Estate agency provided false information

deannagone

The EA won't be paying for you to install UFH to the bathrooms.  They can easily claim the owner of the flat said it had underfloor heating, it was for you to check the claim before purchase.  I assume the bathrooms do have some form of heating?  You will have to use that or install UFH at your own expense, sorry.

AdrianC

Hiryu001 said:

The exchange has not happened yet

Then you can walk away if you don't like the fact there is no UFH in place.

You can ask for a reduction in purchase price, but I strongly suspect the vendor will not agree. If you have a mortgage, then the time to re-issue that will probably also take you over the SDLT deadline.

so I haven't seen the survey yet.

That makes no sense.

My aim is to either get UFH installed or equivalent monetary compensation.

And who do you think is paying for this?
The EA? Nope.
The vendor? Very unlikely.

If I complain now I fear that the agency just going to tell me to back out of the sale which I don't want to do.

That is your main way to protest against this undoubtedly inadvertant error by the EA. Bad EA. No biscuit for EA.

You are not the EA's customer, so you have no contractual basis for complaint. You are buying from the vendor, the EA is the vendor's marketing agent.

But you should have done your own due diligence to satisfy yourself of the property before getting this far.

Jenni_D

PollyWollyDoodle said:

If you read the small print on the bottom of the agents’ particulars you’ll see something saying that they give no warranty for the statements made. You don’t base your decision to purchase on the particulars but on your own enquiries. 

Are there radiators in the bathrooms, and did that make you wonder if there was underfloor heating?  What did your survey say?  There is no chance that the estate agents will be liable for anything in this scenario. 

😈

/10chars

TripleH

I would say the fault here us with the vendor not the estate agent if the sales prospectus said under floor heating.

We had to approve our advert before it was listed and it took 3 attempts to get the changes made (correcting errors).

The vendor should have checked the advert before it was released and corrected the errors, your chance of getting money off the agents is most likely nil.

Anything they tell you should be confirmed with the vendor.

Sorry but if underfloor heating was so important, why did you not verify with the vendor sooner? As has been suggested, were there radiators present in the rooms you expected there to be heating? Never assume anything, and always check particularly if it is a major purchase point for you. I'm not saying this to be spiteful but it is up to you do do your due diligence and verify everything you view as important.

By all means ask the seller for a discount but be prepared for them to say no.

980233

Hiryu001 said:

Thank you so much for the advices. The exchange has not happened yet so I haven't seen the survey yet. It's just annoying that it is so close to completion. My aim is to either get UFH installed or equivalent monetary compensation. If I complain now I fear that the agency just going to tell me to back out of the sale which I don't want to do. But from "AFF8879" was saying I should complain right now or risk getting no compensation at all. I also fear that the EA could just purposely give me a bad offer of compensation and run the clock on stamp duty, therefore false me to accept the their terms..

Bob Hope and no hope.

Belleofthebooks

Unfortunately it seems it was a mistake on the advert. Whilst annoying there is little you can do apart from walk away if you are not happy. You are not going to "flip" this on the EA before or after completion because they won't be paying for your underfloor heating. There is zero chance you are getting compensation from the EA.

You could try to get money off the house price from the seller off citing wrong information but they are more than likely going to refuse and put it back on the market but worth a try if it is a deal breaker. 

NameUnavailable

You haven't had your survey back yet? You're almost certainly not going to complete by end of the month regardless, as the survey will throw up issues which you will probably want to check further. OK maybe you will be the one person who gets a glowing report on their purchase!

As for the heating issue, you need to go back to the EA, explain that they (and therefore the vendor) have mis-informed you and ask for a reduction in the price (assuming that's what you want). You will need to get the mortgage offer amended.

robatwork

Not sure I have seen you say but how *are* the bathrooms heated?

980233

NameUnavailable said:

You haven't had your survey back yet? You're almost certainly not going to complete by end of the month regardless, as the survey will throw up issues which you will probably want to check further. OK maybe you will be the one person who gets a glowing report on their purchase!

As for the heating issue, you need to go back to the EA, explain that they (and therefore the vendor) have mis-informed you and ask for a reduction in the price (assuming that's what you want). You will need to get the mortgage offer amended.

There is no 'heating issue' unless there is no traditional heating in the bathrooms and I'd bet there are radiators.

Underfloor heating misunderstanding with the EA is a mute point, the sellers will likely reject out of hand any suggestion of a reduction not withstanding any survey issues. Not sure why vendor and potential buyer conversing on the phone at this stage or any pre exchange stage.

michael1234

I beg to differ.

There is something wrong with estate agency if they are allowed to misrepresent on that scale. Ripping out bathrooms to put in UFH after the event will probably cost more than the OP believes.

It may well be that the vendor "miscommunicated" the information to the EA but it is quite possibly gross negligence on behalf of the latter to not check given the amounts involved.

Ultimately, a solicitor experienced in conveyancing is the only person whose opinion should carry any weight. I recommend the OP seeks such advice and doesn't waste time and emotion on a forum such as this.