Estate agents misselling - Please Help !

doch007

So two months ago my partner and I viewed a flat listed at the value of £250,000 It was stated on the estate agents listing as having a long lease of 130 years. We liked the flat and put in an offer and after some negotiating it was accepted at a slightly reduced price.:j:j

During the first and second viewing the agent went through all of the features including the length of the lease and sent marketing emails and leaflets containing the same info.

In order to proceed further, as usual the agent wanted us to obtain our mortgage and have the funds ready and show them the evidence and instruct our solicitor. All of this cost us close to 3,000.

After the checks had come through and we were ready to exchange we went to the solicitors to check over the paperwork and got hit with a bombshell that the lease has only 84 years left on it.
So now after working on this sale for 2 months, spending close to 3,000 a day before exchange we have just realised, due to the agent miss representing the flat we either stand to lose 3,000 or face costs of over 10,000 in the near future to get the flat to how it was advertised. :(


This became quite stressful as the owner wouldn’t reduce the price and we couldn’t pull out and start the whole process again. Since then the sale has now completed and a neighbour has got us in contact with the previous owner who tells us the agent never asked for details about the lease.
It’s become obvious the agent has been misleading in the advertisement of this property amongst other under hand practices which we have noticed along the way (which I won’t go in to rite now.)

So I was wondering if anyone could please help advice what we can do about this. After I had a go at the agent for falsely advertising the flat they did verbally admit they made a “mistake”.

journeymanpro

You could have pulled out before exchange once you were aware of the issue.

steeeb

Make a formal complaint to the estate agent, if nothing comes of it make a formal complaint to The Property Ombudsman (Or whichever they are part of, they can be part of a couple different ones if memory serves).

Mrs36

Most listings for leasehold properties that I have seen usually state that lease details should be confirmed by your solicitor. Also, the EA's contract is with the seller, not yourselves so I'm not sure that they have any liability towards you in this instance.

G_M

* The Property Ombudsman
* Ombudsman Services Property
* Property Redress Scheme

https://www.tpos.co.uk/members/codes-guidance

7i You must by law comply with the Consumer Protection from
Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (or the Business Protection
from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 where applicable).
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
require you to disclose any information of which you are aware
or should be aware of in relation to the property in a clear,
intelligible and timely fashion and to take all reasonable steps
that all statements that you make about a property, whether
oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading.
All material information (*) must be disclosed and there must
be no material omissions which may impact on the average
consumer’s (*) transactional decision (*) and where information
is given to buyers or their representatives, it must be accurate
and not misleading.
7j Prior to commencement of marketing, the written details of
a property (sales particulars) must be agreed with the seller
to confirm that the details are accurate.
7k In regard to leasehold properties, you should include basic key
information such as service charges; ground rent; the length
of years remaining on the lease; any known special conditions,
and advise sellers and buyers that there may be additional
fees that could be incurred for items such as leasehold packs.
In relation to sheltered housing, you should include in sales
particulars the existence and level (if known) of event fees (*).
7l You will be liable if you include anything in the sales particulars
which you have reason to doubt is correct.

MyOnlyPost

You had the option to not exchange when it was brought to your attention by your solicitor, so why did you go ahead with the purchase if you weren't happy?

davidmcn

You had a duty to mitigate your costs either by reducing the price or not proceeding. Also it's not clear why it took two months for your solicitor to realise the lease term wasn't as expected - possibly not within your control but again you could have refrained from spending money until you had that confirmed.

Tim_Bisley

The vendor would have had to sign off the the property details, which had the lease length on. It's down to them to make sure it's correct, and should have flagged this up straight away.

It's unlikely that an agent would have deliberately hid the real lease length when it will be one of the first things your solicitor will be checking in the process.

3mph

Was it a 130 yr lease which started 46 years ago 1971
This would have immediately shown up on the Land Registry entry which costs £3 and available online
First thing I did when looking for flats now is pay the £3 and find out who really owns it, charges etc.
It is also the first thing my solicitor would have done except I already had it.
Ask your solicitor why they had not checked the LR entry.

EDIT all the flats - leases we have looked at only quote the length of the original lease, not the amount remaining. They may also quote the date of construction if relevant. So adverts say 999 or 125 year lease. etc

daveyjp

Mrs36 wrote: »

Most listings for leasehold properties that I have seen usually state that lease details should be confirmed by your solicitor. Also, the EA's contract is with the seller, not yourselves so I'm not sure that they have any liability towards you in this instance.

It is true that all details should be checked.

However the agent has a duty to buyers to ensure the information on the sales particulars are accurate. A slight error in measuring a room is one thing, stating in print the length of lease on a property without evidence it has been checked is another.

http://www.lawcareers.net/Information/BurningQuestion/Walker-Morris-LLP-Regulation-regulation-regulation-problematic-property

hazyjo

Depends what their wording actually said. If 'the lease length is 130 years', it is in fact correct (presuming it is that long). If they said '130 years remaining' at any stage, then I agree they are in the wrong.


However... as some said above, not sure you have a leg to stand on after completion. I would have pulled out before exchange.


Jx
PS do you have a mortgage? They would have picked it up too. Did they not mention it? Did you fill something in saying how many years were remaining? Take it further and you may find you actually shoot yourself in the foot...