ESTATE AGENTS MISREPRESENTATION

Smalltownhypocrite

GDB2222 said:

The law is extremely clear.

You are saying that you don't have enough facts, so you don't know whether the law applies. But, the OP has no duty to satisfy your curiosity. In the end, they just need to satisfy a judge or the ombudsman.

Well from what they have said here they absolutely won't satisfy a judge or the ombudsman but its their own time and money they are wasting by being angry and vengeful rather than putting money and effort into sorting their more dire homelessness situation.

Seems another woefully silly choice but theres always someone to encourage stupid decision rather than fixing the actual problem. 

Suebedoo2

GDB2222 - you are correct that I logged out of the thread for a few days.   I am usually a very calm and rational person but this has really set off anxiety and some of the original comments on this thread were beginning to upset me.   The estate agent who took us around the property is the head of the office so he should have had all the information to hand.  In the conversations we had at the property, he made it clear to us that the property was 'unoccupied' which may prove to be a sticking point.  Unoccupied is different to vacant.  The fridge was turned off with the door open and the water was turned off.  There were a few personal things around the house but the house didn't appear lived in and it was more like someone had died and the family hadn't cleared the house.  As I said in a previous comment, the estate agent joked about how the bottle of beer was there are as a leaving present.  Again, this gave us the impression that the property was unoccupied.  When we asked for a second viewing, the estate agent advised that he would need to phone the owner and I queried that asking why an empty property would need permission from the owner to view.  He said it was courtesy.   At no point at anytime was a chain mentioned until I complained on 8 July 2025 and at that point it was the seller's solicitor who advised my solicitor not the estate agent until I brought it up with them.  The sales negotiator at the estate agents did mention at that time that the seller had said he would possibly break the chain if it was delaying things.  After I complained, his solicitor advised him not to break the chain for the sake of a couple of weeks.  That was 20 days ago.  I would add that the owner of the holiday cottages where we are currently staying also went round the property with his son and they too thought the property was empty/unoccupied even though it is not advertised as such.

eddddy

Suebedoo2 said:

GDB2222 - you are correct that I logged out of the thread for a few days.   I am usually a very calm and rational person but this has really set off anxiety and some of the original comments on this thread were beginning to upset me.   The estate agent who took us around the property is the head of the office so he should have had all the information to hand.  In the conversations we had at the property, he made it clear to us that the property was 'unoccupied' which may prove to be a sticking point.  Unoccupied is different to vacant.  

<snip>

Based on what you've said here, it sounds like the estate agent was giving you information about the viewing arrangements for the property.

i.e. You would be viewing an unoccupied/vacant property.

Did the estate agent actually say there would be no onward chain or anything similar? Or did the advert say "no onward chain" or something similar?


Based on what you have said, it sounds like you might have wrongly assumed that there was no onward chain, because the property was unoccupied/vacant when you viewed it. If that's the case, I'm not sure that you would really have a case against the estate agent for misleading you.

Suebedoo2

Hi - no 'chain' was never mentioned in any form i.e. no mention of a chain or that there was no chain but I thought omission of information can also be included.   I had phoned the estate agent sales negotiator on numerous occasions prior to 8 July and not once did she mention a chain when I asked her about hold-ups.

Suebedoo2

I am going to put in a complaint as I have nothing to lose apart from time but will wait until completion (whenever that may be).  I won't take it to court unless I really think that I will win as I don't want to be out of pocket any further.   

saajan_12

Suebedoo2 said:

GDB2222 - you are correct that I logged out of the thread for a few days.   I am usually a very calm and rational person but this has really set off anxiety and some of the original comments on this thread were beginning to upset me.   The estate agent who took us around the property is the head of the office so he should have had all the information to hand.  In the conversations we had at the property, he made it clear to us that the property was 'unoccupied' which may prove to be a sticking point.  Unoccupied is different to vacant.  The fridge was turned off with the door open and the water was turned off.  There were a few personal things around the house but the house didn't appear lived in and it was more like someone had died and the family hadn't cleared the house.  As I said in a previous comment, the estate agent joked about how the bottle of beer was there are as a leaving present.  Again, this gave us the impression that the property was unoccupied.  When we asked for a second viewing, the estate agent advised that he would need to phone the owner and I queried that asking why an empty property would need permission from the owner to view.  He said it was courtesy.   At no point at anytime was a chain mentioned until I complained on 8 July 2025 and at that point it was the seller's solicitor who advised my solicitor not the estate agent until I brought it up with them.  The sales negotiator at the estate agents did mention at that time that the seller had said he would possibly break the chain if it was delaying things.  After I complained, his solicitor advised him not to break the chain for the sake of a couple of weeks.  That was 20 days ago.  I would add that the owner of the holiday cottages where we are currently staying also went round the property with his son and they too thought the property was empty/unoccupied even though it is not advertised as such.

Indeed - you were told that the property is unoccupied at a given time, which is not the same as no chain. Putting aside whether the occupancy changed, and if unoccupied=vacant etc. There's many reasons a seller not living at a property may still be in a chain eg
- If they have a mortgage which needs porting to a new property to avoid ERCs
- If they would not sell in the event that a purchase fell through, as that would mean being out of the market etc. 

Also an estate agent certainly can't misrepresent things that would materially change the decision for most buyers, but we don't know that's exactly the case here. However even if it was, the penalty would be some compensation amount, not necessarily a full reimbursement of costs which you chose to take on despite not having a signed contract. 

eddddy

Suebedoo2 said:

Hi - no 'chain' was never mentioned in any form i.e. no mention of a chain or that there was no chain but I thought omission of information can also be included.   I had phoned the estate agent sales negotiator on numerous occasions prior to 8 July and not once did she mention a chain when I asked her about hold-ups.

Yes - omitting to tell you material information, would be a breach of consumer protection law and a breach of the Property Ombudsman's code of practice.

But I'd guess that 95% of property in England is sold within a chain, so I think that most buyers would see that as the default - and not expect to be explicitly told.


But if you feel you were misled, you are free to follow the complaint path to the Property Ombudsman - assuming the estate agent is member (most are).

MeteredOut

Suebedoo2 said:

Hi - no 'chain' was never mentioned in any form i.e. no mention of a chain or that there was no chain but I thought omission of information can also be included.   I had phoned the estate agent sales negotiator on numerous occasions prior to 8 July and not once did she mention a chain when I asked her about hold-ups.

Suebedoo2 said:

I am going to put in a complaint as I have nothing to lose apart from time but will wait until completion (whenever that may be).  I won't take it to court unless I really think that I will win as I don't want to be out of pocket any further.   

Unless you specifically asked about a chain and were misinformed there was not one, I'd say you'll have no chance of getting anything (even an apology). So, I agree it's probably a waste of your (and the EAs) time.

GDB2222

Suebedoo2 said:

GDB2222 - you are correct that I logged out of the thread for a few days.   I am usually a very calm and rational person but this has really set off anxiety and some of the original comments on this thread were beginning to upset me.   The estate agent who took us around the property is the head of the office so he should have had all the information to hand.  In the conversations we had at the property, he made it clear to us that the property was 'unoccupied' which may prove to be a sticking point.  Unoccupied is different to vacant.  The fridge was turned off with the door open and the water was turned off.  There were a few personal things around the house but the house didn't appear lived in and it was more like someone had died and the family hadn't cleared the house.  As I said in a previous comment, the estate agent joked about how the bottle of beer was there are as a leaving present.  Again, this gave us the impression that the property was unoccupied.  When we asked for a second viewing, the estate agent advised that he would need to phone the owner and I queried that asking why an empty property would need permission from the owner to view.  He said it was courtesy.   At no point at anytime was a chain mentioned until I complained on 8 July 2025 and at that point it was the seller's solicitor who advised my solicitor not the estate agent until I brought it up with them.  The sales negotiator at the estate agents did mention at that time that the seller had said he would possibly break the chain if it was delaying things.  After I complained, his solicitor advised him not to break the chain for the sake of a couple of weeks.  That was 20 days ago.  I would add that the owner of the holiday cottages where we are currently staying also went round the property with his son and they too thought the property was empty/unoccupied even though it is not advertised as such.

Thanks for explaining. I think you should have asked an explicit question about the chain, given how important it is to you. 

lincroft1710

Suebedoo2 said:

I am going to put in a complaint as I have nothing to lose apart from time but will wait until completion (whenever that may be).  I won't take it to court unless I really think that I will win as I don't want to be out of pocket any further.   

If you suffer from anxiety, the last thing you want to do is take an EA to court. As well as the months' waiting for a hearing date, the EA may well have a friendly solicitor who would represent them and take great delight in tearing your not very strong case to shreds