Estate agents misselling - Please Help !

ReadingTim

What do you hope to achieve? Despite incorrect advertising, the true situation was established by your solicitors, which is what you're paying them to do, and with full knowledge of the facts, you purchased the property. Caveat emptor and all that.

So, you complain formally, and they'll say it was some administrative error, but that all details should be checked by the buyer's solicitor, and they accept no liability for any errors in the particulars. Take it further to 'the ombudsman', they find the firm was lax in its procedures and maybe slap them with a fine or merely a b0llocking.

If you think or hope you're gonna get ten grand from the EA to extend the lease, you're sorely mistaken.

csgohan4

doch007 wrote: »

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

This may not be what you want to hear:

Why couldn't you pull out, life is full of choices. Would it be any different if the survey came back as needs full re-roofing and re-wiring, would you still proceed even if the owner proceeded.

You clearly agreed to the short lease as your solicitor told you about, if not you wouldn't have proceeded. It is before exchange not completion you knew about the lease.

I am afraid this is going to be an expensive lesson for you and you will no basis for any compensation at all. Estate agents take their information from the vendors.

For the price of 3 pounds you could easily have found out yourself from the land registry before you started the buying process, even before viewing the property, link HERE

In summary, the vendor make a killing with you and now your paying the price of the 'buy a house at any cost' culture.

doch007

Thanks for the replies.

It dosn't seem right that an agent can advertise what ever they like and make average Joe spend thousands before realising what they are buying is not what is advertised. In retail there are laws agaisnt this.
Its good to know about the £3 land registry, Will definitaly be using it in the future if we move. However the average person wouldnt be aware of this..... I'm sure the estate agents are though!!

AdrianC

I'd definitely be asking your solicitor why they didn't make you aware of the lease length until the day before exchange.

But, then, I would also be questioning myself as to why I went ahead and exchanged...

Still, at least you can get a statutory renewal before it hits 80 yrs.

KRB2725

"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"

IMO you cannot rely on this to be a true statement. The vendor will blame the agent and the agent will blame the vendor.

Either way, you knew about it before exchange and decided to proceed. £3000 does seem a lot to be out of pocket though for a mortgage application and solicitors fees had you withdrawn.

kinger101

I'd probably make a complaint to the EA's head office then ombudsman, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The fact you proceeded with the sale, and should have checked the details of the lease as early in the conveyancing process as possible aren't going to help you. If you still agreed to purchase the property, it could be argued no loss occurred as you agreed to pay the same price.

ThePants999

Because you'd already spent 3k, you decided to throw away 10k? How... rational.

https://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/03/25/the-sunk-cost-fallacy/

hazyjo

doch007 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

It dosn't seem right that an agent can advertise what ever they like and make average Joe spend thousands before realising what they are buying is not what is advertised. In retail there are laws agaisnt this.
Its good to know about the £3 land registry, Will definitaly be using it in the future if we move. However the average person wouldnt be aware of this..... I'm sure the estate agents are though!!

I don't know why you're so hung up on it being the EA's fault. They are the only ones who don't see a copy of the lease. They usually just go on what the owner tells them. They are just working for the vendor, the rest work for you with your best interests in mind.

If anyone is at fault, it is your solicitor, lender, vendor, or you (or quite possibly all four).

If I was buying leasehold, the first thing I would want checked is the lease length.

jX

StumpyPumpy

I recently sold a property where I had extended the lease to sell and it went to market without all the documentation being immediately available. As it happened, it sold in less than two weeks but my buyer's solicitor wouldn't let anything progress until they had the official updated leasehold documents to check. I would have thought checking the lease is correct as a priority would be standard practice so I don't understand why your solicitor didn't do the same for you. He'd be the one I'd be complaining about in the first instance. Though, as others have said, you knew the true lease length and you still exchanged so I think the real person you need to blame is you.

SP

Riggyman

doch007 wrote: »

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”.

£3000 my ar $e