Possible negligence from my mortgage broker

RyanWills94

Back in 2018 I spoke to a broker from Cater Associates Limited, he provided us advice and we arranged a mortgage directly through him, that went well, he believed he got us the best deal and as a customer we trusted him. We was purchasing a shared ownership property and completed the move in April 2018. In October 2019, we called as we wanted to purchase the rest of the property as my partner was fully employed and we had the finances in place to do so. We contacted our broker and he explained it was best for us to wait till our product expires to avoid early redemption fees. At that time, we trusted his advice and we waited. Today, 02/10/2020 I called Leeds building society to see when we could switch our product switch and also to see out of curiosity what the charge would be if we decided to purchase the rest of the property now. Leeds building society have confirmed that there would not be any redemption fees as they would do a full application for the rest of the property. I then spoke to the FCA who advised that I would need to log a complaint. The reason why I’m logging a complaint is because back then in October, we would have been able to purchase the rest of the property and take advantage of 5% mortgages which has been confirmed and well documented by Leeds building society. My broker miss informed us and said it was best to wait until the product to avoid penalties. 

To be on the safe side (because I had no evidence of this) I spoke to my broker and recorded the call, and made sure we reflected on the advice given back in October. Our broker still stands by the fact that Leeds would provide a redemption fee even if we complete the sale with them. The broker also said, (which is all recorded) that Leeds would see it as a further advance rather than a full house purchase and advised me to wait until the product was over, the advice was completely incorrect. Now, we have troubles purchasing the rest of the house due to the miss information which has now led us, not able to afford the 15% that’s required. If the broker advised us correctly, we would have been able to purchase the rest of our property at 5%. The house is worth approximately £160,000.00, 15% of that Is £24,750 which we simply can not afford, minus what we have already put in the property which is approximately £5,000.00 bringing it down to potentially and approximately £19,000.00. If our broker advised us correctly, we would of only needed 5% to purchase the full 100% of the property which would have been approximately £8250, minus what we put in which was just under £5,000.00 which was easily doable and something we would have done. I can’t believe our broker has misinformed us like this and has put us in a financial woe and wreckage that we don’t know if there’s going to be an end to it. I have already spoken to a solicitor and he’s advised us that this is the best route to go down, and the recordings are perfect which clearly outlines his mistakes. 

Do you think it’s worth complaining? I must have a leg to stand on especially with the recordings and texts 

SpiderLegs

Let me get this right. You’re blaming this broker and their (at worst) minor error for the consequences of a global pandemic. Good luck with that.

RyanWills94

SpiderLegs said:

Let me get this right. You’re blaming this broker and their (at worst) minor error for the consequences of a global pandemic. Good luck with that.

I don’t think you’ve read it right mate... he put us off remortgaging and purchasing the full price because he said there was early repayment charges when there would not have been. Since then we’ve paid copious amount of rent payments for the other half of the property when we could have remortgaged in 2019 .... read it again. 

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

I'm not sure you can use covert recordings as evidence. 

RyanWills94

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

I'm not sure you can use covert recordings as evidence. 

I’ve got texts as well, not sure how I couldn’t use voice recordings, most brokers work over the phone, it’s well audited. 

ACG

In financial services we have to put you in the position you would have been had the mistake not been made. 

I am unsure how this would be fixed. If I were the broker, I would "give" you the 10% difference, on the basis that I could take a second charge over the property and have that money repaid once you are able to raise the money and charge you a rate akin to what you would have got at the time.

If you are expecting the broker to just give you 5-10% of the purchase price free of charge, you might need to set your sights a little lower. 

If you believe you have been done wrong, write in and complain and see what they come back with. I am not quite sure where you stand on recording calls without permission and whether or not they can be used. I was under the impression if the other party was not made aware then it is illegal, but dont hold me to that. I used to work in complaints for a bank and I always preferred it when people told us what they wanted to put it right. Sometimes we just agreed it if it was reasonable for the mistake. 

RyanWills94

ACG said:

In financial services we have to put you in the position you would have been had the mistake not been made. 

I am unsure how this would be fixed. If I were the broker, I would "give" you the 10% difference, on the basis that I could take a second charge over the property and have that money repaid once you are able to raise the money and charge you a rate akin to what you would have got at the time.

If you are expecting the broker to just give you 5-10% of the purchase price free of charge, you might need to set your sights a little lower. 

If you believe you have been done wrong, write in and complain and see what they come back with. I am not quite sure where you stand on recording calls without permission and whether or not they can be used. I was under the impression if the other party was not made aware then it is illegal, but dont hold me to that. I used to work in complaints for a bank and I always preferred it when people told us what they wanted to put it right. Sometimes we just agreed it if it was reasonable for the mistake. 

I get that, but if he would have not miss informed us then we would have bought the place with no issue at all. I could not take the risk of him back tracking and saying that’s not what he said. If he would have just checked with a bdm or Leeds directly we would not have been in this position, we would have bought the house with a 5% deposit and everyone would have been happy but because of his negligence we are now in a position where we’ve paid all that rent on one half and now we can’t buy the house now that my products coming to an end. 

SpiderLegs

RyanWills94 said:

SpiderLegs said:

Let me get this right. You’re blaming this broker and their (at worst) minor error for the consequences of a global pandemic. Good luck with that.

I don’t think you’ve read it right mate... he put us off remortgaging and purchasing the full price because he said there was early repayment charges when there would not have been. Since then we’ve paid copious amount of rent payments for the other half of the property when we could have remortgaged in 2019 .... read it again. 

Hi. 

I have read it again. You don’t mention rent payments at all. You talk about needing 15% deposit now whereas you didn’t in October 2019.

Perhaps you should write it again?

RyanWills94

SpiderLegs said:

RyanWills94 said:

SpiderLegs said:

Let me get this right. You’re blaming this broker and their (at worst) minor error for the consequences of a global pandemic. Good luck with that.

I don’t think you’ve read it right mate... he put us off remortgaging and purchasing the full price because he said there was early repayment charges when there would not have been. Since then we’ve paid copious amount of rent payments for the other half of the property when we could have remortgaged in 2019 .... read it again. 

Hi. 

I have read it again. You don’t mention rent payments at all. You talk about needing 15% deposit now whereas you didn’t in October 2019.

Perhaps you should write it again?

Yes, in October, if he was to have provided me with the correct advice then we could have bought the house with 5% deposit. If he didn’t know the answer, he could have called his BDM. Now because of his negligence, since we’ve taken his advice and waited till the end of the product (even know we didn’t have to) we have to find another 20,000.00.... I think I am in my rights as a customer to log a complaint, he’s a mortgage broker, he’s regulated to provide the correct advice and now he’s impeded me moving on with my life due to his advice, is that so wrong that I’m complaining complaining? If you was in my position i am sure you would! You pay for a service, you want no mistakes, this isn’t exactly a small mistake either?

davidmcn

ACG said:

I was under the impression if the other party was not made aware then it is illegal

No, it's perfectly legal for the customer to record the call. The only thing which is generally illegal is recording a call if you're not a party to it.

ACG

davidmcn said:

ACG said:

I was under the impression if the other party was not made aware then it is illegal

No, it's perfectly legal for the customer to record the call. The only thing which is generally illegal is recording a call if you're not a party to it.

Illegal was probably the wrong choice of word. But I did not think it could be used for anything without permission from both sides.