Taking Estate Agent to Small Claims Court

Frubes

hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone had any ideas re the following - any suggestions/ideas much appreciated!

My friend K was in the process of buying a property, offer accepted etc and they had surveyors in to review the property as it was in quite a bad state - spent approx £2k on surveyors and solicitors fees. The solicitor then discovered a problem with the balcony which was attached to the property overhung on the neighbours land - the seller definitely knew about it and so did the estate agent - however, neither mentioned it verbally or in written form to K.

K's solicitor suggested the seller liaise with the neighbours to resolve who owned the balcony, the seller then rejected the offer and presumably found someone a bit more gullible to buy it.

I know the rules of buyer beware probably apply here & that the purpose of the surveyor/solicitor is to check for such problems but it does seem unfair that she has shelled out £2k and got nothing in return! K contacted Trading Standards after the transaction fell apart, they then visited the estate agents in question and warned them for breaching trading standard rules.

So, does anyone know whether it might be possible to take the estate agent to the small claims court to try and recover the costs because they are negligent in passing on vital information about the property? K would never have undertaken such extensive surveyor review if she'd have known about the issue with the balcony.

the other thing is that this happened in december 2003/january 2004 and i'm not sure whether a limitation period may apply in taking a claim?

As i said before, any ideas are very much appreciated!

Thanks!

aris

You don't have much to loose except time, and a small court fee.

Bossyboots

The contract is surely between buyer and seller, with the estate agent acting for the seller.

While estate agent particulars have to be as accurate as possible, I don't think they owe you a duty of care, nor are they responsible for informing you about problems with the property. That is the job of the seller.

I would be interested to know why they are breaching trading standards though as that might change things but as far as I can see, this would only be the case if the property was described as being in perfect condition which they would be foolish to do anyway.

Ian_W

Bossyboots wrote: I would be interested to know why they are breaching trading standards though as that might change things but as far as I can see

Written particulars [not sure about oral descriptions] provided by EA's must comply with THE PROPERTY MISDESCRIPTIONS ACT 1991
which I would assume are policed by Trading Standards. If it can be shown that EA's property particulars misdescribed AND as a result K incurred costs then I would have thought [no lawyer] it arguable that EA is liable to compensate.

Another avenue might be NAEA if the firm are members and I think there is also an Ombudsman scheme that some EA's subscribe to. Though both of those might have time limits that have now expired.

Bossyboots

Ian_W wrote:

Written particulars [not sure about oral descriptions] provided by EA's must comply with THE PROPERTY MISDESCRIPTIONS ACT 1991
which I would assume are policed by Trading Standards. If it can be shown that EA's property particulars misdescribed AND as a result K incurred costs then I would have thought [no lawyer] it arguable that EA is liable to compensate.

Another avenue might be NAEA if the firm are members and I think there is also an Ombudsman scheme that some EA's subscribe to. Though both of those might have time limits that have now expired.

Where I am a bit puzzled is that the issue of the balcony would not have been in the particulars, unless I suppose it specifically refers to the balcony as being part of the property. Then of course it would be misleading, more particularly if they were as the OP suggests, aware of an issue relating to its ownership.

If that is the case, then yes I agree there might be some scope for compensation here. However, this balcony is presumably held under a flying freehold and the estate agent would not necessarily have known that it was deficient in some way when the particulars were written.

Perhaps the OP could explain the nature of the problem with the balcony as I think this has raised a really interesting issue.

Frubes

Thanks so much for your comments- i'm trying to get hold of K to find out more details - will post again when i know more!

Thanks again you guys are great!

aris

Take them to small claims court anyhow. It is not expensive, and (depending on your outlook in life) can be quite fun. Who knows, they may just offer you partial compensation just to drop the issue and not waste their time in court (which will kill a whole day for them).

Bossyboots

Court time is not there for people who want to have fun. It is for genuine cases of dispute where other means to recover debts have failed. Negotiation with the estate agent is the first step, not issuing proceedings.