HELP! Estate Agents hasn't declared Personal Interest

misslitt

Estate Agents failed to disclose a personal interest with our buyer, who now works for the Estate Agents.


What should i do? We exchange on Monday!


Background
We received an offer on Monday 30th June for the full asking price. This offer was accepted without prior knowledge of the personal relationship between the buyer and Estate Agents. On Tuesday 1st July, the buyer revoked the offer and the sale fell through.



Three weeks later, the buyer returned with an offer claiming that he was unable to obtain credit for the remaining 15k. (Senior Negotiator) was dealing with the negotiations at this point and told me that the buyer was recovering from an accident and was ready to move out of his parent’s house and to try and live an independent life, if this failed his parents were to move in to a flat to be near him. We were also told that the buyer currently helped at a children’s charity. It was suggested that this was a reason for him not being able to gain credit. Taking this information into account we accepted a reduced offer on Tuesday 22nd July as we believed that the Estate Agent was telling us the truth, to the best of her knowledge.


After we accepted the offer , I was talking to the estate agent on the telephone and she was explaining to me how nice our buyer was and she said, and I quote; ‘He is genuinely a very nice guy and he has a lovely family. I have known them for years.’ At this point I questioned her on her relationship with the buyer in which she replied; ‘He worked with us on Saturdays about 10 years ago’. I told her that I was extremely disappointed that I had not been pre-warned, before negotiations took place, on the relationship between the Estate Agents and the buyer. I also said that I believe I would have acted differently during negotiations if I would have known he used to work for the company and had a personal connection with the Estate Agents that I had trusted to work on my behalf. The Estate Agent ensured me that the buyer was a temporary member of staff at that time and had not worked for the Estate Agents in over 10 years.



On Thursday 11th August I had an offer accepted on a property to buy and our new estate agents, called my selling Estate Agents to confirm that our sale was proceeding and that all details I gave them were correct. On Friday 12th September, close to exchange and nearly two months after we accepted the buyers offer, I received a voicemail on my work phone from my selling Estate Agents who went on to say that our buyer was going to take on ‘a more permanent role’ within the company and that he just wanted to keep me up to date on this. This was the first that I had heard about our buyer currently working for the Estate Agents, and good timing from the estate agents on the day they learn about my property purchase. Previously I was told that the buyer helped at a children’s charity.



Any advice???:mad:

theartfullodger

Expecting such high ethics from agent is likely to lead to disappointment & tears:

Fire agent, end the deal, start again.

Cheats should not be permitted to win: Winning just encourages more cheats..

princeofpounds

Ha, children's charity! I love the embellishments.

I would start again. It would be hard to have confidence in their valuation.

misslitt

Thank you

Yes, I would love to just quit and start again, it would serve them right. The only problem is that we have found a perfect house that we have secured with a large discount. We would be devestated to lose it...... probably why they have declared now!

DRP

misslitt wrote: »

Thank you

Yes, I would love to just quit and start again, it would serve them right. The only problem is that we have found a perfect house that we have secured with a large discount. We would be devestated to lose it...... probably why they have declared now!

There are probably many options for you if you wished to make life a bit difficult/uncomfortable for the new owner of your house!

Mallotum_X

call their bluff and tell them you will only proceed at the original agreed price.

silvercar

You accepted the price because you were happy with it. OK you were led to believe that your buyer worked elsewhere, but so what? Surely you have a reasonable idea what your property is worth?

theartfullodger

I'd only proceed if the price was higher than any previously discussed..

needabed

I help children's charities... each time I buy a lotto ticket! :rotfl:

SplanK

What exactly are you after?


You went through negotiation and accepted a reduced offer to continue forward.


His offer of employment at the EA may have come about after the fact he got back in touch with the EA about your house, and was offered a job rather than seeking "doing the dirty", he probably didn't go looking for work, but as he was offered and knows the job, makes perfect sense! And of course, everybody is after "more for less" so will use every advantage they have to get it, probably like yourself when you offered on your purchase.


What would the sellers of the house you are buying think about you having to start again and looking for a new buyer? You could end up loosing that house as well as your buyer, as well as any money already invested into this move which will probably out strip any money you would gain from trying to find another buyer


If I had found this information out earlier on then I would consider my options, however this late in, I would just let it ride out. Who knows what the next buyer will tell you, and how would you validate it?


Who's to say the truth is not being told here. He could have worked or helped out at a charity, what's to say that you have been lied to? I fail to see how this should effect your decision in agreeing a purchase price than your need to facilitate your next purchase.

misslitt

Silvercar - just an example - what happens if our Estate Agents weren't promoting our property and therefore we believed that not many people were interested, hence accepting a lower price than we would have origionally agreed.

They may have influenced much more than we know.