Cash buyer isn't - EA lied to us!

Pheobedoglet

After putting our late father's property up for sale with a local estate agent, my brother and I were delighted to accept an offer within a few weeks. It was a bit less than we'd hoped for but the EA told us it was a cash buyer so because of that we accepted. Everything chugged along nicely, my brother received a letter from the EA confirming the amount and it said "on a cash basis". He signed the contract a week last Monday and rang up this Monday to see how things were going with the solicitors. He was quite taken aback to be informed that they were now waiting for the buyer to get his mortgage offer!

He then phoned the EA who told him she had never said it was a cash buy and she apparently told us it was a buy to let mortgage. She ended up getting quite aggressive with my brother so he has put in a complaint to the senior partner in the business. Yet we have that letter from her stating the offer was "on a cash basis". So what does that actually mean? And has she broken any EA rules by misleading us?

It's a good job we're not desperate for the money as the solicitors have advised us that it could be a further 3/4 weeks before we get it now.

Hoploz

If you have it in writing then put in a complaint. It is possible the buyer intended to buy cah but later changed their mind.

I had it the other way around. My buyer tried to get £2k off because he said it had taken us too long to find a house to buy, and he therefore had to reapply for the mortgage and pay again ... We refused. He had his survey etc as normal.... Imagine our surprise when we were talking dates with our solicitor at the end and she said he had no need to wait for mortgage funds as he was buying in cash!

Anyway, back to you ... what do you want to achieve in the end? He will (hopefully) buy with the mortgage pretty soon. You can ask for more money due to the 'misunderstanding' but this will at best delay things, as his mortgage offer will be based on the currently agreed price. And at worst he could pull out altogether. You're probably best just getting the deal done and forgetting it as soon as possible.

moneyistooshorttomention

I believe many EAs belong to some regulatory body or other?

I'd check whether this one does and, if so, forward that letter onto them with a complaint about this lie.

OP does need to complain and that's still the case even if there was "nothing in it for them", as that's the only way these EAs will be prevented from telling these lies.

SuzieSue

Some people think that "cash buyer" means that that person does not have to sell a property in order to fund the purchase so it is possible that is what the EA meant.

Pheobedoglet

Thank you both. We intend to make sure the buyer knows the score too. To his credit he has done all he can to push it through as quickly as possible, so we dont wish to cause him any upset or incur him any further costs. He has a tenant lined up already and just wants to get them in there as quickly as he can. We're just really upset by the EA lying to us and her aggressive manner. I've no idea, given the evidence we have in black and white, why she can't just admit her mistake and say sorry.

moneyistooshorttomention

SuzieSue wrote: »

Some people think that "cash buyer" means that that person does not have to sell a property in order to fund the purchase so it is possible that is what the EA meant.

The words "cash buyer" clearly mean "someone with the cash immediately to hand to buy". The odd person in the street mightn't realise:cool: that "cash" means exactly that, ie "cash"...but I very much doubt any EA could possibly argue they didn't.

moneyistooshorttomention

Pheobedoglet wrote: »

I've no idea, given the evidence we have in black and white, why she can't just admit her mistake and say sorry.

Probably for the same reason that generally applies in this country, ie I don't know about other countries, but its a British characteristic not to say sorry EVER, for ANYTHING, imo.

Its just something we don't seem to do as a nation in my experience.

SuzieSue

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

The words "cash buyer" clearly mean "someone with the cash immediately to hand to buy". The odd person in the street mightn't realise:cool: that "cash" means exactly that, ie "cash"...but I very much doubt any EA could possibly argue they didn't.

It came as a shock to me too that some people thought that as long as they didn't have a property to sell that they were still cash buyers but they do.

LisaLou1982

From my EA days, there were a heck of a lot of buyers out there who said they were cash buyers and they werent. This could be anything from outright lies (they thought by saying they were a cash buyer that it would be more in their favour) to buying a house with no mortgage (but needing to sell their house and therefore cash from sale) or genuinely cash, but then changing their mind. There are few genuinely cash in the bank buyers in the grand scheme of things

Pheobedoglet

We took cash buyer to mean he had the funds in the bank and was ready to go. Especially when we rejected his third offer, he went away then came back just over a week later having managed to borrow a further £1k from a relative because he didn't quite have enough. That's when we thought oh go on then, its a cash basis so it will be done with quickly, otherwise we might wait ages if we hold out for a couple of grand more, get caught up in a housing chain and end up accepting less anyway!
If nothing else it's taught us to be a lot more cautious with EAs in the future.

Tuscan

we are buying with our equity but still needed to sell our house to get the money, when we contacted agents to view properties and told them our situation they all said O your cash buyers then...