My purchase offer was accepted but estate agents proceeded with another offer without telling me.

RonsDaughter

Hi,
can anyone help with this house purchase problem please?

basically on June 29th I received an email to state that my offer on a house had been accepted (subject to the owners finding a property for themselves). The agent then asked for my i.d. etc for their checks etc I took my passport etc to their office where it was scanned and stored

Thereafter the estate agent was very hard to get hold of, did not return calls and was evasive when I did speak to him but I was assured that the Memorandum of Sale had been sent out and the owners were still looking for a property. 

My financial advisor kept chasing the MoS and was told it had been re-sent twice, so arranged for the valuation survey (which was rushed through by the estate agent and done July 17th) and set up the solicitor for my mortgage (lifetime mortgage, so necessary) and the conveyancing solicitor.

2 days ago I chased the estate agent for information re a solicitors form and found out (from another office) that the Mos had been sent out (dated July 14th) but it did not have my name on it.
Assuming this was an admin error they confirmed the sale price was the figure I had offered and had been accepted.

I went to the estate agents office and it emerged that the house owner had in fact gone with someone else's offer and the Memorandum of Sale had been sent to them on July 14th (three days before my valuation survey had been done)

This information only emerged when I chased it up myself on August 17th, almost 2 months after my offer had been accepted.

The estate agent then claimed I had been gazumped but I don't see how this is the case as the figure I offered is apparently on the MoS. (The detail around this part is very confusing and probably unnecessary to relate.)

Anyway, whether I was gazumped or they just went with a different buyer, my question is: while I am aware that it is illegal for the estate agent to have withheld the knowledge of the other offer and knowingly allowed me to proceed with the valuation survey and mortgage arrangement, is their conduct also criminal?

I will be raising a complaint and claiming a refund for expenses incurred so far, but I would like to know if their behaviour constitutes a criminal offence before I submit it. I have already checked internet but cannot find anything relevant except for the Trading Standards Code of Conduct for Estate Agents.

Any help will be most genuinely appreciated

Mstty

I guess the moral of the story is don't proceed with valuation and survey until your solicitor says "go"

You appear to have jumped the gun here.

user1977

What crime do you think it would be, and how would that assist you? If it's a crime (and I can't think of any it might be) then it's up to the police/CPS what they do about it.

MattMattMattUK

user1977 said:

What crime do you think it would be, and how would that assist you? If it's a crime (and I can't think of any it might be) then it's up to the police/CPS what they do about it.

In the UK an individual can bring a private prosecution, but it is rare, and expensive. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-prosecutions/private-prosecutions

booksandbikes

I don't think there is any criminal offence, just a dishonest/immoral estate agent. You have my sympathies.

booksandbikes

Mstty said:

I guess the moral of the story is don't proceed with valuation and survey until your solicitor says "go"

You appear to have jumped the gun here.

Have they jumped the gun though?? Surely if you are told by an estate agent that your offer has been accepted, you start the ball rolling so that you are not adding any extra delay. It's been a few years since I've purchased my house, but from memory once you are told an offer is accepted, you start intructing solicitors, formally applying for a mortgage and also start booking in valuations, etc.

I don't see how this is the OPs fault at all.....it is down to the estate agent for being so misleading.

housebuyer143

booksandbikes said:

Mstty said:

I guess the moral of the story is don't proceed with valuation and survey until your solicitor says "go"

You appear to have jumped the gun here.

Have they jumped the gun though?? Surely if you are told by an estate agent that your offer has been accepted, you start the ball rolling so that you are not adding any extra delay. It's been a few years since I've purchased my house, but from memory once you are told an offer is accepted, you start intructing solicitors, formally applying for a mortgage and also start booking in valuations, etc.

I don't see how this is the OPs fault at all.....it is down to the estate agent for being so misleading.

No, you don't do anything until the chain is complete because this is the kind of things that happen, but more likely they decide not to sell, the mortgage offer expires because they don't find anywhere quick enough. Loads of reasons they could pull out and cost the OP money.

user1977

MattMattMattUK said:

user1977 said:

What crime do you think it would be, and how would that assist you? If it's a crime (and I can't think of any it might be) then it's up to the police/CPS what they do about it.

In the UK an individual can bring a private prosecution, but it is rare, and expensive. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-prosecutions/private-prosecutions

I'm aware of that, but for all intents and purposes it's not really a thing.

km1500

This is bad practice by the EA and you could complain to them formally and also

https://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/work-areas/estate-agency-team/

GDB2222

It’s hard to discern any dishonest intent here, as there’s no obvious reason for the estate agent to mislead you deliberately. So there’s no commonplace crime here.

Having said that, they may have infringed some technical aspect of the estate agency laws, but clearly unintentionally, so I can’t see anyone taking action over it.  

Of course, they have been grossly incompetent and inept. Hopefully, they will reimburse you the fees you have incurred without quibbling, but I fear that you will need to involve their ombudsman service. Do you know which ombudsman they belong to?

GDB2222

booksandbikes said:

I don't think there is any criminal offence, just a dishonest/immoral estate agent. You have my sympathies.

If they were dishonest, there might be a crime. But, they were simply useless.