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Screw the old lady and the first time buyer with one dodgy transaction
Common_sense
Posts: 16 Forumite
My wife and I have just been to look at a house which is in need of complete renovation advertised for £230,000. It is overpriced in our opinion for the amount of work required. Anyway, we have friends that live close-by who have since told us that it sold 3 weeks ago (it was never advertised) by an old lady to a builder via a local estate agent for £175,000 (nothing on land registry yet).
Some of the walls have clearly been repapered and repainted but nothing else has been done. It still needs plumbing, wiring, new kitchen and bathroom, new windows, completely redecorating and potentially structural work.
It sounds like the old lady has been screwed by a builder (+/- a dodgy estate agent) trying to make £55,000 for doing nothing and we, the first time buyers looking to get a step on the ladder, are also screwed.
Fraud? If not, it should be!
Some of the walls have clearly been repapered and repainted but nothing else has been done. It still needs plumbing, wiring, new kitchen and bathroom, new windows, completely redecorating and potentially structural work.
It sounds like the old lady has been screwed by a builder (+/- a dodgy estate agent) trying to make £55,000 for doing nothing and we, the first time buyers looking to get a step on the ladder, are also screwed.
Fraud? If not, it should be!
Savings Targets
£30,000 by 31/8/2012 - currently 100%+
£30,000 by 31/8/2012 - currently 100%+
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Comments
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I think you should be careful your wife doesn't find out you are screwing an old lady and a first time buyer at the same time
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Offer £175k. If rejected find somewhere else.
Welcome to the the UK housing market. Fraud, lying, conning all in a days work and all perfectly legal.0 -
starbarboy wrote: »I think you should be careful your wife doesn't find out you are screwing an old lady and a first time buyer at the same time
That did make me chuckle
But seriously, if the builder made an offer and the old lady agreed of her own volition then it's not illegal. If you have any evidence she was coerced into the sale then that might be a different matter.
If the builder has legitimately bought the place and done some work to it then it's up to whoever he sells to (whether or not they're a FTB) to decide how much they think it's now worth.
It's not right that older, vulnerable people are often taken advantage of if they don't have anyone to advise them, but do you know if that is the case here?
If the old lady had sold it to you at a knock-down price would you be complaining?0 -
Too often an EA will sell on a deceased estate to a crony, and share in the profits.
I've had an experience of this, someone died and the property was put on sale, I made an offer within ten minutes of it going on sale only to find that it was 'sold'. It had not even been advertised.
Another time I had an agent come to a house I was selling and blatantly offered to put it on sale for about 50% of it's value. It would have sold really quickly, to him.0 -
Too often an EA will sell on a deceased estate to a crony, and share in the profits.
I've had an experience of this, someone died and the property was put on sale, I made an offer within ten minutes of it going on sale only to find that it was 'sold'. It had not even been advertised.
Another time I had an agent come to a house I was selling and blatantly offered to put it on sale for about 50% of it's value. It would have sold really quickly, to him.
Did you do anything about it?Mornië utulië0 -
Lord_Baltimore wrote: »Did you do anything about it?
I did nothing about the house for sale because there was nothing I could prove.
The agent that quoted so low was told to remove himself in short, sharp, jerky motions.
I did sell the property for about twice what he said it was worth.0 -
starbarboy wrote: »I think you should be careful your wife doesn't find out you are screwing an old lady and a first time buyer at the same time
:rotfl::rotfl::T0 -
What's happened before, and whether the local rumour mill is correct or not, shouldn't be your concern.
All that matters is, can you do a deal with the owner at a price that's reasonable to you (eg the price you would have been prepared to pay an old lady)?0
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