Agent lied about property age

mizeki

Hi,
I reached a deal with an estate agent on a property they told me was two years old (I have the email in which they state this).
The survey has revealed that the property is almost 7 years old.
This has implications for me as everything is under warranty for 10 years from building, and i had hoped to buy the house and sell it within the warranty period - it's my first house and it was just hoped to be a step onto the property ladder.
Had i known how much older (and thus how much further through the warranty) it was, my offer would have been considerably lower. I have now paid solicitor fees, sorted the mortgage etc so i will lose out it if i back out.
Is there anything i can do about this?
Many thanks,
Rachel

ognum

mizeki wrote: »

Hi,
I reached a deal with an estate agent on a property they told me was two years old (I have the email in which they state this).
The survey has revealed that the property is almost 7 years old.
This has implications for me as everything is under warranty for 10 years from building, and i had hoped to buy the house and sell it within the warranty period - it's my first house and it was just hoped to be a step onto the property ladder.
Had i known how much older (and thus how much further through the warranty) it was, my offer would have been considerably lower. I have now paid solicitor fees, sorted the mortgage etc so i will lose out it if i back out.
Is there anything i can do about this?
Many thanks,
Rachel

I don't think there is anything you can do now. The agent is the vendors representative and if the vendor told the agent it was x years old that is what they will tell you.

However you could have done your own due diligence and looked at the land registry or sold prices for the area and that would have shown when it was first sold. Did you do that?

I am surprised you couldn't tell it was older than two years old when you looked at it, didn't the kitchen or bathroom look 7 years old? there are usually tell tale signs of a buildings age.

It guess it's up to you now to decide to go with it or not.

googler

How do you know the survey is correct?

As is said above, you could have checked when it was built for yourself. Council planning records will tell you when consent was granted for the build. Zoopla and other free house price sites will show you when it was bought as new.

As was also said - did it LOOK two years old?

Running_Horse

While it might be annoying (did they lie or make mistake?), at least all the snagging should have been done. It's not like a TV guarantee. If the house has been well built five years will not make that much difference.

Raggie

You may be a little confused over the "warranty".

Most new builds come with a 2 year "warranty" proved by the builders. This is a lose term and varies from builder to builder.

It tends to cover items such as would have been picked up during snagging and depending on the company concerned their attitude to "faults" varies greatly.

Any "warranty" above this is covered by schemes such as NHBC these do not cover "everything" but only major/structural faults which have occurred due to negligence during construction.

I do not believe that any new build comes with a 10 year catch all warranty and as such if the house is 2 or 7 years old will have no effect on your purchase.

ognum

mizeki wrote: »

Hi,
I reached a deal with an estate agent on a property they told me was two years old (I have the email in which they state this).
The survey has revealed that the property is almost 7 years old.
This has implications for me as everything is under warranty for 10 years from building, and i had hoped to buy the house and sell it within the warranty period - it's my first house and it was just hoped to be a step onto the property ladder.
Had i known how much older (and thus how much further through the warranty) it was, my offer would have been considerably lower. I have now paid solicitor fees, sorted the mortgage etc so i will lose out it if i back out.
Is there anything i can do about this?
Many thanks,
Rachel

By the way, your deal is not with the estate agent it's with the owner of the property.

davidmcn

mizeki wrote: »

Had i known how much older (and thus how much further through the warranty) it was, my offer would have been considerably lower.

Do you have evidence that a 7 year old house is worth significantly less than a 2 year old house?

ging84

is there anything unusual about the property which explains the discrepancy ?
was it a show house for several years before being sold to it's first owner?
how did you come up with the price you offered on it?
did you look up the sold price history for it and any neighbouring plots? That would be what most people would have done before making an offer, and the age would have been fairly obvious.

Running_Horse

I have to input some data at work, and 2s looking like 7s is the least of some of the problems I encounter with bad handwriting. There may be a totally innocent explanation. Whether this affects your buying this particular house is a matter for you. I doubt it affects value that much.

Soot2006

Running_Horse wrote: »

I have to input some data at work, and 2s looking like 7s is the least of some of the problems I encounter with bad handwriting. There may be a totally innocent explanation. Whether this affects your buying this particular house is a matter for you. I doubt it affects value that much.

I was just thinking that as well. Inputting some survey scribbles at the moment and frankly, every second 2 could be a 7 or vice versa ...

// 7 years is still NEW when it comes to houses and if it's still standing that's probably a good start. Can take quite a few years for cracks to appear anyway

Doozergirl

davidmcn wrote: »

Do you have evidence that a 7 year old house is worth significantly less than a 2 year old house?

Exactly. The professionals won't value it differently, or the vendor! I think the OP is alone on thinking that.

Warranties are replaced by buildings insurance. NHBC are also a nightmare to deal with, the only thing they cover is subsidence caused by incorrect design and build, but they will fight even a genuine claim by spouting bullturd. A decent insurer would never do that.
The warranty is to tick a box for mortgage lenders, they hold little value.