Estate agent refusing to give information on a leashold.

eddddy

As you say, the EA has a duty to ask the seller appropriate questions.  However, with a retirement property it's likely that either the seller has gone into a care home, or it's being sold by executors.  So the seller may be incapable/unable to provide that information.

So you have to decide how you want to proceed, based on the information available...

• perhaps you regard it as too high risk to incur solicitor's fees, with so little information. So you walk away.
• perhaps you assume that the answers to your questions will be bad, and therefore offer a lower amount
• perhaps you assume that the answers to your questions will be ok, and make an offer - expecting to reduce the offer or walk away if things turn out to be worse than you expect (but you'll lose solicitor's fees is you walk away)

But obviously, another buyer might come along who is not so bothered about the limited information, so the seller might think it less hassle to sell to them.

deadhandle

Again, the TPO expects the EA can, and should, get the info.. It's in their guidelines.

I have made it clear that I won't make an offer unless i have that info, but i am very interested.. I would just walk away if I wasn't, But then it's up to the EA to obtain it from the seller.

The Owners, or the executors, should be able to get the info from the management company.. In fact i wouldn't expect the owners to have the information to hand.

There should not be an expectation that I pay solicitor or survey fees, before I happy what I am buying.

deadhandle

Faff? The TPO expects that the EA can, and should, obatin the info. It's in the guidelines.

I don't expect the Owner, or executor, can get the info offhand.The seller would be able to get it from the managing agents, of give the EA permission to contact them.

I have no right to do this.

The EA has had the property for a while.. and obviously doesn't know or disregards the TPO.. They have made no comment on this.

I'm not a professional, the EA is supposed. Is it wrong to suppose the EA should follow the industry guidelines?

steampowered

The estate agent is unlikely to know the answers to your questions.

The estate agent can ask the seller, and pass on the seller's response. However the EA is not legally qualified so the EA will not be reviewing the lease and management documents to check whether what the seller is telling you is correct. Your conveyancer/solicitor will have to do that.

All you can do is put in an offer, and provide along with your offer a short list of questions that you need to be answered before you start incurring costs on surveys/conveyancers.

You can download a copy of the title register and might be able to download a copy of the lease from the Land Registry website. This only costs a few quid and is well worth doing.

deadhandle

Thank

steampowered said:

 download a copy of the lease from the Land Registry website. This only costs a few quid and is well worth doing.

Thanks, didn't know that.. but lease is 30 years old.. still need current info of fees and works.

davidmcn

deadhandle said:

Is it wrong to suppose the EA should follow the industry guidelines?

It's wrong to suppose that you can insist on going about things other than in the normal fashion and expect it to be easy. You've been given what I would regard as the material information, that doesn't mean the EA needs to deal with all of your due diligence enquiries upfront.

FTB_Help

Is this post asking for advice or just a rant?

The lease length, ground rent, service charge fees you have been given, what ither information are you after?

bouicca21

Surely what information the EA can pass on is no more than hearsay so valueless.  Make an offer subject to satisfactory answers to your questions.  If you were buying my flat I’d be able to answer most of your questions, but you wouldn’t know if my answers were accurate until you got the management pack.

Tiglet2

All the information will be available in the lease (which you can get a copy of from Land Registry) and in the management pack.  Managing agents do not give out information for free.  The seller would have to pay for the pack (costs can be around £300-400) and it has a limited shelf life.  The information can be out of date very quickly and a buyer's solicitor will want an up to date version.  If the seller obtains the pack and  doesn't have a confirmed purchaser, the likelihood is that the pack will be out of date and the seller would be obliged to obtain an additional pack with a further set of fees.

So many solicitors now offer no fee, no completion deals on conveyancing that you could instruct a solicitor to deal with the transaction, but do not undertake a survey or searches until you are certain you wish to go ahead, as third party costs would not be refundable

deadhandle

Thanks everyone.. some good tips here, but seems you all think it isnt reasonable to expect this. So maybe it is time to walk away.

Let's see what the EA does produce..