Estate agent FALSE advertising!

Jacksmith

I am currently purchasing a property. I was looking for a house in a sought after area E.g. Eastville. I saw a property which was being advertised as Eastville on the estate agents website. E.g. 123 Highstreet Eastville, London. I placed an offer on the property. However, looking at the council ward boundaries the property actually lies in Westville, which is not a nice area at all. The area the house is in is in between the two areas but technically lies in Westville. House prices in Westville are about 30% lower than in Eastville for the same sized property. Though in the very town centre of Eastville they are about 60% higher. It seems the vendors even consider they live in Eastville (or they are trying to cover it up). We put down a good offer for Eastville (but would be overpriced as the property is actually in Westville) and it has just been accepted. The mortgage evaluation actually matched the price I had offered. I am still worried I am overpaying.

What do you think I should do? Could I make a claim against the estate agent for false advertising?

HampshireH

Surely you put down an offer based on viewing the property and believing it was worse your offer. Not its named area.

If this was an issue for you you should have checked before you offered.

Additionally the house has been valued and by your mortgage lender, the reality is no houses would sell if they were priced 30% above market value on advert.

I doubt every body else is wrong under these circumstances but willing to be proved wrong

HampshireH

And no i dont think you would have a claim. What would you claim for? You havent lost anything

Jacksmith

Another question would be how could an estate agent possibly adertise a property as being in an area it is not in. Are there not regulations to stop this?

Red-Squirrel_2

They do it all the time, a lot of these places don!!!8217;t have exact boundaries.

Not an issue really though apart from being annoying having to exclude these properties from your search, if you look at the map, or view, you!!!8217;ll know where it is.

SG27

Surely you knew where the house was when you viewed it?

Davesnave

Jacksmith wrote: »

Another question would be how could an estate agent possibly adertise a property as being in an area it is not in. Are there not regulations to stop this?

Oddly enough, if an agent wants to hide the location of a property they probably can. But if they did, imagine the Pythonesque situation:


Agent: I got this house for sale.


You: Where is it then?


Agent: I'm not going to tell you.


You: Is it on Google Earth?


Agent: Might be. Could be in any one of the roads around here....


You: What about showing me the Street View then?


Agent: Can't do that son; data protection.....anyway, it was bloody bin day.



You: I don't think this house exists.


Agent: It might do, and there again, it might not.


You: If it doesn't exist, how can you be selling it then?



Agent: Doh! To think I've been caught by an old trick like that!
OK here's the details.....


You: 56, Robert Mugabe Terrace, Sodsbury....Just checking my phone.....Hey, hang on, Mugabe Terrace is in Pishdown, not Sodsbury... I'm not living there! This is misrepresentation; I demand compo!


Agent: Sorry son.....see this in small print down here? "Whilst given in good faith, all particulars should not be relied upon for any purpose."


You: B*ll*cks!



And that's roughly how it is.

PasturesNew

I bet if you bought it and people asked where you live you'd say "Oh, Eastville"....

victoriavictorious

Another "comedy" thread....

Owain_Moneysaver

The area known as "Eastville, London" doesn't necessarily coincide with the boundary of the London Borough of Eastville.

"Eastville" might mean ward, parish, postal area, nearest tube station, or the area covered by the estate agent's Eastville office.

datlex

Parts of the area I live in (Apples) come under the parish boundary of a neighbouring area (Pears).