Flat back to the market

Parisse

Hi 

a flat i was interested in 2 months ago just went back to the market. I am sure an offer was accepted from a different buyer at the beginning of April. 

The EA is saying  that the sales fell trough because the potential buyers are now moving abroad for work.

The EA is one of the most controversial/hated estate agent in the whole London (if not UK) and back then i could sense a lot information given to me weren't accurate (they first said they had 3 offers above asking price for this property, then 1, then again 2). i wouldn't trust them a lot so i pulled out back then,   

So my question is: are estate agents required by law to give new potential buyers the exact reason as to why previous sell fell trough?Or they could say whatever they want? 

All my comms with them are via email. 

MSE_ForumTeam5

Moved to more suitable board

Voyager2002

You should assume that anything they say is untrue unless you can check it for yourself.

While it is against the law for them to lie, proving this is generally impossible.

propertyrental

I guess your concern is that you make a new offer, get accepted, proceed and spend money on eg a survey, or legals, and then discover something adverse in the survey/legals which might be wry the previous buyer walked away?

It's possible. 

Can you ask the seller, bypassing the agent?

Scotbot

The EA and the seller may not know the real reason, the buyer doesn't have to tell them. Even if they did say they were moving abroad doesn't mean it's true it could be an easy excuse.

ReadySteadyPop

It doesn`t really matter why the sale fell through, maybe they were asking for too much money, all that matters is do they have any other offers? And do you want to make them an offer - and for how much?

eddddy

ReadySteadyPop said:

It doesn`t really matter why the sale fell through...

It might matter a huge amount... For example, if...

1. • The surveyor found structural problems
2. • The solicitor found problems with the title
3. • The searches showed-up problems
4. • The mortgage lender decided the property is unmortgageable

... the OP will want to know that before spending thousands of pounds on solicitors fees, surveyors fees, mortgage application fees.

Parisse said:

So my question is: are estate agents required by law to give new potential buyers the exact reason as to why previous sell fell trough?Or they could say whatever they want? 

The law (The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008) says that an Estate Agent must disclose all material information to a prospective buyer, even if the buyer doesn't ask.

So the Estate agent should tell you the kind of things mentioned in points 1 to 4 above, and similar.


The Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice presents it like this:

7i

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 require you to disclose any information of which you are aware or should be aware of in relation to the property in a clear, intelligible and timely fashion and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all statements that you make about a property, whether oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading. All material information (*) must be disclosed and there must be no material omissions which may impact on the average consumer’s (*) transactional decision (*). Where information is given to consumers and/or their representatives, it must be accurate and not misleading.

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

But unfortunately, not all Estate Agents stick to the law.

In your position, I might send an email to the estate agent something like this, to try to protect myself, and make a future claim easier:


"Thank you for explaining to me that the previous sale fell through solely because the prospective buyers decided to move abroad, and not because of any information that came to light during the conveyancing process.

More generally, I assume that you have disclosed to me any/all material information, including any that came to light during the previous sale process.

On that basis, I am offering..."

ReadySteadyPop

eddddy said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

It doesn`t really matter why the sale fell through...

It might matter a huge amount... For example, if...

1. • The surveyor found structural problems
2. • The solicitor found problems with the title
3. • The searches showed-up problems
4. • The mortgage lender decided the property is unmortgageable

... the OP will want to know that before spending thousands of pounds on solicitors fees, surveyors fees, mortgage application fees.

Parisse said:

So my question is: are estate agents required by law to give new potential buyers the exact reason as to why previous sell fell trough?Or they could say whatever they want? 

The law (The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008) says that an Estate Agent must disclose all material information to a prospective buyer, even if the buyer doesn't ask.

So the Estate agent should tell you the kind of things mentioned in points 1 to 4 above, and similar.


The Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice presents it like this:

7i

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 require you to disclose any information of which you are aware or should be aware of in relation to the property in a clear, intelligible and timely fashion and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that all statements that you make about a property, whether oral, pictorial or written, are accurate and are not misleading. All material information (*) must be disclosed and there must be no material omissions which may impact on the average consumer’s (*) transactional decision (*). Where information is given to consumers and/or their representatives, it must be accurate and not misleading.

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

But unfortunately, not all Estate Agents stick to the law.

In your position, I might send an email to the estate agent something like this, to try to protect myself, and make a future claim easier:


"Thank you for explaining to me that the previous sale fell through solely because the prospective buyers decided to move abroad, and not because of any information that came to light during the conveyancing process.

More generally, I assume that you have disclosed to me any/all material information, including any that came to light during the previous sale process.

On that basis, I am offering..."

Good points.

Parisse

thank you all for the very good points made here. i ll definitely ask all those questions and require a written statement from the EA