Yopa large overvaluation- chance to get fees back?

eddddy

jimmyb78 said:

Perhaps I should rephrase my question to asking if anyone could offer some actual useful advice rather than 'You should have done this' or 'you'll learn a lesson won't you'.  

If not, feel free to scroll on by. I believe the point of the forum is to help other users, not patronise them. 

I'm sorry if my comments seem patronising, that wasn't my intention.


I think I've already given you helpful advice above. As I said, the legal basis for any claim would be...

• Misrepresentation
• Breach of contract (actual terms or implied terms)
• (or Negligence)

Or you can ask them to make a goodwill gesture.

Do any of those seem appropriate?



(Out of interest, how do you think I should have worded my later post so that it didn't sound patronising. Bearing in mind that you made the comment "Certainly legally apparently they can do whatever they want which is rather depressing" which is completely untrue.)

jimmyb78

'(I guess that if you had read, understood and thought through Yopa's contract at the outset, you wouldn't have agreed to do business with them and you wouldn't have agreed to pay them £1199.)' 

This part riled me, as it suggests I didn't read the contract. I genuinely did. I did though, expect to get offers within an acceptable margin of the initial valuation, in exchange for my 1199. They have not done that and I'm im a position where I now lose badly either way. I'm more looking for ways to approach a complaint to Yopa as legal options would probably be a waste of time. 

I accept you weren't meaning to be patronising. I'm just very stressed and trying to see what I can do to minimise the damage. 

user1977

Did you get any other agents round to give you an idea of valuation? 

eddddy

jimmyb78 said:

I'm more looking for ways to approach a complaint to Yopa as legal options would probably be a waste of time. 

I think you've misunderstood.

Broadly, there are 2 approaches to your complaint. You can say...


1. "I do not owe you £1199 because you.... misrepresented something / breached the contract / were negligent"

or

2. "I would like you to reduce or cancel your bill because of... poor service / poor advice (i.e. make a gesture of goodwill)"


If you have strong evidence that they "broke the law" (option 1), your more likely to get a good result. If you're asking for  a "gesture of goodwill" (option 2), you're probably less likely to get a good result.

babyblade41

Did you have 3 valuations before going with YOPA? If you did how did they compare 

jimmyb78

user1977 said:

Did you get any other agents round to give you an idea of valuation? 

Yes. Two others who valued the flat at 92. 3k less than the Yopa agent who said the rental yield made sense to value it at 95k

TheJP

jimmyb78 said:

user1977 said:

Did you get any other agents round to give you an idea of valuation? 

Yes. Two others who valued the flat at 92. 3k less than the Yopa agent who said the rental yield made sense to value it at 95k

If 2 other EAs valued the property within £3k then i don't see any complaint here. I recommend checking other similar properties that sold before you had your valuation to see if all 3 EAs were way out, that may help with checking real market value.

canaldumidi

jimmyb78 said:

eddddy said:

jimmyb78 said:

Certainly legally apparently they can do whatever they want which is rather depressing 

Well... not really.

They can do what you and the agent agreed they can do.

You shouldn't really walk away from this thinking that "estate agents (and other companies) can do whatever they want" - because it's not really true.

It's better to walk away thinking that you should read and understand contracts before agreeing to them. Then you're less likely to get nasty surprises.

(I guess that if you had read, understood and thought through Yopa's contract at the outset, you wouldn't have agreed to do business with them and you wouldn't have agreed to pay them £1199.)

Perhaps I should rephrase my question to asking if anyone could offer some actual useful advice rather than 'You should have done this' or 'you'll learn a lesson won't you'.  

If not, feel free to scroll on by. I believe the point of the forum is to help other users, not patronise them. 

jimmb78y provided useful advice and explanation of your rights (such as they might be) as well as his reference to 'yous hould have....."

This is an open forum and we who offer advice here tend to do so not just to help the Original Poster, but also for the many other people who read these threads and might find themselves in similar positions. Hence the 'should have done this' comment.

Woolsery

canaldumidi said:

jimmyb78 said:

eddddy said:

jimmyb78 said:

Certainly legally apparently they can do whatever they want which is rather depressing 

Well... not really.

They can do what you and the agent agreed they can do.

You shouldn't really walk away from this thinking that "estate agents (and other companies) can do whatever they want" - because it's not really true.

It's better to walk away thinking that you should read and understand contracts before agreeing to them. Then you're less likely to get nasty surprises.

(I guess that if you had read, understood and thought through Yopa's contract at the outset, you wouldn't have agreed to do business with them and you wouldn't have agreed to pay them £1199.)

Perhaps I should rephrase my question to asking if anyone could offer some actual useful advice rather than 'You should have done this' or 'you'll learn a lesson won't you'.  

If not, feel free to scroll on by. I believe the point of the forum is to help other users, not patronise them. 

jimmb78y provided useful advice and explanation of your rights (such as they might be) as well as his reference to 'yous hould have....."

This is an open forum and we who offer advice here tend to do so not just to help the Original Poster, but also for the many other people who read these threads and might find themselves in similar positions. Hence the 'should have done this' comment.

I was going to make the same point. By the way, jimmb78y is the OP! It was edddy who gave the advice and they're one of our more tactful posters!

jimmyb78

canaldumidi said:

jimmyb78 said:

eddddy said:

jimmyb78 said:

Certainly legally apparently they can do whatever they want which is rather depressing 

Well... not really.

They can do what you and the agent agreed they can do.

You shouldn't really walk away from this thinking that "estate agents (and other companies) can do whatever they want" - because it's not really true.

It's better to walk away thinking that you should read and understand contracts before agreeing to them. Then you're less likely to get nasty surprises.

(I guess that if you had read, understood and thought through Yopa's contract at the outset, you wouldn't have agreed to do business with them and you wouldn't have agreed to pay them £1199.)

Perhaps I should rephrase my question to asking if anyone could offer some actual useful advice rather than 'You should have done this' or 'you'll learn a lesson won't you'.  

If not, feel free to scroll on by. I believe the point of the forum is to help other users, not patronise them. 

jimmb78y provided useful advice and explanation of your rights (such as they might be) as well as his reference to 'yous hould have....."

This is an open forum and we who offer advice here tend to do so not just to help the Original Poster, but also for the many other people who read these threads and might find themselves in similar positions. Hence the 'should have done this' comment.

He rephrased it and all is well. But just leading out with, 'you should have done this or that' is not helpful to the person actually seeking help. Some of these situations are distressing, especially with the current cost of living crisis. Making someone a cautionary tale is absolutely not the purpose of this forum. A little compassion is in order.