I am on the verge of backing out of a property sale. What are my options? [Merged]

EssexHebridean

Grumpy_chap said:

raptor2004 said:

As title says what are the rights of EAs on how they express property information to potential buyers and not mislead them?
I am in the process of purchasing a property and agreed a sale price. The EA advertisement said, "gated property". I was told many times by the EA that the electric gates should work, it was used only a few months ago, vendors are trying to find the fobs/instructions etc.

I have now found out that the electric  gates do not work and the vendors are not going to do anything about it - this was actually commucated to the EA 3 weeks ago but they only bothered to tell me now. Furthermore the vendor said they haven't seen the gate work in years which is contradictory to what I have been told.

I never made a condition in the sale price that the gates should be repaired but assumed they should be working (as that was the impression the EA gave) or it should be repaired.

The EA and now saying the property description only described it as "gated" and not "electric gated". Surely this is just playing semantics, a gated property can either be manual or electric and the movement of which it neccesates power or not is irrelavent. I have paid a deposit to the EA and I think they are alluding that this is their get out clause and therefore will not refund me.

I have communication with the EA for the last 2 months or so contininually asking about the status of the gates and the response was usually that the vendors are looking for the fobs and instructions on how it works but it should work.

Do I have grounds on which the EA midled me?

Is this the same property with the non-functioning electric gates that you posted about mid-September?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554853/i-am-on-the-verge-of-backing-out-of-a-property-sale-what-are-my-options/p1
If so, it seems as though you knew three weeks ago, not just now.

OR, have you withdrawn from that purchase and now offered on a second property which also has faulty electric gates?  

Maybe these two threads need merging.

I've already requested a merge of all the OP's threads on this subject as it is starting to get very confusing with all the required signposting from one thread to another!

OP - of course you can try to renegotiate - this has already been said to you. Whether the sellers will be wiling to agree to a drop in price, and indeed whether the lack of the working electric gates is even worth the hassle of doing so, is another question. Others on here have already pointed out that you are probably talking about a sub-£500 amount here - is that really worth prolonging things and wrangling about? 

Of course there is one more possibility here - is the truth of the matter that you have in fact changed your mind about this property and are hoping to get the sellers to withdraw and re-market, at which point you can get your deposit back?

Surrey_EA

Mutton_Geoff said:

Check the OP's posting history, particularly in the motoring forum, before spending too much of your time humouring their stories.

Ah yes! That does give the game away

horsewithnoname

elsien said:

horsewithnoname said:

Can you still block people?

There is an ignore list under account and privacy settings, if that is what you mean?

Thanks, that’s what I was after 😁👍

sheramber

raptor2004 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

raptor2004 said:

As title says what are the rights of EAs on how they express property information to potential buyers and not mislead them?
I am in the process of purchasing a property and agreed a sale price. The EA advertisement said, "gated property". I was told many times by the EA that the electric gates should work, it was used only a few months ago, vendors are trying to find the fobs/instructions etc.

I have now found out that the electric  gates do not work and the vendors are not going to do anything about it - this was actually commucated to the EA 3 weeks ago but they only bothered to tell me now. Furthermore the vendor said they haven't seen the gate work in years which is contradictory to what I have been told.

I never made a condition in the sale price that the gates should be repaired but assumed they should be working (as that was the impression the EA gave) or it should be repaired.

The EA and now saying the property description only described it as "gated" and not "electric gated". Surely this is just playing semantics, a gated property can either be manual or electric and the movement of which it neccesates power or not is irrelavent. I have paid a deposit to the EA and I think they are alluding that this is their get out clause and therefore will not refund me.

I have communication with the EA for the last 2 months or so contininually asking about the status of the gates and the response was usually that the vendors are looking for the fobs and instructions on how it works but it should work.

Do I have grounds on which the EA midled me?

Is this the same property with the non-functioning electric gates that you posted about mid-September?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554853/i-am-on-the-verge-of-backing-out-of-a-property-sale-what-are-my-options/p1
If so, it seems as though you knew three weeks ago, not just now.

OR, have you withdrawn from that purchase and now offered on a second property which also has faulty electric gates?  

Maybe these two threads need merging.

It only transpired jsut now that the vendors told the EA 3 weeks ago that they will not fix the gate. I was not informed of this until yesterday!
Yes it is the same property.

And the EA is a TPO member. They immediately implied that I will not get my refund back as the ad description just says "gated " and not "electric gated"

It is gated- there is a gate. 

Presumably, they made no  statement that it was electric gatrs and they were working?

raptor2004

sheramber said:

raptor2004 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

raptor2004 said:

As title says what are the rights of EAs on how they express property information to potential buyers and not mislead them?
I am in the process of purchasing a property and agreed a sale price. The EA advertisement said, "gated property". I was told many times by the EA that the electric gates should work, it was used only a few months ago, vendors are trying to find the fobs/instructions etc.

I have now found out that the electric  gates do not work and the vendors are not going to do anything about it - this was actually commucated to the EA 3 weeks ago but they only bothered to tell me now. Furthermore the vendor said they haven't seen the gate work in years which is contradictory to what I have been told.

I never made a condition in the sale price that the gates should be repaired but assumed they should be working (as that was the impression the EA gave) or it should be repaired.

The EA and now saying the property description only described it as "gated" and not "electric gated". Surely this is just playing semantics, a gated property can either be manual or electric and the movement of which it neccesates power or not is irrelavent. I have paid a deposit to the EA and I think they are alluding that this is their get out clause and therefore will not refund me.

I have communication with the EA for the last 2 months or so contininually asking about the status of the gates and the response was usually that the vendors are looking for the fobs and instructions on how it works but it should work.

Do I have grounds on which the EA midled me?

Is this the same property with the non-functioning electric gates that you posted about mid-September?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554853/i-am-on-the-verge-of-backing-out-of-a-property-sale-what-are-my-options/p1
If so, it seems as though you knew three weeks ago, not just now.

OR, have you withdrawn from that purchase and now offered on a second property which also has faulty electric gates?  

Maybe these two threads need merging.

It only transpired jsut now that the vendors told the EA 3 weeks ago that they will not fix the gate. I was not informed of this until yesterday!
Yes it is the same property.

And the EA is a TPO member. They immediately implied that I will not get my refund back as the ad description just says "gated " and not "electric gated"

It is gated- there is a gate. 

Presumably, they made no  statement that it was electric gatrs and they were working?

As I said, I was repeatedly assured by the EA that it works, I raised the question on whether it works 2 months ago. I was being fobbed off saying it works a few months ago, they are looking for the fobs, getting instructions from the uncle etc etc. Had I known earlier I would have changed the sale price or made a strict condition that the sale price incudes the fixing of the gate

bobster2

Previously discussed at great length here...

I am on the verge of backing out of a property sale. What are my options?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6554853/i-am-on-the-verge-of-backing-out-of-a-property-sale-what-are-my-options-merged

EssexHebridean

So just contact the agent and say that due to the issue with the gates you want to reduce your offer by £300 or whatever you reckon it might cost you for the fix. Frankly I think it’s probably wasting everyone’s time changing your offer for such a paltry change,but there you go.

do bear in mind though that your mortgage offer ei need to be reissued won’t you - so that will slow things down. 

raptor2004

EssexHebridean said:

So just contact the agent and say that due to the issue with the gates you want to reduce your offer by £300 or whatever you reckon it might cost you for the fix. Frankly I think it’s probably wasting everyone’s time changing your offer for such a paltry change,but there you go.

do bear in mind though that your mortgage offer ei need to be reissued won’t you - so that will slow things down. 

I believe there is a way to ask for a reduction without changing the mortgage offer via the solicitors. But that amount is capped to a couple of thousand. 

EssexHebridean

Your solicitor will be the correct person to advise you on that. My experience is that the majority of lenders require a new offer for any change. On the other hand, it's unheard of for someone to ask for a price reduction for an amount limited to a couple of hundred pounds as a rule - it's just an amount that most people would consider inconsequential in the context of paying several hundred thousand pounds for a property. 

You never answered my question relating to whether in fact your plan here was to create so many problems for the sellers they ended up putting the property back on the market thus enabling you to get your deposit back. 

eddddy

raptor2004 said:

I believe there is a way to ask for a reduction without changing the mortgage offer via the solicitors. But that amount is capped to a couple of thousand. 

Are you talking about a retention?  For example,

• The seller's solicitor retains, say, £1000 of the seller's proceeds from the sale

• You get the gates fixed after completion, and the cost turns out to be, say, £750

• The solicitor pays the £750 bill, and gives the remaining £250 to the seller

But the solicitors might charge extra for the extra work - which might make the process uneconomic. (It may be simpler to reduce the offer price, and get the mortgage offer adjusted.)