My house damaged by estate agent.

moneyistooshorttomention

googler wrote: »

Did the OP outline that all EAs and viewers should do this? If so, they didn't mention it...

That sounds like trying to find a way to give the EA a cop-out!

Everyone is entitled to expect other people to take "reasonable care and attention" in their home. Many of us know that high heels can damage flooring on the one hand and most women these days don't wear high heels in the first place. Hence why on earth would an EA be so ill-informed as to how to do their job properly as not to be aware that she shouldn't be wearing high heels walking round someone's home?

Very definite negligence on the EA's part and she should be held responsible and made to rectify matters appropriately (and do her blimmin' job properly in future...ie taking care of clients property).

It's not up to the client to say "Take the appropriate care that even yer average layperson in the street is supposed to know about" to someone who should be even more aware than said "average layperson".

Personally, I would want to have an EA that employed more intelligent staff than this woman and would sack them and find an EA with staff that looked a lot "brighter". Life is too short to keep on sorting out the messes that can be caused by people who don't know their job properly and may not be capable of learning it (that's certainly become my motto these days and I pick the firms with the "brightest" staff I can find).

bouicca21

I've certainly been to a viewing where the EA had been instructed (by the tenants in situ not the vendor) to ask everyone to remove their shoes. And we all did.

If OP gave similar instructions then fair enough, if he/she didn't then I don't see what comeback there is. It is quite common for young professional women to wear stilettos, they are back in fashion.

SternMusik

Torry_Quine wrote: »

That was my thought. If certain footwear can't be worn then the OP should have made this clear before-hand.

I agree with this poster. Sorry OP. If walking on certain types of shoes in the hallway will damage your flooring you should have pointed this out and put a "no shoes" policy in place.

I woulnd't have considered vinyl a practical flooring choice for a hallway. Not hardwearing enough.

moneyistooshorttomention

SternMusik wrote: »

I woulnd't have considered vinyl a practical flooring choice for a hallway. Not hardwearing enough.

It's a home-owners right to have whatever flooring they choose in their own home and expect other people to take appropriate care of it.

I'm just getting together a new-to-me house and will probably choose vinyl for my hallway (and certainly will choose it for the kitchen and bathroom), as its easy to clean. It does rather look as if some people think everyone should have carpet throughout their home (presumably including kitchens and bathrooms:eek:) just for the sake of those people who aren't bright enough to realise that stiletto heels can damage flooring. Just who has carpet in their hallway anyway? Certainly not anyone who knows JUST how dirty and horrible it is likely to look in pretty short order (voice of experience time...having had hallway carpet myself in my previous house and it only took a couple of years or so before it looked absolutely awful courtesy of all those people not wiping their feet when they came in the door).

I don't wear stiletto heels, but am certainly bright enough to know that, if I did, then I shouldn't wear them across other peoples flooring (unless its carpet possibly) and I'm not an EA even.

NOTE TO OP Sorry to hear that you will find some people can't seem to see your point...but I would think most people are well aware of the damage stilettos can do (even if they aren't EA's and therefore its their job to know it). Ignore the naysayers and keep at it to get this sorted out. Good luck.

lord_tyrannus

see I think EA's and LA's should sign a disclaimer if they are going to conduct a viewing without the tenant or home owner present so if they damage anything its there fault

Unfortunately this seems to be an alien concept to them

Stilleto's will damage most floors except carpet because they focus a large amount of weight onto a small area.

googler

If the vinyl in the hallway isn't suitable for high heels, what does the OP do when someone with high heels arrives? Since they can't walk about IN the house, does the OP ask them to remove their shoes outside, on the garden path, before coming in?

My point is - if you expect people to change their shoes as they enter, you have to have flooring that's appropriate for outdoor shoes at least at the point of entry, surely?

martinsurrey

lord_tyrannus wrote: »

see I think EA's and LA's should sign a disclaimer if they are going to conduct a viewing without the tenant or home owner present so if they damage anything its there fault

Unfortunately this seems to be an alien concept to them

Stilleto's will damage most floors except carpet because they focus a large amount of weight onto a small area.

^this.


Stilettos will damage engineered wood floorings, solid wood flooring, sanded floor boards, and laminates (if she’s a bit of a porker). And lets face it, one of them is found in almost every modern house these days.



An EA must be an A* idiot for wearing them to work, and an utter fool, for not taking them off...

paddedjohn

OP, how do you know for certain that it was the estate agent that damaged your floor? If you watched her do it did you try and stop her?

moneyistooshorttomention

Well, I think that's safely covered every single excuse the EA will have for their stupidity by now:rotfl:. Forewarned is forearmed as to what their excuses might be then...

But it IS a very good point that darn nearly every house these days will have some flooring somewhere in the house that is something other than carpet. It is also a fact that the EA isn't going to just stand there in a hallway anyway and just vaguely wave viewers in the direction of all the rooms in the house and therefore (according to some EA's) should have carpet in literally every single room in case of an EA who doesn't know their job (hence, even if everyone is prepared to have that impractical carpet in their hallway just to suit EAs) a daft EA in stilettos will muck up some flooring somewhere in the house. Particularly if they are a "porker" as a poster put it and there are an awful lot of "porkers" around these days.

ReadingTim

Unless you specifically asked the EA (and buyers) to take their shoes off when viewing, I don't think you've got much of a case here.

Yes, the EA should have considered the impact (literally!) of her footwear on the floor, but equally, the vendor should have considered the suitability of such a flooring in high traffic areas of the house such as the hallway and kitchen. If a stiletto can cause such dents, I'm pretty sure the feet of appliances such as fridge freezers, washing machines etc would do the same (although in a less visable place!).

That said, if you don't ask/complain, you don't get; so contact the branch manager and see what they have to say - but don't get your hopes up, especially if the floor wasn't newly laid...