Estate Agent & access to keys

Fleabag

I have a house on the market, and due to a couple of retracted offers at the asking price and more pressing family matters, I very reluctantly accepted an offer of 13% below the asking price about 3 weeks ago.

The house is unoccupied and the estate agent is holding the keys and been carrying out viewings. Before it was listed, they did act as a go-between for gardeners to access the keys.

Things were progressing & solicitors had started the process. I got a call yesterday to say the buyers had visited multiple times over the last week and said they could hear the neighbours & were pulling out (we didn't have any noise issues with these neighbours, but that's a side issue). She then included the fact that the last time they visited was at 12.30 the previous night.

I don't believe that the estate agent will have accompanied prospective buyers in the early hours of the morning, so it seems clear that they have given the keys to them and allowed them free access to my property without my consent.

Surely this isn't acceptable, or common practice.

This couple are current customers of the same agent, selling their existing house with them.

Can anyone advise on whether I have some recourse over this?

Thank you in advance

user1977

Are you sure they were inside the property, as opposed to staking it out from the street?

Fleabag

user1977 said:

Are you sure they were inside the property, as opposed to staking it out from the street?

It has to have been from inside - the estate agent said they heard them through the walls (tbh, there are front gardens, so you'd be hard pushed to hear anything from inside the house next door if you were in the street)

_Penny_Dreadful

Fleabag said:

I have a house on the market, and due to a couple of retracted offers at the asking price and more pressing family matters, I very reluctantly accepted an offer of 13% below the asking price about 3 weeks ago.

The house is unoccupied and the estate agent is holding the keys and been carrying out viewings. Before it was listed, they did act as a go-between for gardeners to access the keys.

Things were progressing & solicitors had started the process. I got a call yesterday to say the buyers had visited multiple times over the last week and said they could hear the neighbours & were pulling out (we didn't have any noise issues with these neighbours, but that's a side issue). She then included the fact that the last time they visited was at 12.30 the previous night.

I don't believe that the estate agent will have accompanied prospective buyers in the early hours of the morning, so it seems clear that they have given the keys to them and allowed them free access to my property without my consent.

Surely this isn't acceptable, or common practice.

This couple are current customers of the same agent, selling their existing house with them.

Can anyone advise on whether I have some recourse over this?

Thank you in advance

Go back to the estate agent and straight up ask them how the potential buyers managed to hear the neighbours from inside the property as 12:30am.

eddddy

Assuming your suspicion is correct, what outcome are you looking for from the estate agent?

An assurance that they won't do it again? Or do you want to terminate the contract (without giving notice and/or during the minimum contract period)? A goodwill gesture? An apology?

Most estate agents are members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme. If yours is, they would have broken the code of practice:

Access to Premises

8e Unless otherwise instructed by the seller, if you hold the keys to a property you must accompany any viewings of that property. If you are arranging for someone to view an occupied property, you must agree the arrangements with the occupier (including any tenants) beforehand, wherever possible.

link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/codes-of-practice/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf

If you follow the complaints procedure, the Property Ombudsman sometimes rules that an estate agent has to pay £250 for the inconvenience they've caused. (Although I'm not sure this would count as inconvenience.)

Maybe your complaint is that you think the buyers wouldn't have backed out, if they hadn't visited the property at 12:30. But I don't think you'd win an argument on the basis that "they found out something that you didn't want them to find out".

eddddy

... but you should definitely get the EA's side of the story before jumping to any conclusions.

For example, the buyers might have told the EA a while ago that they were pulling-out because they were worried about noise - so the EA persuaded them to do some more visits, hoping that the visits would persuade them to change their mind

(And using the extra time to try to hassle/ convince/ bully the buyers not to back out.)

Thinking about it, that's exactly the type of thing EAs I've dealt with would do.

user1977

eddddy said:

Maybe your complaint is that you think the buyers wouldn't have backed out, if they hadn't visited the property at 12:30. But I don't think you'd win an argument on the basis that "they found out something that you didn't want them to find out".

Especially if it's something which could have happened during any sort of viewing.

AskAsk

when we sold our flat, the estate agent gave keys to the buyer and their builders to go and inspect the property for refurbishment plans.  we found damage in the flat and lights were left on as the buyer and their builders did not bother to turn the lights off after they had visited.

they lifted the laminate flooring and prized open wall panels and left them in that state.  since then i have been very insistent that the EA does not give keys and should accompany anyone coming to the property for assessment, except the surveyor.  i had a request for the architect to come round recently on a house sale and i was told the EA can't accompany the architect as he would be there for a couple of hours and that is too long for the EA to hang around.

EA do often give keys to potential buyers for investigative assessment on empty properties in my experience.

Fleabag

eddddy said:

Assuming your suspicion is correct, what outcome are you looking for from the estate agent?

An assurance that they won't do it again? Or do you want to terminate the contract (without giving notice and/or during the minimum contract period)? A goodwill gesture? An apology?

Most estate agents are members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme. If yours is, they would have broken the code of practice:

Access to Premises

8e Unless otherwise instructed by the seller, if you hold the keys to a property you must accompany any viewings of that property. If you are arranging for someone to view an occupied property, you must agree the arrangements with the occupier (including any tenants) beforehand, wherever possible.

link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/codes-of-practice/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf

If you follow the complaints procedure, the Property Ombudsman sometimes rules that an estate agent has to pay £250 for the inconvenience they've caused. (Although I'm not sure this would count as inconvenience.)

Maybe your complaint is that you think the buyers wouldn't have backed out, if they hadn't visited the property at 12:30. But I don't think you'd win an argument on the basis that "they found out something that you didn't want them to find out".

I'm aware if the theoretical shaky ground regarding their reasons for pulling out (however, one of the reasons cited is the barking of a pit bull - the neighbours do not have a pit bull, nor anything that looks remotely like one, abusive language from the son - I don't believe there's a son at the property and the child/children are quite young. We never had any issues with noise from this family, so things don't quite add up).
Your information regarding their code of conduct is very useful, thank you.

Regarding the contract, I think we have now exceeded the minimum term anyway, so I believe I can terminate without penalty, but I would very much like to know where I stand regarding their actions. In the same phone call, the agent also talked me into reducing the asking price (though this is still above the last low offer I'd been railroaded into accepting).

This couple had already offered ~18% below asking price, which I rejected, increased to -13%, which I reluctantly accepted, then they withdrew the offer, then changed their minds, now withdrawn again. This couple is selling their own house with the same agent, and I already felt that they have been working for them, not me before I found out they'd seemingly been given free access to my keys for a week.

Fleabag

user1977 said:

eddddy said:

Maybe your complaint is that you think the buyers wouldn't have backed out, if they hadn't visited the property at 12:30. But I don't think you'd win an argument on the basis that "they found out something that you didn't want them to find out".

Especially if it's something which could have happened during any sort of viewing.

We've obviously been at the property numerous times over recent months, including getting the valuations done. At no time during any of those visits has there been any discernible noise from adjoining properties. To be perfectly honest, I'm not convinced of their reason for withdrawing (for a 2nd time since their 2nd offer was accepted) - they have made claims that are just untrue (that there's a barking Pitbull and a loud older son - neither of which exist!). I have not been trying to withhold anything unsavoury about the property (and I'm easily irritated by invasive noise, so I would've known if the neighbours were a nuisance).
That's not to say you don't occasionally hear signs of life in a terraced house, but it's a former council property, so the walls aren't paper thin.
However, the bottom line is that surely there's no way that a prospective buyer could have access at 12.30am (even if contracts had been exchanged, it's my understanding that the only time the buyers can have keys is via a specific agreement with the seller for the purpose of planning and arranging the move before completion)

Fleabag

AskAsk said:

when we sold our flat, the estate agent gave keys to the buyer and their builders to go and inspect the property for refurbishment plans.  we found damage in the flat and lights were left on as the buyer and their builders did not bother to turn the lights off after they had visited.

they lifted the laminate flooring and prized open wall panels and left them in that state.  since then i have been very insistent that the EA does not give keys and should accompany anyone coming to the property for assessment, except the surveyor.  i had a request for the architect to come round recently on a house sale and i was told the EA can't accompany the architect as he would be there for a couple of hours and that is too long for the EA to hang around.

EA do often give keys to potential buyers for investigative assessment on empty properties in my experience.

I have given consent to them lending the keys to their gardener (who left packets & food to go mouldy all over the house), and that the energy assessor and any surveyors would be permitted keys to carry out their checks, but that's to be expected and it's assumed they will have their own codes of conduct (and insurances) to ensure that the access is appropriate and and risks mitigated. What isn't acceptable is to hand over keys to members of the public. I don't know if the house was secured properly, if they turned off the lights we leave on for security, if they put the heating on - not to mention the fact that strangers spent an unspecified amount of time in my property without my knowledge or consent.