Please help - horrible experience with vendor agent

attila_123

Hello,

i’ve been an MSE user for years but somehow I could no longer access my old username (which had attila). I was active on the motoring forum.

anyway, i wondered if you good folk could please help...we have an offer accepted on our house. We have been looking at another one to buy for several months and finally had our offer accepted on a condition that the tenant would vacate in 3 months. The deal can only happen if the stamp duty holiday is available for us. 

The house we want has a tenant which we believe is managed by the vendor agent. The vendor agent has been very slippery over the last 2 months initially telling us that a 2 month notice was confirmed, then slipped to three months. 2 days after our offer was accepted they confirmed the tenant notice was 6 months (a day before stamp duty holiday finishes)! We have incurred fees on searches as they were instructed the day the offer was accepted. 

we're absolutely distraught as our chain could fail as they were told 3 months. We’re at risk of losing our dream house and the agent selling the property has been beyond unprofessional when we raised this.

I wanted to check what the formal complaint route is and whether it is the Property Ombudsman or if there is another route. 

davidmcn

Bear in mind that no matter the period of notice, there's no guarantee the tenant will leave until they've actually left. Never wise to invest time and money on a property which still has a tenant in it, irrespective of promises the agents or vendor make you.

numbercruncher8

What is the complaint exactly?

The agent is pretty much dictated by what the tenant wants to do - there is no way they can get them to leave inside 3 months if they do not want to go.

Of course they would say whatever is required if they sensed they could get a sale, but this is pretty standard.

bradders1983

Recent tenporary changes to the law have loaded dice very much in favour of tenants.  In theory, with the court backlog, a tenant could stay put for well over a YEAR if they dont fancy moving out of their own accord.

Aranyani

The law has changed, that's not the agents fault. 

You need to start looking for another house, one where the vendor is actually in a position to offer vacant possession, this one isn't.

kazwookie

Tenants are not likely to leave when you or the gent think owing to the current situation.

I suggest you keep looking for another property as this one is likely to take ages and ages to be empty, your solicitor should not exchange or do any more work until you are sure it is emty and you have checked it to make sure what should be there is.

cajef

There is not much you can do, until contracts are exchanged when the property becomes vacant there can be no confirmed dates you could be months waiting, it would be best to start looking elsewhere, not sure why you think there is any formal complaint route or what a Property Ombudsman could do in this situation.

Falafels

Yes, the law as it stands is very much about protecting tenants from becoming homeless - but that's not much use to you right now.

I'd start looking for an alternative property, with vacant possession, immediately. 

SpiderLegs

What we need is a sticky at the top of the forum. It doesn’t need any content just a title -
BUYERS - DO NOT VIEW TENANTED PROPERTIES IF YOU WANT A FIXED COMPLETION DATE.

greatcrested

SpiderLegs said:

What we need is a sticky at the top of the forum. It doesn’t need any content just a title -
BUYERS - DO NOT VIEW TENANTED PROPERTIES IF YOU WANT A FIXED COMPLETION DATE.

Yeah but it would also need to say

AND DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON LEGALS OR SURVEY UNTIL THE PROPERTY IS VACANT

which is all too long for a title........

nora_nora

As above. Insist on vacant possession before making offers. Most people here will tell you never to make offers on a property with a tenant in it until the tenant has gone because it's fraught with problems. Just because notice has been served doesn't mean the tenant will leave. It can take months to remove a tenant if they decide not to play ball. Personally, I'd consider cutting the losses you've already made and looking for a vacant property.