Estate Agent lied about dispute and it cost me thoudsands

Dipsydog

I was in the process of buying a house and was constantly being pushed by the agent to exchange and complete very quickly. I had concerns that I was not being told the truth on a number of fronts and as an example the fences in the property were not in the same place as the title plan so I kept asking for clarity and was told by both the agent and person I was purchasing from that there was no issue and I should jut move them when I took ownership. A day or two before I was due to exchange I managed to speak to the neighbour who advised me that there was a live boundary dispute and that he had informed the estate agent of the dispute in writing a few months before my offer. Due to the court case around the boundary dispute taking a long time and ending up at the high court in a legal nightmare I could no longer buy the house and are £'000's of pounds out of pocket due to no fault of my own. Can I claim from the agent for him lying to me?

EssexHebridean

What did your solicitor say when you raised these issues?
And what did the TA6 form completed by the sellers say about disputes? 

Proving that the agent knew about any dispute would be challenging in the extreme. 

mebu60

Did the seller declare the boundary dispute in answer to the pertinent question on the relevant form?

How are you thousands out of pocket? A survey plus some conveyancer disbursements? 

FlorayG

You can if you can prove he knew and withheld the information butt I don't know how you would do that it's just the EA's word against the neighbour's

Albermarle

It could be that the neighbour informed the estate agents office 'a few months before' but the message got lost/never got through to the EA selling the property and/or the EA changed at some point.
So still an issue but not intentional. Who knows ?

m0bov

Ta6 is the legal document you rely on. What does it say? Why did you not ask your solicitor to raise those enquiries? 

ThisIsWeird

"I kept asking for clarity and was told by both the agent and person I was purchasing from that there was no issue and I should just move them when I took ownership." So, they knew there was an issue - the fence was not correctly positioned - but they tried to suggest that issue surrounding it was resolved?*

"I managed to speak to the neighbour who advised me that there was a live boundary dispute and that he had informed the estate agent of the dispute in writing a few months before my offer."*

If the situation is as you described, then I would suggest you have a very good case against either the EA or vendor or both.

I presume the neighbour will be prepared to provide you with evidence - the email to the EA, and also details of the ongoing dispute - so you can (a) claim all your purchasing expenses against the vendor (who, I take without having to ask, lied in the TA6), and (b) report the EA to their overseeing agency (I presume: The Property Ombudsman and the Ombudsman Services?)

Claiming against the vendor should be straight-forward, and this - for you - is the most important, as they'd be liable (afaIk) to cover all your purchasing expenses. If they declared 'no ongoing dispute' in the TA6, and you can evidence what your neighbour has said, then that should be pretty much open-and-shut. Did anyone witness you also asking the vendor about this? Even the EA?! Even if not, write down, as verbatim as possible, what you asked, and what was said by them, dated and timed as accurately as possible. Every time you asked about this.

Not sure how the EA's punishment might benefit you - read the T&Cs for the purchaser regarding 'the service you should expect', for example - but they certainly deserve to be reported and hopefully penalised by the agencies. And enjoy writing a factual review about them.

I'd have thought your conveyancing solicitor would be able to guide you on how to approach this? Or, do you have LegProt on your current house policy?

* Of course, you also only have the neighbour's counter-version of this too.

What does your gut tell you about the vendor? And ditto for his neighbour? Do you understand the actual dispute content? Does it strike you as tho' a solution is possible given some clear-headed folk?

Dipsydog

The neighbour is prepared to give me the evidence that he had raised the dispute with the EA. In the TR6 form they (seller) indeed did say that there were no on-going disputes. My understanding is that because I never moved to contract stage it's irrelevant as not in contract? The case has now been to the high court for a number of reasons including the boundary issue and is about to be sold on so i'm keen to see if I can recover any of the money I have lost.

ThisIsWeird

Dipsydog said:

The neighbour is prepared to give me the evidence that he had raised the dispute with the EA. In the TR6 form they (seller) indeed did say that there were no on-going disputes. My understanding is that because I never moved to contract stage it's irrelevant as not in contract? The case has now been to the high court for a number of reasons including the boundary issue and is about to be sold on so i'm keen to see if I can recover any of the money I have lost.

I am in no way at all a legally-informed cove, but my understanding is (after a quick Google...) that the content of a TA6 is NOT legally binding until the Exchange of Contracts. After that, it IS.

So, I'm guessing you haven't exchanged yet? In which case, if you pull out because of this issue, you most likely have zero comeback against the vendor. Unfair tho' that is.

So, as it's probably unlikely you can claim against the vendor, the best recourse would be to speak to the EA, always by a recorded means. Inform them of what you know - you can evidence that they were informed of this issue a good couple of months ago by the neighbour (give the actual date), and that you did ask them about the fence on more than one occasion (if true - and cite dates). Then tell them that, on the basis of you now being aware of the true situation, you may need to withdraw from the purchase, and request - should you do so - that they cover all your expenditure from the date they were first made aware of this situation (add date), as you consider them culpable, having fallen seriously short of their expected standards. Add that you understand it would be considered a serious breach of their standards by the OFT, should they be made aware of this matter, and that you'd be prepared to take this matter as far as required to achieve the correct resolution.

That is my suggestion, should you not have recourse to proper legal advice - such as from your conveyancer (who should be happy to have their bills paid). 

I ask again - what is the actual issue, and is it resolvable through a sit-down and a nice chocolate cake? Are the facts not determinable? Isn't the neighbour keen to get rid of the vendor?! Ready to start afresh with a new neighbour? Ready to resolve these issues with a handshake?

You do have a nice barrel to now hold the vendor over - they must declare this outstanding issue from the off, vendor and EA. If they don't, the EA will be in serious poo. I wonder if this seriously off-putting matter could affect the selling price?

Dipsydog

Thanks 'Thisisweird' the case took a year to get to court and I had no choice but to find somewhere else to buy. I lost my mortgage offer and my rate went up considerably and as I was only a day away from exchange I lost a fair chuck of legal fees as well as having to rent a property at short notice as I sold my house at the same time. The neighbour won one of his claims against the vendor and the house is now again up for sale and under offer.
My issue is that I was the only party not telling lies but I lost out financially.  

ThisIsWeird

I don't know what to suggest, sorry. 

It is clearly unfair, but some aspects of your loses are what most folk need to accept when trying to buy, such as the mortgage offer elapsing before exchange due to an unanticipated delay. Ie, some of it is an unavoidable risk, and could also - in theory - equally work in the buyer's favour if interest rates are trending to fall in the meantime.

It sounds like you'd have to make this a 'test case', so you'd need strong conviction and deep pockets before trying to nail the EA for compensation.

No harm in perhaps testing the water with some specialist property lawyers - many will give a half-hour assessment of the issue? They might even relish the opportunity to add to their 'kudos' portfolio, and take it on - NWNF.

It's a toughie. 

Another aspect of this is whether to first report the EA to their ombudsman, or to use the implied threat - clearly not 'blackmail' - in order to persuade them to compensate. With the former, should the ombud' find that they have breached their standards to a significant level, then that might clear a path for you to successfully sue for damages - the 'case' has been proven. But whether the threat of 'taking it all the way' is an easier route for them to cough up - 'without prejudice' - is a difficult one to call.