Help - Estate Agent mislead on a property purchse which has now cost us thousands of pounds losses

rips33

Please can some one provide advice.

Savills deliberately mislead us in order for them to sell a high risk property based in a Level 3 Flood risk prone area. This key information was not provided to us prior to us making an offer on the property and we were informed a couple of weeks before completion by our solicitors.

We also feel that the Savills salesman selling the property was applying alot of pressure on us to complete as soon as possible. The property had been turned down by two other potential buyers at a similar stage and we were the third potential buyers. We were chased daily and even to the point where he was chasing our broker/solicitor.

If we were informed at the beginning with regards to the flood risk we would not have made an offer for this property. As Savills were adverting this property for more than 6 months they would likely have known about this risk attached to this property after doing their necessary checks.

Due to the fact we were so close to purchasing the property we had given our landlord notice and now we are under a lot of pressure/stress to find new accommodation in very little time!

We have spent thousands of pounds in order to complete this purchase which we have now lost. We have also lost out on other potential properties. This is now causing us financial problems in purchasing a home.

We have complaint to Savills and they refuse to take any responsibility. We have complaint to Property Ombudsmen but they have said they can not assist as Savills are not registered with their association.

Any advice will be much appreciated. Very sorry for the length of this.

HampshireH

Did you ask them about the flood risk?

Flugelhorn

I usually check the flood risk website for any property before getting to interested in it

sal_III

Did you ask them about the reason for the 2 previous sales falling through? This should have been one of your first questions when seeing a property sitting on the market for 6 months+

You can say that EA misled you if you asked them about flood risk and they lied about it. If that is the case you have some hope of recourse, but somehow I doubt it.

The fact that you seems to be aware flood risk areas and wouldn't have bought the property if you knew in advance, rises the question why didn't you check it yourself for free?

G_M

The EA's basic job is to get the property sold for their client (the seller).
So if some 'pressure' pursuads a buyer (you) to proceed, they are doing their job.


Whether you choose to submit to their 'pressure' or proceed at your own pace is up to you.


Flood risk information is generally up to you, or your solicitor, to investigate, so unless Savilles actually lied about it (and you can prove they both knew, and deliberately misinformed you) you really have little potenial to complain.

kinger101

They did not mislead you unless they stated it wasn't in flood zone 3.

Next time......

https://flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk/

Or simply ask (in writing) why previous sales fell through.

00ec25

rips33 wrote: »

Any advice will be much appreciated.

I advise you take personal responsibility for your own failings

flood risk info is easily available at the click of a button, did you even try?

risk 3 has not cost you thousands. I own in a risk 3 and it has not flooded in the 27 years I've owned it

stator

Unless you asked the estate agents specific questions such as:
* Is there anything about this property we should know?
* Why did the previous sales fall through
* Is this in a flood risk area?
Then you have no case at all.

Only if you asked a specific question and they lied do you have a cause for complaint.

The first step is to ask for a copy of their complaints procedure, then put a complaint in writing, then take it to an ombudsmen, if they are registered with one, you should find that out when you ask for a copy of their complaints procedure.

Hoploz

It's up to the buyer to carry out checks to satisfy themselves and the lender that it is a reasonable financial risk. The checks have identified this risk before you've purchased, which is quite normal. Once all the research has been done (due diligence) then it is up to you and the lender to decide whether or not you are happy to proceed to exchange of contracts.

Houses with risks change hands all the time. I doesn't necessarily make the property unsuitable for sale.

Estate agents are salesmen and do not have all the information your solicitor will find out. It's entirely possible the previous sales fell through for unrelated reasons, eg. buyer couldn't get the mortgage he though ... Adverse survey (did you have your survey done yet?) ... Buyer found another property they liked and pulled out ... Buyer lost their own buyer, chain collapsed unable to proceed.

You're understandably upset that this has happened, and it's made worse because you gave notice on your rental. Best thing to do is speak to your landlord and ask whether you can stay longer. It may well suit both of you fine.

moneyistooshorttomention

The previous sales could possibly have fallen through for other reasons - though I have to agree there's a good chance at least one of those "failed sales" was down to the risk.

The "ifs" in this are:
- was it that reason or some other reason why the sales fell through
- if that was the reason one or both of the sales fell through (probable) was the EA told that was the case (also probable)

That's the thing - that there may not be a way available to check the reasons for the failed sales. If there is then you might stand some chance - as there has certainly been something or other around in the last couple of years to the effect that EA's must tell prospective buyers of any reasons they know of for sales falling through due to problems with houses.

The thing is as to whether that recent instruction to EA's to tell buyers of any problems they know is law or "EA code of conduct". I can't recall which of those it is myself - though I know it applied in 2013 and had very recently come into effect then. I was aware of it anyway - and found one EA here did actually say to me about a house I was interested that it had a major problem or two and told me what they were and they had caused a previous sale on that house to fall through.

csgohan4

Another thread why you should not hand notice until completion has passed