Estate Agent Problems

othomas86

I require some help please! I'll try and do the short version.

Back in May I was looking to buy a house which was chain free, as my rental property was due to expire on August 2nd.

In mid May we went to a property had a look round and was told on 2 occasions by the estate agent that the property was chain free, because we liked the property and was told it was chain free, we made an offer which was duly accepted.

2 days later we were sent all the details through, including an attached piece of paper showing there was no chain and that the move would take 6-7 weeks, which to us was great because this would coincide (spelling?) nicely with leaving the rental property.

Anyway things started moving and 4 weeks later we went back to the house to have a look again to see what we could buy and do etc, whilst on this visit the present owner told us that they had in fact have a chain, all of a sudden we had gone from no chain to having one!

Obviously we enquired about this with the estate agent but they assured us that everything was ok and that the house would go through all ok, so we went with it.

Anyway missing out everything that has happened in July which has consisted of me making a numerous amount of phone calls to the estate agents and solicitors to try and force through a sale, plus listening to endless amount of empty promises regarding exchanging of contracts, here I am 4th August with still no house to move into and living with the fact that it will probably be another 3 weeks before any movement! (The sellers solicitor has been diabolical in this whole process)

So I'm now at the stage where I am extremely hacked off with the whole thing.

I had a massive rant at the estate agent today in regards to lying to me at the onset about the "no chain" situation. He claimed to me that at the time of the sale our "seller" had no chain because they had no house to go into and hadn't even had a place lined up (this contradicts what the estate agent originally said as he stated "that they already had a property to move into which was all sorted" hence no chain!) it wasn't until 10 days after our offer was accepted that they found a house and had a successful offer made!

So want I want to know is do I have any rights in this process in regards to the Estate Agents (in my eyes) mis-selling the property?

Or do these parasites get away scot free?

If I knew there was a chain I simply wouldn't have made an offer. Plus with the benefit of hindsight I should have pulled out of the deal at the end of June when I first knew about the chain (but then again I was given all these promises that everything was going to be ok)

PS Fortunately I have been able to sort the rental situation out and after my little chat with the estate agent today I am still thinking of pulling out of the deal.

Your help is appreciated!

ruggedtoast

The short answer is no, you have no rights.

If delaying will put you in position where you will be unable to proceed at all I would take that to the vendor and they can make a choice about whether to move into temporary accommodation in the meantime.

Why do you want to pull out if you have sorted out the rental situation? Nose and face spring to mind. Unfortunately if you are going to press abort every time someone lies to you, you will probably never get even near to exchanging contracts.

G_M

No, you have no rights. Until contracts are Exchanged, neither side is commited.
Verbal assurances by an estate agent are......
Property buying always takes longer, and is more stressful, than expected/wanted.
Starting to look in May, with a tenancy ending in August, was always over-optimistic.

Ignore the EA. This is not about him. It is about you, your family, and your home for the next 5....10....? years. Do what is best for yourself, and if you have sorted the tenancy, then carry on and buy.

In 6 months you'll look back and be able to swop 'house-buying horror stories' with your friends/family/colleagues.

If you pull out, the EA won't really care too much (OK a bit of lost commission) but you'll be back in rented, with all the stress, and expense, of house-buying to face again from scratch.