Property Information Form missing a LOT of info.

Eejay

My husband isn't a FTB but the last property was a repo bought in cash by his family and the time before was a newly built flat (with a guarantor) in 2005 so it was done slightly differently to this, and of course he was provided with plenty of information that time with no trouble. I guess this situation is somewhat new to him and we weren't expecting the complications of tenants/no information, and the mortgage situation is different this time around.

I'm really tempted to put in a complaint about them - they are so adamant we need to pay for searches/surveys etc to show we're interested, but very reluctant to speak to the vendor about any of the queries we've got, which could probably be answered to some extent in a five minute phone call. If we pay for these things and then the answers are not great, we're going to in a bit of a sticky situation - we can't afford to waste money like that. I just feel like they are pressuring us to pull out, but if that's what they want then why don't they just tell us? It was on the market for five months - considerably longer than a lot of properties in the area - so it's not as if the offers were flooding in.

I'm not sure if the vendor really knows what is going on - after all he asked them to fill in the paperwork and might not realise they've only answered 8 and a bit questions. Nobody signed the paperwork but it says that this can form part of the contract - although we have an email that was sent from the EA to the vendor's solicitor stating who filled it in (I wonder if they knew we'd see that?), realistically anybody could have filled it in because there's no signature or date, etc. Even his 'full name' on the front page is only his initial and surname, but his actual full name is written on the Land Registry paperwork so I think we could find him if necessary.

Would it be wise to try and get in touch with the vendor? Or would the EA be even more furious with us? My husband is getting quite stressed about it all (I know I'm the one posting on here but he keeps asking if there have been any updates because he really doesn't know what the best option is) and would rather enjoy these last few weeks of 'freedom' before the baby arrives! I suspect you're right and that the EA has been twisting the truth somewhat when speaking to him, so it would be great if we were able to bypass them for a while. My husband is at the point now where he doesn't even want to speak to the EA, but I doubt we'll get very far if he ignores them completely lol

ETA: I Googled the vendor's name and I'm 99% certain I've got the right person - there's an email address on there which I'm willing to try as a last resort if people reckon it's okay to do so?

Bantex_2

Eejay wrote: »

The EA has now said that they will speak to the vendor but it will likely 'inflame them when they are already anxious'. Our solicitor has apparently had the paperwork for weeks so they object to us raising this now (even though we only received it yesterday), but we are very reluctant to start paying out money when there are so few answers.

The EA was the one who filled in the paperwork - there are bits missing that they could easily have answered, and the fact that they've listed things like where the meters are suggests they have been to the property - they could have answered some of the other questions whilst they were there (or at least said they weren't sure rather than just leaving entire pages blank). I don't mind having to find some of the info for ourselves but I don't think we should be doing all of their work. Even the document from the Land Registry says something about an area coloured green that can't be built on, but there's no green on it. However there's a sentence about "the land coloured green on the plan referred to is the whole of the land in this title excluding the site of the dwellinghouse" so it sounds like there's no chance of building anything other than a 'garage or tool shed'.

I can't see any chance of this working out to be honest, especially when the EA is being ridiculously rude about every concern we have - they keep brushing the tenant issue to the side for example. I am convinced they want us to spend money so that we are reluctant to pull out, but it's not happening. There isn't anything particularly exciting available at the moment, but I'd rather wait and rent for longer than rush into something that is, by the looks of it, going to cause no end of stress.

The seller is not going to evict their tenants until you have at least had a survey done. It would b a daft thing to do.

Eejay

Bantex wrote: »

The seller is not going to evict their tenants until you have at least had a survey done. It would b a daft thing to do.

I'm not interested in the tenant issue at the moment - it's the fact that the EA is pressuring us to proceed and yet we've only had answers to a handful of questions about the property. How can we make an informed decision with so little information? I'll list the information we've got below:

---

4. Alterations, planning and building control
4.7 Is the property or any part of it:
(a) a listed building? [NO]
(b) in a conservation area? [NO]

8. Rights and informal arrangements
Services crossing the property or neighbouring property
8.6 Do any drains, pipes or wires serving the property cross any neighbour's property? [NO]
8.7 Do any drains, pipes or wires leading to any neighbour's property cross the property? [NO]

9. Parking
9.1 What are the parking arrangements at the property? [ON-STREET & DRIVEWAY]
9.2 Is the property in a controlled parking zone or within a local authority parking scheme? [NO]

12. Services
Central heating
12.3 Does the property have a central heating system? [YES]
If yes:
(a) What type of system is it (e.g. mains gas, liquid gas, oil, electricity, etc.)? [GAS]
(c) Is the heating system in good working order? [YES]

13. Connection to utilities and services
Please mark the Yes or No boxes to show which of the following utilities and services are connected to the property and give details of any providers.
Mains electricity [YES] Location of meter [UNDER STAIRS IN KITCHEN]
Mains gas [YES] Location of meter [UNDER STAIRS IN HALL]
Mains water [___] Location of stopcock [UNDER KITCHEN SINK]
Mains sewerage [___]
Telephone [YES]
Cable [YES]

---

I could have answered the majority of those questions myself - there's absolutely nothing useful there. Why would we spend money when they can't even be bothered to answer the questions properly? I know people have said they might not know the answers to some of the questions, but some of them were definitely answerable but simply left blank. It looks like they've spent about 10 seconds ticking a few boxes. I think the EA claimed to have sent details of the tenancy agreement too but we've not received this - our 'solicitor is to blame', of course, but I'm starting to not believe a word they say.

ETA: The email from the EA to the vendor's solicitor says, "The client asked us to complete the Property Information Form for him as he has no knowledge of the property. This was passed to ___ ___ our property inspector and the completed form (completed to the best of ___'s knowledge) is attached. Hopefully this will suffice. If not, you will need to revert back to the client directly for further information."

ETA2: I've emailed the vendor now anyway, will see what he says (if anything). I know my husband is the one dealing with the purchase, but that's specifically why I emailed - I won't have to listen to the EA tell me off!

thequant

Eejay wrote: »

ETA2: I've emailed the vendor now anyway, will see what he says (if anything). I know my husband is the one dealing with the purchase, but that's specifically why I emailed - I won't have to listen to the EA tell me off!

good luck with this, hopefully it will work.


If not at least you tried. Keep us all updated.

Annie1960

thequant wrote: »

If you have only paid for solicitors so far and they havn't done any searches. You are likely to be refunded your fees.

Depends on whether solicitor's contract is for an hourly rate, or fixed fees due on exchange.

Eejay

I've just had a response from him! He seemed really pleasant and told us not to worry about it. He said he wasn't aware of most of the issues we'd raised (I told him about lack of paperwork, and the EA hassling us about searches, surveys and mortgage and explained that we are dealing with everything and we didn't mean to hold the sale up, but that we definitely do want to go ahead with it if we can) and that he would speak to the EA tomorrow as he'd rather not get too involved in emailing when they are authorised to deal with it, but that hopefully we can sort something out. I will reply and thank him but will leave him alone after that - I had no intention of hassling him too much as, after all, the EA are getting paid to do everything. I feel a lot better now that I've spoken to him.

The EA has been telling us that the seller is 'already anxious' and that they don't want to 'inflame' him by asking more questions, which is not the attitude I got from his email at all. I'm tempted to submit a complaint about them, although I won't do it until everything is sorted one way or the other. I didn't really mention the issue about the tenants (although pointed out that it was one of the many sections not completed in the documents) but I'm beginning to think it's the EAs idea to have them in until the last minute. I really don't know what they are playing at.

Annie1960

Factors to consider in making your decision:

what area are you buying in, i.e. are houses selling really quickly (e.g. South), is the market very slow, or somewhere in between?

You could try contacting the vendor directly. As said above, maybe the vendor does not realise what the EA is up to. But, the vendor does not sound as though they are being reasonable, from what you say, so also be prepared for them to support the EA. At least you will know one way or the other.


I think it's very suspect that the vendor is not filling in the forms. It is their responsibility. However, as mentioned in a number of posts above, how much do you want the house, and which questions are really important?

Consider getting the Ombudsman involved. You will need to go through the EA's own complaints procedure first, and this should put them on notice to get their act together.

It's up to you, but I would not spend any money on surveys etc until I had evidence that the tenants were actually out and the locks had been changed.

Ulitmately, you seem to have been very unlucky with both the EA and possibly the vendor. Maybe it's better to walk away?

You mention your solicitor is not responding quickly. Have they been away, or are they just being slow?

Once I had lot trust in someone, I would find it very difficult to continue with a house purchase, as it is a great deal of money. If they are so bad at paperwork, what is the likelihood they will be able to fill in the correct forms to serve valid notice on the tenants?

thequant

Eejay wrote: »

I've just had a response from him! He seemed really pleasant and told us not to worry about it. He said he wasn't aware of most of the issues we'd raised (I told him about lack of paperwork, and the EA hassling us about searches, surveys and mortgage and explained that we are dealing with everything and we didn't mean to hold the sale up, but that we definitely do want to go ahead with it if we can) and that he would speak to the EA tomorrow as he'd rather not get too involved in emailing when they are authorised to deal with it, but that hopefully we can sort something out. I will reply and thank him but will leave him alone after that - I had no intention of hassling him too much as, after all, the EA are getting paid to do everything. I feel a lot better now that I've spoken to him.

The EA has been telling us that the seller is 'already anxious' and that they don't want to 'inflame' him by asking more questions, which is not the attitude I got from his email at all. I'm tempted to submit a complaint about them, although I won't do it until everything is sorted one way or the other. I didn't really mention the issue about the tenants (although pointed out that it was one of the many sections not completed in the documents) but I'm beginning to think it's the EAs idea to have them in until the last minute. I really don't know what they are playing at.

Fantastic, amazing how many times this happens. I.e. what the EA claims the vendor has said is not true.


Once had a snotty EA claim the vendor had gave me one week to do x,y,z or he would pull out. I immediately pulled out. 5 mins later he emailed back to say vendor had withdrew his threat.

Officer_Dibble

Well done on using the direct contact route. On our last sale, my wife struck up a good dialogue with the purchaser (after they'd left a note under the door after the EA had wrongly told them how annoyed we were getting!). They then delighted in not telling the EA anything at all about what was going on, which made the EA increasingly annoyed.

Re tenants - no experience on this, but presumably you wouldn't under any circumstances exchange contracts with the tenants still in situ? Just make it clear to the EA that you won't, that you wish to see the place (empty) immediately before exchange, and that you won't exchange and complete on the same day (amazing how normal this is becoming). These are perfectly reasonable requests, but they need to know now so they can't complain later.

Eejay

The solicitor has been off quite a bit - she had a week off a couple of weeks ago (maybe even last week) and now a 'long weekend'. It's a bit of a nuisance because she's dealing with our old property and this one but she's entitled to time off and my husband said she's very good at catching up once she's back - he's had phone calls from her at 6pm for example (which suits him since he's at work until 5pm).

I'm really grateful for the suggestion of contacting the vendor directly I wasn't even sure it was allowed (then I saw the other thread about a buyer wanting to meet the vendor and lots of people saying it was quite normal), and I'm sure the EA will be furious when they find out, but they are being totally ridiculous. Is it possible to ignore the EA altogether and have them deal with our solicitor only? I honestly can't work out what they are hoping to achieve - it feels like they are trying to bully us out of the purchase more than anything. As I said before, the house was on the market for five months with very little interest, so I don't know why that would be a good idea - unless someone has shown an interest since we've put our offer in.

If the EA is also the LA (I am sure they said at one point that they were, but I could be mistaken) then I suppose it's in their interests to keep the tenants there for as long as possible so that they can continue to take their share of the rent each month. I definitely don't think we should agree to exchange contracts before they are out, which I think is what the EA wanted us to do initially (we trusted them since they are supposedly professionals!) - they could completely trash the place! I think it's really unlikely that they would do that, but you never know. I don't think there is any chance at all of the EA agreeing to wait for the tenants to move out before carrying out the survey though, which is why we'd only be willing to proceed if this document is filled in better. We don't need every single answer, but the nonsense they've completed so far is unacceptable. To say that it was "completed to the best of [the property inspector's] knowledge" is a total and utter lie because even from viewing the property just once, I could have filled in more information than he did.

I can't believe that EAs can get away with twisting the truth and telling outright lies like this. It's absolutely disgraceful :mad: