Estate agent marketed Property without Vendor Capacity

jojoxxx2001

Hi I'm hoping people can throw some thought on this please.
We started to purchase a bungalow offered with no chain..something that was important to us as we were renting and a cash purchase.
We were told the vendor was now in a care home and had no children and her carer had power of Atorney to help her with the sale as needed.
They also told me that the vendor was still of sound mind and that they had visited her to organise putting the bungalow on the Market while she was still in her bungalow.
To cut a long story short 7 weeks into us buying and £750 solicitors fees later the vendors solicitor was still unable to progress as they said they were waiting for a letter from the vendors GP to confirm she had capacity to sell.
We pulled out.
The Estate agents were aware from the word go we needed a quick sale and I chased them every 2 days from week 3 to week 7 for this "capacity to sell" but kept being told the care home were sorting it out.
Should the estate agent have been marketing this property at this time ? Until capacity was proven? 
It has been 3 weeks since we pulled out and the bungalow has not been relisted as yet and the original adver removed 
Thanks in advance 

housebuyer143

jojoxxx2001 said:

Hi I'm hoping people can throw some thought on this please.
We started to purchase a bungalow offered with no chain..something that was important to us as we were renting and a cash purchase.
We were told the vendor was now in a care home and had no children and her carer had power of Atorney to help her with the sale as needed.
They also told me that the vendor was still of sound mind and that they had visited her to organise putting the bungalow on the Market while she was still in her bungalow.
To cut a long story short 7 weeks into us buying and £750 solicitors fees later the vendors solicitor was still unable to progress as they said they were waiting for a letter from the vendors GP to confirm she had capacity to sell.
We pulled out.
The Estate agents were aware from the word go we needed a quick sale and I chased them every 2 days from week 3 to week 7 for this "capacity to sell" but kept being told the care home were sorting it out.
Should the estate agent have been marketing this property at this time ? Until capacity was proven? 
It has been 3 weeks since we pulled out and the bungalow has not been relisted as yet and the original adver removed 
Thanks in advance 

In my opinion, if the agent was told she had capacity and she also has a power of attorney for finances then that's really all they can do - they are not qualified themselves to decide who has capacity. They might not have met her either or maybe they did and they felt she was fine and understood what was being said to her.  

eddddy

Do you think the estate agent was aware, or should have been aware, that a letter from the seller's GP would be required?

And if they should have been aware that a letter would be needed, were they also aware that it would take a long time to get a letter?



If so, you could try complaining to the Property Ombudsman (assuming that the estate agent is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme - most are).

If the Ombudsman decides that the estate agent hasn't acted reasonably, and/or hasn't treated you fairly - the Ombudsman can order them to pay you compensation. (e.g. the £750 legal fees.)

But it might be a tough fight to win.

jojoxxx2001

housebuyer143 said:

In my opinion, if the agent was told she had capacity and she also has a power of attorney for finances then that's really all they can do - they are not qualified themselves to decide who has capacity. They might not have met her either or maybe they did and they felt she was fine and understood what was being said to her.  

Thanks this was my initial thoughts but why would the solicitor need this letter of capacity if there is a power of attorney?
And if these letters are standard why would the agents not ensure this was in place.
I also have to wonder why the bungalow has been withdrawn for now 

BarelySentientAI

jojoxxx2001 said:

housebuyer143 said:

In my opinion, if the agent was told she had capacity and she also has a power of attorney for finances then that's really all they can do - they are not qualified themselves to decide who has capacity. They might not have met her either or maybe they did and they felt she was fine and understood what was being said to her.  

I also have to wonder why the bungalow has been withdrawn for now 

Because now the EA is aware that there is a problem.

jojoxxx2001

eddddy said:

Do you think the estate agent was aware, or should have been aware, that a letter from the seller's GP would be required?

And if they should have been aware that a letter would be needed, were they also aware that it would take a long time to get a letter?



If so, you could try complaining to the Property Ombudsman (assuming that the estate agent is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme - most are).

If the Ombudsman decides that the estate agent hasn't acted reasonably, and/or hasn't treated you fairly - the Ombudsman can order them to pay you compensation. (e.g. the £750 legal fees.)

But it might be a tough fight to win.

This is what I have been wondering...I was never given a real explanation as to why this letter was suddenly required 

jojoxxx2001

BarelySentientAI said:

jojoxxx2001 said:

housebuyer143 said:

In my opinion, if the agent was told she had capacity and she also has a power of attorney for finances then that's really all they can do - they are not qualified themselves to decide who has capacity. They might not have met her either or maybe they did and they felt she was fine and understood what was being said to her.  

I also have to wonder why the bungalow has been withdrawn for now 

Because now the EA is aware that there is a problem.

Yes ... should they have been aware of this problem earlier is my dilemma 

propertyrental

I doubt the EA could have done much more. They had assurances that the carer had POA, and that the owner was of sound mind' They are not solicitors however, nor are they medically qualified.

Much as I often criticize EAs., in this case I suspect they acted in good faith in putting the property on the market based on what they knew/were told.

I'm bemused by your statement that "offered with no chain..something that was important to us as we were renting and a cash purchase." Everyone prefers 'no chain', but why being a tenant and/or cash buyer (so no mortgage needed?) should make a short or zero chain more important I fail to understand.

jojoxxx2001

propertyrental said:

I doubt the EA could have done much more. They had assurances that the carer had POA, and that the owner was of sound mind' They are not solicitors however, nor are they medically qualified.

Much as I often criticize EAs., in this case I suspect they acted in good faith in putting the property on the market based on what they knew/were told.

I'm bemused by your statement that "offered with no chain..something that was important to us as we were renting and a cash purchase." Everyone prefers 'no chain', but why being a tenant and/or cash buyer (so no mortgage needed?) should make a short or zero chain more important I fail to understand.

My point about the cash purchase was more about we were not in a chain either and therefore in a position to move quickly ourselves and made it clear to the agents we were looking for a property that could move as quickly...we were renting and didn't want to pay any more rent than necessary...not about having cash

GDB2222

I suppose the problem is that the attorney can’t act if the owner does have capacity?

AskAsk

EA wouldn't vet capacity.  They would rely on the conveyancing stage to sort that out.  The POA would have been enough for them to advertise the property.

My MIL has dementia and my FIL has POA.  It was almost impossible to get their ID verified as my MIL doesn't have photographic ID and the POA was not enough for the solicitors.  They needed a letter from her GP to confirm her dementia and that my FIL had the POA for making decisions for her.

The solicitors were concerned that she indeed had capacity and may not want to sell or buy!  So a letter of capacity may not actually mean to confirm she has capacity, but to confirm she doesn't and so the carer can use the POA to sell the property.

Part of the pains of buying a property I am afraid.  No one to blame here.