Informed by the estate agent that they were cash buyers was untrue

JohnCox25

This is carrying on from the post Restictive byways to another subject regarding the property sale.

We were informed (verbally) by a representative of a well know online estate agent that our buyers were cash buyers, nothing to sell, and no chain.

That was also on the EA's online website, saying the status of the buyers were cash buyers, nothing to sell, no chain.

This is when the EA made an appointment for them to view accompanied with one of the EA's reps

It turns out that after a period of time we received a message from the buyers saying that "they were completing on their property and were talking to their

mortgage providers regarding the restrictive byway" (restrictive byway is not the point of this post)

We looked up the history on the online estate agent to view where it said they were cash buyers but cannot find anything to indicate this. We have sent a

request to the EA for all the history of the sale, hoping to find this particular status.

We know that what we required from the EA regarding the sale was only cash buyers and we remember reading what the buyers status was online (cash buyers)

If we had known that the present buyers, were not cash buyers we would not  have accepted their offer.

We have started a complaint procedure to the EA, before we take this further. We also understand that their rep dealing with the sale has since left their

organisation.

How do we stand on this? Or without proof and our word “have no legs to stand on” Because we believe they (the EA) have changed the buyers status or

remove it.

Any help is much appreciated.

P.s. Part of the complaint to the estate agents is that they (the EA) never followed up to see how the sale was progressing.

babyblade41

Not a lot you can do.  Some say they will be moving into rented or family then change their minds.

If the prospective purchaser lies then nothing EA can do about it 

lisyloo

It’s possible the buyers lied or changed their mind.
So there may be no liability on the EA.
if there was liability I think you’d find it very hard to prove it and you’d also have trouble proving a financial loss as there is no guarantee it would have resulted in a completion.

sorry, I sympathise

p00hsticks

Was the fact that you were only prepared to consider cash buyers made clear on the advertising property details ?

If it was I'd be expecting the estate agent to confirm this before arranging a viewing.

youth_leader

Sorry this has happened to you.  I had a 'cash buyer' and sold all my large furniture for pennies, everyone said he'd want to complete quickly.  Three weeks later turned out his ex wife in Sweden had the cash, and he wasn't getting any of it.  Still can't believe I sold my beautiful huge sofa for £200.

SusieT

They may well have cash in the bank and be able to buy without selling their own home, but have since offering decided that they would prefer to get a mortgage or to get their house sold and use the proceeds from that. Sadly, regardless of you saying cash buyers only, I would think that there is not a lot you can do about it at this point in time.

macman

Every EA will have a disclaimer stating that they rely on info provided by the vendor and that the buyer must make their own investigations, or words to that effect.

TheJP

What do you want to achieve from this? Why would you only accept cash buyers as to me that restricts your pool of buyers. You don't really have any comeback and i don't think there is any potential compensation due. How close to completion is the sale?

If i were you i would divert my energy into the sale/purchase and look forward to your new home.

zagubov

TheJP said:

What do you want to achieve from this? Why would you only accept cash buyers as to me that restricts your pool of buyers. You don't really have any comeback and i don't think there is any potential compensation due. How close to completion is the sale?

If i were you i would divert my energy into the sale/purchase and look forward to your new home.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Buying a house is going to be complicated enough without diverting (by which I mean wasting) your energies and efforts in trying to rectify the shortcomings of the largely unregulated estate agent sector as a side-hassle.

Time to look forward, not back.

Woolsery

TheJP said:

What do you want to achieve from this? Why would you only accept cash buyers as to me that restricts your pool of buyers.

I believe the OP has problems with the title regarding the right to vehicular access, so a lender might not be keen.

Currently, it's not clear if the property was advertised clearly as 'cash buyers only,' which would be the usual way of dealing with a situation like this. If it wasn't, then there was  a fair chance of it going paridae-up.

SuseOrm

Th this happens so often I’m amazed that Estate Agents ever take people‘s word for it as far as I’m concerned a cash buyer physically has the cash in the bank and can complete within 30 days anything deviating from that scenario is not a cash buyer in my mind.