Estate agent responsibility in advertising

rustybloke425

Of course they wouldn't say that, but it seems ridiculous to me that they can just reduce by £5000 and pretend nothing happens, so the next buyer will have to lay out £500 for a survey to find the exact same issue again, not be able to get a mortgage again, and pull out again... Seems as much hassle for them as it does for the potential buyers! 

But then I'm a newbie with no clue so 🤷‍♂️ 

BarelySentientAI

rustybloke425 said:

Of course they wouldn't say that, but it seems ridiculous to me that they can just reduce by £5000 and pretend nothing happens, so the next buyer will have to lay out £500 for a survey to find the exact same issue again, not be able to get a mortgage again, and pull out again... Seems as much hassle for them as it does for the potential buyers! 

But then I'm a newbie with no clue so 🤷‍♂️ 

They should, according to the code of conduct, be telling the buyer before that.  Probably in flowery words during a viewing with a lot of excuses to claim that it doesn't really matter that much.

They don't put it in the advert because they hope once they've got you through the door they can be persuasive - and having a lot of viewings makes the seller think the EA is doing a good job.

FlorayG

The estate agent should protect their reputation by disclosing what they know. I've bought two houses in my lifetime, both had issues that the EA disclosed fully and said had been the reason they had not yet sold and were now reduced. The first house, if I hadn't been told, I would have found out from neighbours later and the second I was told the issues the EA knew about and found out others later ( from the neighbours  )
But I don't know if that's a requirement of the EA, only good practice

rustybloke425

Yeah I think the key to this is that it's just not a good estate agency. We rented through them years ago and they were a nightmare. Should have taken the hint!! 

The ones we are negotiating with now are a world apart. Truly lovely people. 

BonaDea

Of course you can't be sure that the agent isn't telling viewers during their viewing that there are issues.  And caveat emptor, so buyers would be wise to ask agents if there have been other offers that didn't go through and if so why.  And, as another poster has said, these problems are rampant in house-buying

But .... part of the reason these problems are rampant is because people just shrug, when they could, and arguably should, be doing something about them.  And although the agent isn't under a duty to point out every little defect, they are supposed not to be actively dishonest or misleading.  And describing something as 'perfect for first-time buyers' clearly is misleading at best.  They could have said something about it being 'perfect for renovation', thus giving a big hint to prospective viewers.  I think, OP, if you feel that this shouldn't be allowed to pass unchallenged - and in your place I would feel exactly the same - I'd raise the issue in writing (email, not text) with the manager of the branch.  And if the ad wasn't amended satisfactorily within say 48 hours, I'd report it to the local trading standards officer.