Property mis-sold under property misdescription act

Lala1971

I have just been informed by a firm of estate agents that they cannot market my house as a three bedroom property as the third bedroom an loft conversion does not have a final completion certificate from the council although it did have buildings regulation approval. We did not know this when we purchased the property as it was sold to us by a firm of estate agents as a three bedroom property and our solicitors at the time never advised us that a completion certificate was required we feel that the estate agents are negligent for selling as a 3 bed property when our current estate agents have immediately asked for all the relevant paperwork and this is why this lack of paperwork has now come to light and our law firm were negligent for not obtaining copies of all the relevant paperwork we are distraught as we now have to sell our house as a 2 bed property and lose thousands of £s does anyone have any advice on where we can go from here by the way the law firm in question have been closed down by the CSa and the estate agents are a small family run business

ILW

The EA just goes on what the client tells them.
Your solicitor as the only one you may have a claim against.

meercatsunited

The law firm in question will have been registered with the law society at the time you bought your house who are there to come to the aid when a wrong doing or mistake has been made by a solicitor. You should find their contact details on google.

arcon5

Have you looked in to how you can obtain a certificate and potentially save yourself this dispute?

unholyangel

Found this on edinburgh.gov.uk

If the works are satisfactory you will be sent either
-a Notice of Acceptance of Completion Certificate for an application made on or after 1st May 2005, or
-a Certificate of Completion for an application made before 1st May 2005 which indicates the Council's position in relation to your works.

The building or part of the building which has been erected, extended or altered must not be used unless the above has been followed.
The Building Warrant document, copies of the approved plans and either the Notice of Acceptance of Completion Certificate or the Certificate of Completion (as detailed above) should be kept in a safe place with the Title Deeds to your property. They are likely to be required if you decide to sell your property.

Have you tried contacting the council to see if a certificate of completion was granted? Perhaps its just a case of missing paperwork and not that it wasnt obtained?

Lala1971

If my current estate agents say they can't sell the property as three bedrooms as they could get sued under the property misdescription act then surely all the estate agwnts have to follow the same rules and regulations?

miduck

Lala1971 wrote: »

If my current estate agents say they can't sell the property as three bedrooms as they could get sued under the property misdescription act then surely all the estate agwnts have to follow the same rules and regulations?

You have been asked for further information above - you would receive more helpful replies if the information was provided.

ILW

Lala1971 wrote: »

If my current estate agents say they can't sell the property as three bedrooms as they could get sued under the property misdescription act then surely all the estate agwnts have to follow the same rules and regulations?

They are unlikely to be sued successfuly, just given a fine. (Which is unlikely and would not benefit you anyway)

Lala1971

Oh really so we wouldn't be able to claim compensation from them for the fact that we now either have to pay to put it right and obtain the consent as there is quite a lot of work required, we have had someone from the council in to inform us of this or sell as two bedroom and lose twenty grand on the price we paid that seems really unfair seeing as it was missold to us as three bedrooms and then the solicitors failed to do their job too and obtain relevant documentation. I feel like we are paying for someone else's wrongs we trusted the professionals to do their jobs

mo786uk

ILW wrote: »

The EA just goes on what the client tells them.
Your solicitor as the only one you may have a claim against.

Not really. The original EA may have commited an offence under the PMA but there are short time limits on which to prosecute and a prosecution will not affect the OPs issue which is making up the loss.

OP will have to ocnsider suing the solicitors but could also argue misrepresentation on the original EA's part. The nly problem is that unlike with most products on a house you usually doa lot of checks so the EA statement should probabl have been uncovered.

Also there is nothing in the PMA stopping the EA doing an honest description. If it doesnt qualify as a 3 bedroom hosue they can always call it 2 bedrooms with an almost 3rd room or whatever.

wealdroam

OP, try The House Buying, Renting & Selling board.