Solicitor giving unsolicited valuation advice & affecting sale

saunaboy

Hi all,

We're selling an upstairs maisonette that is valued at 150k. I was on here a week ago discussing a game a BTL investor was playing - trying to get the price reduced massively because the upstairs was converted in the 1960s and as such has no building regs approval.

We have written confirmation from the council that they will not enforce due to the age and also indemnity insurance in place.

We now have a buyer who has offered the asking price & uses same solicitor as the BTL.

The solicitor has phoned the buyer (unsolicited call) to tell the buyer that because of the conversion age he doesn't think it'll meet the valuation. It has already been subjected to one valuation (for the BTL) at 4k less and passed with flying colours.

What on earth do we do here? We've been assured that the house is perfectly 'legal' and 'saleable'. But we now have the agent on the phone saying that the buyer is reconsidering due to the solicitors comments!!!!!!! We haven't even got into the actual process itself yet.

many thanks for any help.

saunaboy

basically we have an email from the buyer saying...

"my solicitor phoned me today and said that in his opinion it is only two bedroom & might not meet the valuation and I might have problems getting a mortgage for the place"

We have

1. Assurance from the council that the upstairs is non-enforcable
2. Indemnity insurance for full expected value at sale
3. A successful valuation already at 4k below this offer price

Dave_the_Ginger_Cat

I think the solicitor is acting in the best interests of his client, and although it's not in your favour, I think he's OK to do it. You might argue it would need the BTL client's consent, but that would be BTL's complaint not yours

I would sit out for the valuation to take place. £4k on £150k is a small percentage, so the valuer must have felt strongly that it was priced wrongly or they would not have bothered.

Your new buyer may want to haggle on price, but I can see no reason why they would want to pull out with such information

G_M

Communication between the buyer and their solicitor is outside your control.

If their solicitor offers them advice, whether solicited or not, that is a matter between them.

Of course, whether the buyer accepts the advice or ignores is is his decision.

So all you can do is try to reassure the buyer.

He has emailed you. So email back! Give him the information to reassure him, and keep your fingers crossed.

spacey2012

Keep it on the market and keep pushing it.

saunaboy

sorry I didn't make myself clear. They didn't value it as 4k below, they valued it as the previous offer price that was 4k below 150k.

They were never made aware of the original 150k asking price.

FYI - the solicitor in question acted on behalf of the people we bought from & was happy enough in 2007 to call it a 4 bed...!

daisygirlmac

I would email back as GM says, and I would just politely say something along the lines of "Oh that's strange, I wonder why your solicitor thinks that, I didn't know they dealt with valuations. More than happy to answer any questions you have, also I'll be very accommodating for the valuation survey and can be free almost anytime." You could also maybe say someone else has had it valued and it was fine but this obviously leaves you open to questions about why your BTL buyer pulled out.

saunaboy

We have just checked our Estate Agents website and, without approval from us, they have changed the listing from 4 bed to 2 bed "with floored loft space"

The solicitor has basically affected the marketing of the property, even though our solicitor assures us it's perfectly fine.

saunaboy

And we've now been told the agent has asked for the bank valuation to be on basis of 2 beds and we 'might expect lower price:

However, as sale fee they still want a % of the original 150k 4 bed marketing value.

Am I unreasonable in considering sacking them & going elsewhere?

RAS

Look at your contract.

tberry6686

Who does the estate agent work for. It sounds like they are working for this solicitor and if they have changed the marketing to 2 bed off their own backs I would sack them for breach of contract.