Lying about 'no onward chain'?

LadyL2013

I put an offer in on a property that was advertised as having no onward chain. Offer accepted, started proceedings.


Next thing I know the lender phones me to say that they have stopped the valuation because the vendor cancelled it because they are having trouble proceeding with the purchase of an onward property and therefore the sale may not go ahead.


So phoned the agent to clarify there was no onward chain. They conformed this. I then said that I was informed of the above by the lender, so clearly something wasn't true. They claimed to know nothing about an onward chain. Yet in the very next sentence they claimed that they were helping the vendors to find property. I then pointed out that this means they must have known there WAS a chain. They denied this and said that they believed their purchase and my purchase were independent of eachother.


I said I wanted this sorted immediately because my offer had been on the basis of having no chain and I was repeatedly told all the way along there was no chain.


The agent gets back to me and confirms that the vendors can't proceed until they have secured their own property. So I say to the agent then there is a chain and they have been deceitful all along, to which the agent says 'no there isn't a chain because you can move in once all the paperwork has been done'. I say this is clearly not true because otherwise there would be no need to cancel the valuation for that reason. The agent is still adamant there is no chain. So I say in no uncertain terms I want a clear answer by Monday or I will be withdrawing from the process.


I presume there is no legal recourse for this as contracts have not been exchanged, but how commonly does this happen and what the hell are they hoping to achieve by doing it?

An update:


Turns out through the estate agent tripping up that there has been a chain all along. The vendors actually live in the house they said they were renting out, the agent knew this. They were hoping to secure an onward sale before it got uncovered that there was a chain. Bother were lying and were hoping not to get found out.


Vendor is now saying they probably can't afford an onward property after all and might not sell the house I've paid money into on the belief there was no chain.


Furious.

always_sunny

What legal recourse do you want? Are you in England/Wales where there is no commitment till Exchange? You can also change your offer and they'd have no recourse either.

Lucky_Duck_2

Judging by this forum, it is not an uncommon occurrence.

Doozergirl

Why do you think the agent is to blame? If a vendor tells them that they're not operating in a chain, then they can only believe them.

Lots of people don't seem to understand the terms involved in buying and selling property but use them like they do. Or even the phrase could apply in one respect but then things change.

a) An awful lot of vedors will say one thing to get a sale, often with genuine intention of, but change their minds when the sale comes and the practicalities arise. They think getting a sale will be harder than it is.

b) If they were already proceeding with a property where the purchase isn't dependent on the funds from the sale to you, then in some respects it would have been chain free - IF it all ran smoothly and the transaction completed before yours.

My experience is that there is usually a misunderstanding somewhere. People don't generally set out to lose sales by lying.

Ultimately, there is no point questioning motives. You are where you are, there is no come back. Your decision now needs to be based on what actually suits you and how much you like this property, not on a reflex action to the news and seeking to punish the person to blame.

LadyL2013

I'm not looking for legal recourse, but surely if both parties know there is an onward chain they cannot advertise the property as not having one?

AdrianC

The problem appears to be in differing definitions of "chain".

You're taking a looser view than they are. The vendors need to buy this other place, but the two sales don't need to tie closely in to each other, with linked completion dates and the money just being passed from solicitor to solicitor.

The simple question is what you're hoping to get from this?
You've not exchanged yet, so you can just drop out if you don't want to be involved. That simple.
If you do, then you are not going to get your costs so far reimbursed - because you have no contract to have been breached.

You have made a verbal agreement to buy, subject to all details being confirmed, and mutually acceptable contracts being exchanged. Some of the details are not quite as you first thought - but these are not details which would form part of the legally binding contract anyway. They're details around the circumstances in which the contracts would be exchanged and completed.

always_sunny

LadyL2013 wrote: »

I'm not looking for legal recourse, but surely if both parties know there is an onward chain they cannot advertise the property as not having one?

But in the world of property buying/selling in England/Wales it's all wishy-washy.
Maybe they initially intended not to have a chain. Maybe they changed their mind after you put the offer. They can do that legally. They can even get to the day of exchange and change their mind with no reason given.

So what is your actual problem? What are you planning to achieve?

Bogof_Babe

Give her a break. I'd be fuming too. Just sayin'.

Cakeguts

The situation is that this purchase no longer suits you because circumstances have changed. The chances are that this purchase will not proceed so you need to withdraw your offer and start looking for somewhere else.

Remember if you view a house and there is someone living in it then there will be a chain regardless of what the vendor tells you.

LadyL2013

Bogof_Babe wrote: »

Give her a break. I'd be fuming too. Just sayin'.

Thank you!


I'm not hoping to achieve anything, I just think it's ridiculous (not to mention unfair to the buyer) to consistently deny there isn't a chain when there is one. My solicitor has even said that this is a chain because my sale depends on their sale and vice versa.


Although my solicitor has the more sceptical view that this is all a ploy by the agent so the vendor will come back to try and get more money. My solicitor is really not a fan of this agent!

bertiewhite

When I bought my current house, I had a similar problem in that when we were trying to agree a completion date, the solicitor informed me that the vendor needed more time to sort out an onward purchase. I reminded him that the house had been advertised with no onward chain and the EA informed me that the reason for selling was that the vendor had moved in with a partner and the house was surplus to requirements.

The solicitor agreed and a completion date was quickly sorted, based on the information given in the original sales leaflet.