Estate agent misled me?

Caro1000

I viewed a house to buy in March which was advertised as 'not in a chain'. I was only looking at houses like this because my landlord wanted my house back asap due to a change of circumstances. I made an offer, was accepted and we began the process. The agent told me again at the viewing that there was no chain. The sellers were moving out into a new build. It is now almost August and I've been told there is no date for the sellers to move out as their new build is not in fact built yet. They have no date for the completion and I have no date for moving except 'sometime in August or September'. My lease has now ended and my landlord is tearing his hair out. He has started eviction proceedings. I wonder if I can take action against the estate agent for misleading me? there is most definitely, a chain

edinburgher

I appreciate that this must be very frustrating for you, but there is no chain (in the commonly understood sense of the word). I am uncertain as to why you would expect redress from the EA when they told you about the circumstances of your seller from the outset? The EA doesn't control the developer of their client's new home!

toc25

A very similar thing has happened to us in that we have gotten two months in to buying a house and then we find out that the new build at the top of the chain isn't built yet. We were led to believe that it was built and ready to go. Now we are told that it could be built by October or even possibly longer than that. I'm not sure if there is anything that can be done about the Estate agent lying but will be interested in what others say.

ReadingTim

For you, there is most definitely not, a chain as you have no house to sell in order to fund the purchase of this house.

Whilst one could argue there is a tiny chain (of one link...) for the vendor, in practise, when a vendor is buying a new build, the process is said to be chain free as the house they're moving into doesn't require the owner of that property to have found another to move into, etc...

I appreciate your frustration, but if it ain't built, they can't move into it can they? Furthermore, you haven't been misled - you have misunderstood.

Cheeky_Monkey

caro1000 wrote: »

I viewed a house to buy in March which was advertised as 'not in a chain'. I was only looking at houses like this because my landlord wanted my house back asap due to a change of circumstances. I made an offer, was accepted and we began the process. The agent told me again at the viewing that there was no chain. The sellers were moving out into a new build. It is now almost August and I've been told there is no date for the sellers to move out as their new build is not in fact built yet. They have no date for the completion and I have no date for moving except 'sometime in August or September'. My lease has now ended and my landlord is tearing his hair out. He has started eviction proceedings. I wonder if I can take action against the estate agent for misleading me? there is most definitely, a chain

In which case, there was a chain because the sellers were buying another property so, as you were given that information beforehand, not sure why you thought there wasn't.

Personally, I would pull out and look for something else as it's likely to be towards the end of this year before you could even think about moving into your current purchase.

In answer to your question, no there isn't any action you can take against the EA.

fairy_lights

caro1000 wrote: »

The agent told me again at the viewing that there was no chain. The sellers were moving out into a new build.

If the agent told you from the start that the sellers were buying a newbuild then I don't see how they've mislead you at all?

pinkshoes

If they told you the vendor was moving onto a new build, then you knew the circumstances.

I assume the EA said no 'onward' chain?

New builds take forever to complete as the completion date is often unknown.

I'm thinking that perhaps you made a wrong assumption of a newbuild house being an empty property to move into rather than a house being built?

Your options are
1. Wait and see if LL takes your eviction to court (I assume he has issued an S21?)
2. Pull out
3. Move out your rented into a hotel and put your stuff into storage.

nkomp18

I am in the opposite situation. I need to sell my flat and move into a new built that isn't ready yet and I don't know when to sell.

Selling too early means I'll be homeless for a longer period of time
Selling too late and I might not have sold when the funds need to be available.

I think I will end up frustrating some buyer like in your case,
There is no delicate way of dealing with this situation

Caro1000

Thank you all the people who took the time to respond. I appreciate your time. I feel from the replies that the issue is in what I understand to be a 'chain'. I was very clear before the viewing that I needed to move quickly and as such was interested in this house for that reason. The supposed new build was built and the sellers were only waiting for a buyer to come along. We had a conversation about this. I was as surprised as heck when my solicitor said she couldn't give me a moving date because the sellers had no house to go to. I could pull out but I've spent a lot in fees etc now. My partner is passionately in love with this house! I guess we are going to have to move into a hotel or something but, despite reading all the opinions here, I do feel misled. I'm not sure how much clearer I could have been frankly other than engaging a private investigator lol. In a conversation recently with the sellers, they were surprised that we didn't know about their circumstances and said that the estate agent was fully aware of the unknown completion date.

Caro1000

It is difficult I agree to get the timing right. I remember as a child, my parents having to move out of our house for about a month or lose their sale but they were buying a repossession which got complicated. They accepted that the issue was on their side and moved so their buyers could move in. Spent an awesome month at my grandparents! But that's not always an option obviously. I do sympathise with my sellers but I'm equally annoyed to be in this position at all. I would expect and hope that if this does happen to you, that you would make your prospective buyers aware of a possible delay and as far as I can tell, my sellers did do that.

toc25

Nkomp18 just be honest and up front with your buyers so they can decide wether they want to wait.