Estate Agent Contract Breach?

Rusty12

Afternoon Everyone!

I’ve currently sold my house and bought another. On my onward purchase everything is in place and we are weeks away from completing. The estate agents that I am selling with have informed me that my buyer is still waiting for a grant to get the money for the house,

So after many discussions with them I have managed to get out of them that my buyer doesn’t actually have the funds yet to buy the house,

My estate agents have lied to me on numerous occasions about various milestones throughout the sale and now we are 2 months in and they are unsure wether the person buying my house even has the funds!

I’m starting to think that my estate agents are in breach of their contract to me as they clearly haven’t checked the financial status of the person who has made the offer, and I’m sat here wondering why I’ve taken the house off the market for someone the might not have the funds?

So basically, HELP, what can/should I do as it’s driving me insane!

Thanks in Advance!

davidmcn

What does your contract say about them checking the financial status of your buyer? And what had they told you originally?

Bossypants

While I can't read your contract from here, I would be extremely surprised if there was anything in it which they had outright breached in the scenario you describe. Given that this sort of thing unfortunately happens all the time, it would be a criminally stupid thing for the EA to bind themselves to.








As for what you do now, you can instruct the EA to put the house back on the market until such a time as your buyer has their funding in place. Bear in mind that the situation is likely to have a knock-on effect on your sale, and your sellers may prefer to go back to market as well, while you wait for a new buyer. I'm sorry there is no better news for you, it's so frustrating when people aren't honest about their situations, as if it won't be found out eventually anyway. Good luck!

G_M

Rusty12 wrote: »

....

So basically, HELP, what can/should I do as it’s driving me insane!

Re-advertise. If you are unhappy with the agent, check the terms of your contract and follow te cancellation process, and instruct a new agent. Remember to get a list of all potential buyers and pass it to the new agent.


Inform the current buyer and agent you'll be happy to continue with them if they get the fudig sorted out before you find a new buyer.

Comms69

Rusty12 wrote: »

Afternoon Everyone!

I’ve currently sold my house and bought another. On my onward purchase everything is in place and we are weeks away from completing. The estate agents that I am selling with have informed me that my buyer is still waiting for a grant to get the money for the house, -Have you exchanged?

So after many discussions with them I have managed to get out of them that my buyer doesn’t actually have the funds yet to buy the house, - Well most people don't typically have the funds just sitting there

My estate agents have lied to me on numerous occasions about various milestones throughout the sale and now we are 2 months in and they are unsure wether the person buying my house even has the funds!

I’m starting to think that my estate agents are in breach of their contract to me as they clearly haven’t checked the financial status of the person who has made the offer - what does your contract actually say about this? , and I’m sat here wondering why I’ve taken the house off the market for someone the might not have the funds? - just to be clear, you technically don't (in all likelihood) have the funds available; it's quite common. Is it grant of probate that is waiting on?

So basically, HELP, what can/should I do as it’s driving me insane!

Thanks in Advance!

You either stick it out or readvertise

kingstreet

Next week we'll have the inevitable "why does the EA need so much information about my deposit/mortgage?" thread.

eddddy

Rusty12 wrote: »

My estate agents have lied to me on numerous occasions about various milestones throughout the sale and now we are 2 months in and they are unsure wether the person buying my house even has the funds!

Is the EA paid on completion? (Or are you paying them irrelevant of whether the house sale completes or not.)

If they're paid on completion, they should have a strong incentive to qualify the buyer and progress the sale.

If they get paid whatever happens, they might be more lax about that kind of thing.

Thrugelmir

Rusty12 wrote: »

So after many discussions with them I have managed to get out of them that my buyer doesn’t actually have the funds yet to buy the house,

Does your buyers require a mortgage?

Rusty12

Thanks for all the replies,

So I am under the impression that the buyer is getting a mortgage but the deposit is coming from this grant? So although he doesn’t have the mortgage which is understandable he doesn’t even have the deposit for the mortgage?

We haven’t exchanged yet, but I am nearly ready to with my onward purchase,

We aren’t waiting on any probate, just this ‘grant’

My contract with the estate agents says they will take Reasonable steps to ensuring the funds are in place!

Just to clarify the EA accepted an offer without even telling me, they lied to me every day for 2 weeks about the buyer commissioning searches and now they are saying that the funds aren’t in place yet?

I feel like I shouldn’t of even purchased somewhere else yet!

My gut is telling me to put it back on the market but my head is telling be to rise it out,

But it’s so hard to get a picture of what is actually happening as the EA just keep lying about what is going on!

G_M

Rusty12 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies,

So I am under the impression that the buyer is getting a mortgage but the deposit is coming from this grant? So although he doesn’t have the mortgage which is understandable he doesn’t even have the deposit for the mortgage?
I'm unclear why you are asking us these questions. How do expect us to know?


We haven’t exchanged yet, but I am nearly ready to with my onward purchase,

We aren’t waiting on any probate, just this ‘grant’
What grant?


My contract with the estate agents says they will take Reasonable steps to ensuring the funds are in place!

Just to clarify the EA accepted an offer without even telling me, they lied to me every day for 2 weeks about the buyer commissioning searches and now they are saying that the funds aren’t in place yet?
Again, why ask us?
Perhaps the agent simply passed on what the buyer told them.


....
But it’s so hard to get a picture of what is actually happening as the EA just keep lying about what is going on!

or more likely the buyer is lying to the EA, or the buyer's position has changed.

Thrugelmir

Rusty12 wrote: »

We aren’t waiting on any probate, just this ‘grant’

Probate is granted. Until it is the monies held in the deceased's account cannot be distributed. There have been considerable delays in getting Probate processed and for Courts to seal the application.

All of which has nothing to with the Estate Agent.............