Estate Agents? Immoral/illegal or uncaring

NicRand

Hi

As a house buyer I have to come realise we are not protected in the slightest! We had an offer excepted on 23/08/2018, the vendors explained they were moving to a different area to be closer to parents. All was well. What wasn't made apparent to us until we got closer to exchange is that they had not made any offers on any property and are completely unwilling to move into rented accommodation. So we have gone through the pain of mortgage offers, combining two houses into one (as it was only short term) and have paid out solicitors fees. Not even going into the pressure this putting on for personal reasons. the upshot is 6 months later nearly they are still trying to find a house.

What I want to ask is it legal for an Estate Agent to market a property and instigate you paying solicitors fees out when they know the vendor has no house to move into and has no intention of renting?

I know it's not all Estate Agents......

Comms69

NicRand wrote: »

Hi

As a house buyer I have to come realise we are not protected in the slightest! - yes you are, you have a conveyance (usually a solicitor) We had an offer excepted on 23/08/2018, the vendors explained they were moving to a different area to be closer to parents. All was well. What wasn't made apparent to us until we got closer to exchange is that they had not made any offers on any property and are completely unwilling to move into rented accommodation. So we have gone through the pain of mortgage offers, combining two houses into one (as it was only short term) and have paid out solicitors fees. Not even going into the pressure this putting on for personal reasons. the upshot is 6 months later nearly they are still trying to find a house.

What I want to ask is it legal for an Estate Agent to market a property and instigate you paying solicitors fees out when they know the vendor has no house to move into and has no intention of renting? - obviously it is.

I know it's not all Estate Agents......

Not only that but the estate agent is the sellers agent, not yours and legally cannot do anything which would potentially harm their client.


In other words, welcome to housebuying.

googler

NicRand wrote: »

What wasn't made apparent to us until we got closer to exchange is that they had not made any offers on any property and are completely unwilling to move into rented accommodation. ... the upshot is 6 months later nearly they are still trying to find a house.

What I want to ask is it legal for an Estate Agent to market a property and instigate you paying solicitors fees out when they know the vendor has no house to move into and has no intention of renting?

I know it's not all Estate Agents......

Not the EAs fault at all. EAs take instructions from sellers.

The fault is in the buying/selling system in E&W, which doesn't provide for any commitment at the time of offer and acceptance to a specific entry date, nor other matters.

davidmcn

All perfectly legal, as is your own ability to flounce off from the proposed transaction without penalty.

Not sure why you're blaming the agents though - they want transactions to happen, otherwise they don't get paid.

KatieDee

Unfortunately this is just one of the many risks of house buying. It's always important to have a clear discussion about the position of your vendor and if there is any strict time frame, try your best to avoid those who are still searching for property.

The problem is, there's absolutely no guarantee that they will be able to find something in the time frame you deem to be acceptable and even if they do, anything could happen right up until completion.

The estate agent, as much as I hate to say it, is not at fault. They do work for the vendor but have no control over what they do, and if they want to be picky or take their time finding another property then that's their perogative.

Have you tried explaining your position to the estate agent? Perhaps if the vendors felt it might affect the sale then they would consider other options such as renting in the area.

Bossypants

NicRand wrote: »

What I want to ask is it legal for an Estate Agent to market a property and instigate you paying solicitors fees out when they know the vendor has no house to move into and has no intention of renting?

I know it's not all Estate Agents......

It is pretty much all agents who will market a property when the vendor has not found an onward purchase yet, since that's how chains are generally formed (i.e. from the bottom up). Unless the estate agent lied to you and claimed the vendor had found their onward purchase, this is entirely ethical, legal and totally normal. You should have been asking where the seller was with respect to their purchase, and not instructed anything until the chain was complete. Chalk it up to experience and decide if you are willing to keep waiting on them or need to start looking again.

G_M

How are the estate agents supposd to know unless their client (the seller - not you) tells them?

Do you seriously think the EA wants the sale to drag out for months? Of course not! They want to get their commssion paid and that only happens when the sale Completes.

Your issue is with the seller, not the poor EA stuck in the middle....

anselld

Why did you even start spending money when the chain was incomplete?

Problem seems to be entirely self-inflicted.

bouicca21

I’m tempted to suggest that if they haven’t found a suitable house in 6 months, they’re not going to.

ka7e

I have the opposite perspective. Our property was on the market for 4 months (Oct-Jan) before we got an acceptable offer, and we had reduced the asking price by £15k. I have viewed the only 4 properties within our price range and preferred location and none of them are what I really want. Two are "I could live there if I really had to", which isn't good enough. My prospective buyers are FTB and they know via EA and our solicitors that we haven't found anything suitable yet. I'm checking Rightmove several times a day and local EAs know I'm SSTC so are phoning with new details. Rentals are in short supply/high demand here and virtually none will take pets. I am feeling the pressure to "settle" for a house, but also hoping our buyers appreciate our position.

googler

ka7e wrote: »

I have the opposite perspective.

Your perspective appears to be to accept an offer, but provide nothing in return beyond the most basic acceptance.

No agreement to move forward, no limit to how long your process of looking will take, and presumably no agreement on contract terms and F&F until you've found something.

It's as if a buyer has gone into Tesco for a can of soup. Tesco agrees to take their money in exchange for the can, but won't tell them when they'll get the can, what the price will be when they get it, what the size of the can will be, nor whether it will be a standard-sized can.

Honestly, I don't know why the good folks of E&W haven't petitioned Parliament for changes to the system before now...