Calling all Estate Agents!

TamTam72

If there are any estate agents here, I'd be grateful for some advise on an issue I have with a house I'm purchasing!

The house particulars say it has around 2 acres (STS) of garden and we have made an offer on that basis. However, after getting a copy of the title plan, we have discoverd that it only has 1.29 acres, which is a substantial difference of almost 3/4 acres. Bearing this in mind, if the estate agent had known originally that the land was not 2 acres, and only 1.29, what would/should have been the difference in the original valuation, and (more importantly!), what money should we expect to be reasonably taken off our offer price to reflect the difference in the plot sizes? I know this is hard because it will vary from place to place, but any thoughts will be gratefully received!

Mutton_Geoff

The agent is guilty of just being an agent I guess. They wrote STS (subject to survey) after their "estimate" and no doubt their contract and the property particulars contained some words like "does not constitute or form any part of an offer or any contract and none is to be relied upon as statements of representation or fact".

Your post reminded me of a property I saw advertised here .. the opening text says "Ottershaw £950,000. Approaching 5 acres this contemporary style home enjoys a semi rural lifestyle ..." and in the body of the description "..nestling in secluded grounds of approximately 3.65 acres .."

They can't even make their minds up in the description and I've seen enough agents measure rooms into wardrobes/alcoves then round up the numbers to know that it is only your own survey and measurements that tell the truth.

Trust nothing written on the sales particulars, do as the agent suggests in their small print and verify everything for yourself. As for liability, no chance, they'll just point to their clauses.

smreynard

I'm an Estate Agent/Valuer with 20 years experience. In theory, because it said 'around' 2 acres 'subject to survey' you wouldn't have any grounds to say that the description was inaccurate even though the difference in size is quite substantial. But that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be worthwhile reducing your offer on that basis. It could be argued that you made your original offer based on the amount of land that you actually saw, regardless of what was said in the details. I couldn't give much advice on how to price the 'missing' three quarters of an acre because so much depends on what type of land it is and where. For instance, if it was beautifully landscaped gardens then that amount would add quite a lot of extra amenity value. If it was just rough scrubland or grazing land then it wouldn't be worth much more than arable value. It would be worth you finding out what the local value is per acre for both amenity land and arable land and then reduce your offer accordingly. But, as I've already said, the vendor might refuse and say that you based your original offer on the amount of land you saw.
Hope this has been of some help.

PoorDave

This does not thelp the OP, but...

My current favourite is when you look at the floorplans the agent has put together, then look at the pics of the outside of the house, to find there's no way the two can possibly go together! Bits sticking out where there aren't any etc.

courtjester

Under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, estate agents have a strict liability for providing accurate information - disclaimer clauses have no effect at law so can be ignored if the details are misleading.

The agent can be reported to Trading Standards or the OFT for a misdescription offence - this doesn't provide a civil action, but could be used for future civil compensation cases if the agent is fined under the law.

In this case where the area was not properly measured, it is probably a question of degree - if you bought the property under the impression that it was around 2 acres and then found it was only 1.29, that might be a significantly large enough error for the agents "STS" to be regarded as misleading - clearly the original statement should be near enough and most reasonable people would not regard an error of more than 10-15% to be acceptable when providing measurements.

It is irrelevant anyway here as the property has not been purchased so there is no 'loss' arising. You probably think it pointless to report the agent and indeed for your purpose there is nothing to be gained.

However, you are entitled to revise your offer for ANY reason you like at any time up until exchange of contracts as nothing is binding until that point. So as you now find that the particulars are significantly inaccurate, this would definitely give good reason to adjust your earlier offer subject to whether the price is currently reasonable or not - your agent's vendor will probably give them grief over any 'loss' they make by you reducing your previous offer because of the agents inaccurate particulars and this should be satisfaction enough.