Misled by estate agent

owenjt

Had an offer accepted two week ago. The house has previously been sold in September 2021 but the buyer pulled out. When I booked my viewing and on the viewing itself, I was told that the vendor had been close to exchanging (a couple of weeks away), the chain was complete and I may be able to purchase the existing searches to expedite the process.

The offer I made took this into account and with a mortgage offer in place from a previous purchase which expires 12 April, I was optimistic that I would be able to complete in time. I also very quickly chose a solicitor that works with the EA to try and speed things up and ensure a smooth process, and booked a survey as soon as I could get one (mid-March).

Now it turns out that I have been misled by the EA and the vendors aren't anywhere near the point of exchanging. Their searches haven't been completed and their survey isn't happening until mid-March, so there's still some way to go. Had I known this from the start, I wouldn't have offered as much as I did and if my offer was accepted I would've reapplied for my mortgage straight away to lock in the rate - I've just reapplied and the delay has meant I'm now going to be paying £60+ more per month because mortgage rates are increasingly rapidly.

I'm left feeling extremely disappointed and frustrated with the EA and feel like going back to them and reducing my offer. They've misled me and as result I'm spending thousands of pounds more.

How do EA's get away with this? This isn't the first time I feel like I've been misled by an EA but it is the first time it's had a negative financial impact. Some don't seem to have any morals and just say what they need to get a sale at the highest price possible.

Exodi

I'm guessing you're in Scotland as you mention that the vendor's haven't completed the searches/survey (in England, this is the buyers responsbility).

Out of interest, if the mortgage rates had gone down, would you go back to them and increase your offer?

It would be useful to understand the sums you're talking - my searches cost £223.83 in total, I can't say I'd argue that it's make or break if I had to pay this or not (especially as you say you 'may' be able to 'purchase' the existing searches instead of you 'will' be 'given' the existing searches.

user1977

Exodi said:

I'm guessing you're in Scotland as you mention that the vendor's haven't completed the searches/survey (in England, this is the buyers responsbility).

I presume the OP means on the vendor's purchase.

Searches aren't as much of an issue in Scotland in relation to timescales, because we get them from private providers rather than waiting weeks for the councils.

owenjt

Exodi said:

I'm guessing you're in Scotland as you mention that the vendor's haven't completed the searches/survey (in England, this is the buyers responsbility).

Out of interest, if the mortgage rates had gone down, would you go back to them and increase your offer?

It would be useful to understand the sums you're talking - my searches cost £223.83 in total, I can't say I'd argue that it's make or break if I had to pay this or not (especially as you say you 'may' be able to 'purchase' the existing searches instead of you 'will' be 'given' the existing searches.

No I'm in England. The vendor's haven't completed their searches or survey on the property they're purchasing and we were led to believe they had.

I wouldn't increase my offer if mortgage rates had gone down (no one would!). But I wouldn't have offered what I did if I'd have known they weren't close to exchanging and I would've saved nearly £4k on my mortgage over 5 years if they hadn't misled me.

Exodi

owenjt said:

Exodi said:

I'm guessing you're in Scotland as you mention that the vendor's haven't completed the searches/survey (in England, this is the buyers responsbility).

Out of interest, if the mortgage rates had gone down, would you go back to them and increase your offer?

It would be useful to understand the sums you're talking - my searches cost £223.83 in total, I can't say I'd argue that it's make or break if I had to pay this or not (especially as you say you 'may' be able to 'purchase' the existing searches instead of you 'will' be 'given' the existing searches.

No I'm in England. The vendor's haven't completed their searches or survey on the property they're purchasing and we were led to believe they had.

I wouldn't increase my offer if mortgage rates had gone down (no one would!). But I wouldn't have offered what I did if I'd have known they weren't close to exchanging and I would've saved nearly £4k on my mortgage over 5 years if they hadn't misled me.

OK I see now - I read your first post in that you made your offer on account that you may be able to save £224 on the searches, but I see you mean based on being told the vendor was essentially ready to exchange.

Now we're clear - I think this is yet again, another thread on the shortcomings of the UK property system.

There is no obligation on either parties side until you've exchanged contracts. The mortgage product changing during the process is neither here nor there - and as I (crudely) highlighted in my previous question, if the interest rate had gone down and you had saved a bunch of money, you obviously wouldn't seek to change your offer - you can't have your cake and eat it.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the UK property system because of issues like this, I don't think it's fair that prospective buyers are burdened with costs outisde of their control, while sellers have no responsibility until right at the end.

Unfortuantely, this is an issue with the system rather than the estate agent - I'd imagine it's highly unlikely they guaranteed any dates you'd exchange.

TheJP

So you made an increased offer on a property based on the sellers survey and searches for their on-going purchase? Did i read that right? 

owenjt

TheJP said:

So you made an increased offer on a property based on the sellers survey and searches for their on-going purchase? Did i read that right? 

I wouldn't have offered what I did if I'd have known they weren't close to exchanging. With my original mortgage offer expiring on 13 April this was a big plus.

eddddy

owenjt said:

I wouldn't have offered what I did if I'd have known they weren't close to exchanging. With my original mortgage offer expiring on 13 April this was a big plus.

I think people are misunderstanding your complaint.

I think you're saying that your complaint is that the EA indicated to you that the vendor would be ready to exchange contracts in 2 weeks.

But in reality, there was absolutely no hope of the vendor exchanging contracts in 2 weeks - you had been misled by the EA,

(Obviously, the 2 weeks wasn't a guarantee, but it sounds like it was clearly misleading.)



In theory, you could complain to the EA, and maybe complain to their redress scheme, because the EA has treated you unfairly. But I'm not sure you'd be succesful. Did the EA put anything in writing about the vendor being ready to exchange in 2 weeks?

owenjt

eddddy said:

I think people are misunderstanding your complaint.

I think you're saying that your complaint is that the EA indicated to you that the vendor would be ready to exchange contracts in 2 weeks.

But in reality, there was absolutely no hope of the vendor exchanging contracts in 2 weeks - you had been misled by the EA,

(Obviously, the 2 weeks wasn't a guarantee, but it sounds like it was clearly misleading.)



In theory, you could complain to the EA, and maybe complain to their redress scheme, because the EA has treated you unfairly. But I'm not sure you'd be succesful. Did the EA put anything in writing about the vendor being ready to exchange in 2 weeks?

Correct - the vendor's are nowhere near ready to exchange. If I had known this upfront I would've offered slightly less and could've secured a lower rate on my mortgage.

The EA didn't put anything in writing unfortunately. I feel like lowering my offer based on this but not sure I'd get anywhere. Just so frustrating that EA's can mislead you.

TheJP

owenjt said:

TheJP said:

So you made an increased offer on a property based on the sellers survey and searches for their on-going purchase? Did i read that right? 

I wouldn't have offered what I did if I'd have known they weren't close to exchanging. With my original mortgage offer expiring on 13 April this was a big plus.

I'm struggling to see how this affects the value of a house. Was your offer above asking price? Why didn't you make it a condition of sale within your offer? Are you still going ahead with the purchase? What do you want from the EA, compensation?

BigH1979

You have my sympathy over the EA lying to you, we've had our fair share from our Seller's EA and they are utterly unscrupulous despite what some of their defenders say on here.
As regards to your question then you have every right to lower your offer at any time before exchange but only you can decide whether that is going to imperil your sale. Don't cut your nose off to spite your face. Many times in the last 3 months i have had to take a time-out before i did something silly. Put yourself in your sellers position, have they been lied to as well? How will they interpret your lower offer? I doubt they'll have much sympathy that you feel you were mis-represented to by the EA, all they want to do is sell their house for the highest price they can get...same as you.