Estate agents mislead us

Surrey_EA

chappers wrote: »

The legality of an EA taking them is also in question. Our vendor did mention the idea as a way of us convincing them that we were serious despite not having a buyer for our property and the EA said they would have nothing to do with it. It would have to be something between us and our respective solicitors. Both solicitors said they wouldn't act for us under such circumstances

I would say it's not really in question, estate agents are simply not set up to receive deposits from buyers as part of the buying process.

It seems a vaguely sensible idea in theory, but because of the way the buying/selling process operates in England & Wales it is incredibly complicated to organise, and therefore is terrifically rare.

AdrianC

tallsmithy wrote: »

The vendor failed to disclose that his partner is also in the chain and it suddenly came to light today that she is having problems with her buyer. At no point did the vendor make it clear that BOTH properties needed to be sold before he could move on. He was making excuses about paying extra stamp duty etc, but to be honest I couldn't care less now, I just want to complete!!!

It doesn't take a lot of reading between the lines to take an educated guess at what's happening there.

Mr X and Miss Y each own a property. They are each selling, to move in together in a jointly-owned property they are buying. They do not need BOTH sales to complete to purchase, just one.

Miss Y has a buyer lined up and progressing well. Mr X does not have a buyer - then you come along.

Mr X's sale to you is expected to be free of any upward chain as a result.

Miss Y's sale hits a delay, because of the buyer pulling out or just having a big wobble. Maybe they can't raise the money as easily as they expected. Maybe their job is at threat.

Mr X cannot or will not move into Miss Y's property - maybe it's in a different town, maybe it's simply totally unsuitable, maybe it's jointly owned with her ex (who may even still be sharing the property with her). The reason is irrelevant.

Mr X's sale to you is now needed to keep the joint purchase alive - there is now an upward chain, and that upward chain is putting pressure on them, which they are passing to you.

Nobody has lied at any stage. It's just that things have changed, because of circumstances outside of the control of anybody you are dealing with.

tallsmithy

I agree with your analysis of the situation, however I don't agree we havent been lied too. We were ready to exchange on Fri, and informed his estate agents of that fact, and were told that the rest of the chain was ready. On our final viewing on Thursday night, we mentioned exchange the following day and the seller seemed surprised! Or on reflection, panicked! He didn't at the point say, actually we can't exchange tomo because of issues xyz, he just said oh right well fingers crossed for tomo! He had an opportunity there to explain the situation!

tallsmithy

All I want is to be kept informed about what is actually going on, I don't think that's too much to ask. My solicitor and I were totally in the dark & I had to call the estate agent again to clarify what was happening??

AdrianC

tallsmithy wrote: »

I agree with your analysis of the situation, however I don't agree we havent been lied too.

So where in any of that, fitting it to your timeline, is there a lie?

We were ready to exchange on Fri, and informed his estate agents of that fact, and were told that the rest of the chain was ready. On our final viewing on Thursday night, we mentioned exchange the following day and the seller seemed surprised! Or on reflection, panicked! He didn't at the point say, actually we can't exchange tomo because of issues xyz, he just said oh right well fingers crossed for tomo! He had an opportunity there to explain the situation!

The ONLY person to listen to when it comes to setting exchange dates is your solicitor - and he should be getting his information from their solicitor. Nobody else is relevant. Unless both of the solicitors are fully ready, with both copies of the contract signed, then it's simply not happening.

tallsmithy

The point I'm trying to make, he told us WEEKS ago that he was ready to exchange. Now all of a sudden, he's not. But our solicitors were not aware and his solicitors didn't say anything yesterday when we attempted to exchange, apart from "we are waiting for agreement on completion date." until I did some digging with the estate agents and found out the issue! Had I not spoken to the EA yesterday, I'd still be sitting here like an idiot thinking exchange was imminent!

AdrianC

Yes, you probably would - because you listened to people who have no idea whether exchange is imminent or not.

The vendor and EA have no idea whether your solicitor is ready for you to exchange or not - only your solicitor knows that. Until their solicitor has sent the draft contract, PIF, etc through and your solicitor has been through that, asked any questions, and had satisfactory answers from their solicitor - then your solicitor is not ready to exchange.

By the time your solicitor is even vaguely near to being ready to exchange, the ONLY thing the vendor should need to do is say "Yep, definitely all ready" to his solicitor. The EA does nothing once the offer is accepted - their job is finished.

tallsmithy

I don't think I'm making myself clear here, BOTH solicitors are ready to exchange, that's a given. It is the sellers partner that is holding up the chain. But that was not communicated to anyone! Until I found out this fact via the EA!

AdrianC

tallsmithy wrote: »

I don't think I'm making myself clear here, BOTH solicitors are ready to exchange, that's a given. It is the sellers partner that is holding up the chain. But that was not communicated to anyone! Until I found out this fact via the EA!

The seller's partner has nothing to do with anything - except insofar as she influences the seller.

You're right - if the seller is not ready to give his solicitor the go-ahead to exchange, then exchange will not happen. Like I said in my penultimate sentence: "...the ONLY thing the vendor needs to do..."

If both solicitors have signed copies of the agreed contract, and the buyer's solicitor has the deposit money ready to hand over, then both solicitors can exchange as soon as both vendor and buyer give the go-ahead. If the vendor is not ready to give the go-ahead, then the reasons do not really matter - the ball is in their court, and you will not exchange until that person is ready.

The EA can only play Chinese Whispers with you, further removed than your solicitor and the vendor.

tallsmithy

And that's exactly my point... The seller KNEW he wasn't in a position to give the go ahead yesterday, yet didn't inform ANYONE that was the case. Otherwise his solicitor would have communicated that to us. He's been banging on about exchange for weeks and didn't even have the courtesy to come out and say, no actually I'm not ready after all!