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House advertised as chain free when it's not
Sarahjj86
Posts: 2 Newbie
I am pretty sure that unfortunately we know the answer already but hoping there is someone out there that knows more than us and can help.
We put an offer in on a property that was chain free, (the owner had a second flat he would move in to) and the offer was accepted. I was 6 months pregnant at the time so the chain free part really sold it to us. Then when the property was valued by the mortgage lender they valued it at £25k less than we offered. The estate agent tried to find us a mortgage lender that would lend the full amount but obviously none would.
We started looking at other properties and found a couple we liked that were also chain free. But the estate agent convinced us to renegotiate with the seller, telling us that if we did we could have everything wrapped up in 4 weeks. With little one due in just under 2 months this convinced us go with that.
With the help of the estate agent we were eventually able to re negotiate a price and proceeded with the sale but obviously this put us back about a month and a half.
From there things seemed to move forward at a reasonable pace. We paid for an in depth survey to be carried out as the house is made from concrete so cost us around £1000. Then, just as we were negotiating an imminent exchange date the estate agent called us to tell us that the seller actually had a tenant in the flat that he was supposed to move in to, he had JUST served her notice but she was refusing to move and because of covid he could not evict her. The estate agent originally came up with the "great" idea of trying to sell him another flat but obviously the seller did not want to do that. He also refused to rent somewhere in the interim.
Now we we are stuck living in a small attic room in my in laws house with a 2 week old baby. We are looking at the prospect of it being months before the house is available for us to move in to so we feel our only option is to pull out of the house and rent as this is a very unsuitable living arrangement and not sustainable for a long period of time. But this means with surveys, solicitors and mortgage lender we are set to lose about £2500 which we can't afford to lose.
We feel like we were lied to by the seller and the estate agent. We were given the impression that the estate agent knew about the tenant from day one. Especially when it came to renegotiation we should have been told as we could be in another house by now.
Is there anything we can do to get this money back. Someone mentioned the property ombudsman
We put an offer in on a property that was chain free, (the owner had a second flat he would move in to) and the offer was accepted. I was 6 months pregnant at the time so the chain free part really sold it to us. Then when the property was valued by the mortgage lender they valued it at £25k less than we offered. The estate agent tried to find us a mortgage lender that would lend the full amount but obviously none would.
We started looking at other properties and found a couple we liked that were also chain free. But the estate agent convinced us to renegotiate with the seller, telling us that if we did we could have everything wrapped up in 4 weeks. With little one due in just under 2 months this convinced us go with that.
With the help of the estate agent we were eventually able to re negotiate a price and proceeded with the sale but obviously this put us back about a month and a half.
From there things seemed to move forward at a reasonable pace. We paid for an in depth survey to be carried out as the house is made from concrete so cost us around £1000. Then, just as we were negotiating an imminent exchange date the estate agent called us to tell us that the seller actually had a tenant in the flat that he was supposed to move in to, he had JUST served her notice but she was refusing to move and because of covid he could not evict her. The estate agent originally came up with the "great" idea of trying to sell him another flat but obviously the seller did not want to do that. He also refused to rent somewhere in the interim.
Now we we are stuck living in a small attic room in my in laws house with a 2 week old baby. We are looking at the prospect of it being months before the house is available for us to move in to so we feel our only option is to pull out of the house and rent as this is a very unsuitable living arrangement and not sustainable for a long period of time. But this means with surveys, solicitors and mortgage lender we are set to lose about £2500 which we can't afford to lose.
We feel like we were lied to by the seller and the estate agent. We were given the impression that the estate agent knew about the tenant from day one. Especially when it came to renegotiation we should have been told as we could be in another house by now.
Is there anything we can do to get this money back. Someone mentioned the property ombudsman
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Comments
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Nope, not a thing.
The intention may well have been to be chain-free when it was advertised, but that intention has changed since. There is no legally binding agreement of any kind until exchange of contracts.
If you decide to walk away, the wasted fees are part of your choice.1 -
I really feel for you guys Sarah...this totally sucks, people are acting really shitily within the housing market these days.
Pull out, start again, this chap is not to be trusted.2 -
Unfortunately we get a similar story on here about 2 times a week. Seems like it's quite a common thing to pretend that you will be moving into a rental and then change your mind once it's getting close to exchange and lots of cost's have been occurred
1 -
Any costs you incur prior to exchange of contracts are totally your own liability, it's part of the process of trying to buy a property.
Your options now are to pull out and start again, or wait for the vendor, however as they have seemingly only just found out, they can't simply kick their tenants out.
As you stand to lose money you could perhaps suggest contributing towards a cash incentive for the tenants to leave asap - if you can the vendor offered say £1500 each they might think it's worth moving on more quickly for a £3K bonus. Just an idea.....1 -
Sarahjj86 said:
We feel like we were lied to by the seller and the estate agent. We were given the impression that the estate agent knew about the tenant from day one. Especially when it came to renegotiation we should have been told as we could be in another house by now.
Is there anything we can do to get this money back. Someone mentioned the property ombudsman
Yes - if what you say is correct, and you have reasonably compelling evidence - in theory, the Property Ombudsman could instruct the EA to pay you compensation.
That assumes the the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPOS). Most EAs are.
If the EA failed to disclose material information which would have impacted your decision to proceed, they have breached the mandatory TPOS code of practice, and possibly broken the law - The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
There seem to be lots of examples where the Property Ombudsman has awarded compensation to prospective buyers where the estate agent has made misleading omissions. Here are some examples:
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/a
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/cpr-s-case-2-damp-descriptions
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/freehold-and-leasehold-misleading-omission
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/structural-issues-misleading-omission
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/neighbouring-development-misleading-omission
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Hi OP
sorry to hear about that.
If you have evidence against the EA that will stand up in court, you may have a cause, ie emails, letters stating what you have said.
I think you already know this but nothing is certain until exchange of contracts takes place.
Effectively it was chain free, but with our Gov looking after the T's and two fingers at the L's, who knows what will happen
Look at the postive side, you are with your in-laws - you could easily be paying good rent for a right hole where you had bad neighbours etc and you wasted a lot of money on rent and stress.
In your favour, prices will go down imo but then the stamp hols will go so swings and roundabouts.
1 -
I've read some of the links, great stuff, thanks.eddddy said:Sarahjj86 said:
We feel like we were lied to by the seller and the estate agent. We were given the impression that the estate agent knew about the tenant from day one. Especially when it came to renegotiation we should have been told as we could be in another house by now.
Is there anything we can do to get this money back. Someone mentioned the property ombudsman
Yes - if what you say is correct, and you have reasonably compelling evidence - in theory, the Property Ombudsman could instruct the EA to pay you compensation.
That assumes the the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPOS). Most EAs are.
If the EA failed to disclose material information which would have impacted your decision to proceed, they have breached the mandatory TPOS code of practice, and possibly broken the law - The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
There seem to be lots of examples where the Property Ombudsman has awarded compensation to prospective buyers where the estate agent has made misleading omissions. Here are some examples:
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/a
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/cpr-s-case-2-damp-descriptions
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/freehold-and-leasehold-misleading-omission
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/structural-issues-misleading-omission
https://www.tpos.co.uk/news-media-and-press-releases/case-studies/item/neighbouring-development-misleading-omission0 -
What contract or law has the EA infringed? You've obviously never incurred the wrath of a judge for wasting their valuable time.justworriedabit said:
If you have evidence against the EA that will stand up in court, you may have a cause, ie emails, letters stating what you have said.2 -
Only if there is evidence that the EA was actually aware about their client's position, which doesn't sound clear from the OP.justworriedabit said:
If you have evidence against the EA that will stand up in court, you may have a cause, ie emails, letters stating what you have said.3 -
A chain-free property is a property that is being sold by a vendor who does not need to purchase a new property after they sell. Still the case, no?
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