Can/should my estate agent give me info on the full purchase chain?

jez9999

I'm currently in a chain that's 5 links long (was in a 4 link chain before but it fell through). I'm rather keen not to just know about my vendors and buyers, but my buyers' buyers and their buyers. I'm pretty sure my estate agent knows the details of this (like their estate agents and properties, at least, not sure about their names) but is it reasonable for my estate agent to tell me everything they know about it? Or is there some kind of data protection issue? Is it reasonable for me to ask them to just email me all the information?

The problem before was that the people at the bottom of the chain pulled out, and they were the ones I had the least information on.

Isthisforreal99

To be blunt, it's zero to do with you, and yes data protection means they can't tell you details.

RelievedSheff

What would you gain from having that information?

jez9999

Be able to see their house on Rightmove to see whether it's sold STC for one thing. Maybe contact their agents directly or get my solicitors to contact theirs directly and apply pressure. I'm just sick of being told week in week out that they're "in the process" of getting their mortgage or whatever, it's not good enough, I want to get a move on and threaten to remarket if I think they're BSing me.

Bigphil1474

Chains are built from the bottom, so anyone below you should be SSTC anyway. They can provide general information, but they shouldn't provide information that would allow you to identify them or where they live. You shouldn't be able to find their house on Rightmove.

jez9999

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987503#Comment_81987503

Great so you just have to blindly trust that it's all going through and it can just fall down at any moment and there's nothing you can do. God I hate the UK property system.

jez9999

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987495#Comment_81987495

I would take some issue with the "zero to do with you", frankly. I wish England/Wales had a system where you could legally trust that your purchase offer would go through and you had some kind of legal guarantee, but because it's setup where you don't have that, people lower down in the chain pulling out destroys your sale. That makes it very much to do with you, actually. When there's no legal guarantee that offers will stay in place there IS much more of an emphasis on constantly having to talk to and prod people and ask what the f*ck they are doing that they're 4 weeks in and still haven't got their mortgage secured, and what are their solicitors doing, etc. It sucks and I'd change the system but that's what it is.

Bigphil1474

Unfortunately that's the case. We were in a chain of 3 properties and it was touch and go for us at 1 point. Ours was sold to a FTB but they pulled out after the survey. Managed to get another buyer fairly quickly who was more knowledgeable - we shared the previous buyers survey and they got their own, plus we'd had a bit of remedial work done. The property we bought only came back on the market after their previous buyer died a week before exchange. We were lucky that we were buying in the middle, so our EA knew the FTB's and us, and our vendors EA knew us and the vendor. Our vendor was buying an empty property that fell through, but they managed to find another empty property nearby so somehow we all got over the line. Took about 5 months.

Tiglet2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987497#Comment_81987497

Your solicitor won't do that, where the solicitor acting for a buyer is not the one buying your property.

jez9999

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987526#Comment_81987526

And they say the laws aren't reformed because it'd be a lot of work. Well I can think of a lot of things they do a lot of work on that are less justified than this.

jez9999

One thing that occurs to me is that you probably ought to at least be able to get estate agent contacts all the way down the chain. My estate agents, I think, have all of them and if one had been selling directly and not using estate agents, one would need that info oneself anyway.