonfish, I am surprised that you think there is rigging going on in reposessions, in my area at least they rarely go for a low enough price these days for developers to want to touch them!

toonfish

not a "proper" developer - more of a dabbler but there are still dirty tricks going on IMO. It's true what you say though there is not as much margin in them anymore.

lush_walrus

toonfish wrote:

not a "proper" developer - more of a dabbler but there are still dirty tricks going on IMO. It's true what you say though there is not as much margin in them anymore.

Ah, risky business if you ask me the EAs getting involved with this are fools!

saraphina

sorry for the delay in replying. Thanks for your comments. In fairness to the estate agent, they did tell us about the 28 day deadline which we were adhering to, but as it is the same estate agent dealing with our purchase and sale, I cant understand why our buyers have not been chased to adhere to the same timescale. My gripe is also about them not keeping me up to date with our sellers and there intentions to pull out if the deadline wasnt met.
There is also the added complication of another buyer interested in the property we are buying. I believe he is in no chain and looking to buy the property to rent so may possibly be a cash buyer.

Do you think we should put our own house back on the market? we did find this buyer within a week but the hassle of viewing is off putting. Incidentally we signed up for a 10 week contract with the EA which is up next wk so we could go with another EA.

So frustrated