To put complaint in against estate agent?

[Macanecheeseeee]

In the process of buying a property. It has been an absolute shambles from start to finish. I've purchased a house before so I know how stressful it can be but this is on a whole new level. EA has lied about certain issues and overall I'm just really disappointed by their attitude and the service. Problems that could have been avoided easily if they had done their job properly, having to ask them to do something multiple times before they got it right etc, you get the picture. It took 2 months just to get the paperwork sorted (everything was fine and ready to go on my end). My offer was excepted and then everything came to a standstill because the agents hadn't reported something beforehand (something that they should have reported when the property was put on the market). I have no idea what is going on or if the property is still even mine. I'm coming and going and just feel like I'm in limbo. Communication is extremely poor (well, it was ok when they needed something from me) but now they've messed up, I've not heard a peep from them.

I phoned the agent this morning and she said she would get back to me. I even explained how frustrating this whole process has been which she didn't even acknowledge or apologise for. I told her I was debating whether or not to withdraw my offer (they haven't had any other offers for the last 9 months, I wonder why). It is a fairly large branch with a complaints and feedback department. WIBU to phone them up and explain the situation? Or am I best off waiting until I (possibly) buy the property. I don't want things to be awkward with EA but also feel she should take responsibility for her error. When I've made a mistake in my job I've always been pulled up on it.

If it wasn't for the fact I love the property/location so much I probably would have pulled out by now.

Tbf to the EA, it's not something that was actually their fault, so although they may have been lax over other issues with the property and been slow at getting back to you, probably most of that is because of the vendor rather than the EA. They can pass your queries on to the vendor, but if the vendor doesn't get back to them - which seems likely given the SO balls-up - they can't give you an answer either.

If I were you, I would be withdrawing my offer and looking for another house. There is always another house, and somehow the next one turns out to be better than the "one that got away". This one has strife writ large all over the process so far, and I'm betting it will get worse OP. You don't need the hassle!

They are picky. You need to earn less than £80k (outside London) but enough to have saved a deposit and qualify for a mortgage. Lenders will take into account the rent and service charge so mortgage rates offered are higher. I'd run away if you can afford an open market property.

I worked for an EA for many years. They won't give a toss if you complain, as you are not their client, the vendor is. All it will do is make them more difficult to deal, as they certainly won't go out of their way to help you or speed the process up once you kick off at them.

Also, I wouldn't recommend buying a Shared Ownership property unless you really need to. It hasn't been on for ten months due to the agents incompetence, it's because it's Shared Ownership - they're notorious for being a nightmare to sell.

@namechangetheworld

I worked for an EA for many years. They won't give a toss if you complain, as you are not their client, the vendor is. All it will do is make them more difficult to deal, as they certainly won't go out of their way to help you or speed the process up once you kick off at them.

Also, I wouldn't recommend buying a Shared Ownership property unless you really need to. It hasn't been on for ten months due to the agents incompetence, it's because it's Shared Ownership - they're notorious for being a nightmare to sell.

this....Its only a house, I'd walk away.

@Macanecheeseeee your updates are making a little more sense.
It is not unknown for inexperienced EAs to take an instruction, value and market a house without realising it is SO. It would have been valued at what the EA thought was the full value so no clues to @Macanecheeseeee that only a %age was for sale (for those hammering this point).
As I said before, the EA doesn't even have to check that the seller owns the property, they don't have the legal training to do so!
So the seller rocked up and said "sell my house", rookie EA valued it and marketed it.
At some point in the process someone (probably the seller's solicitor, it's happened to me) spotted it is SO, investigated what the steps are and realised it should have been offered back to the HA first and would need their permission to sell in any event.

Where you are a bit confused @Macanecheeseeee is as to who does that last bit. It's not the EA, after all they could randomly offer anyone's house back to the HA.

It is the seller's job to offer it back to the EA and get permission
Phew

Oh and think long and hard about a SO property, even if you do qualify.
Make sure you understand the staircasing situation.

[quote Macanecheeseeee]@PastMyBestBeforeDate yes that is exactly what happened. I was also unaware that the property was on a shared ownership basis as it was never advertised, until 3 weeks later. [/quote]
But it must have been considerably cheaper than any other house being sold by the estate agent. None of this makes sense really. If the EA was unaware then they must have valued the house as a "normal" sale at market value? Alternatively they sold it as a shared ownership house at a much cheaper rate, but didn't advertise it as such?

@worriedatthemoment yes the property was advertised as the full value

So are you paying less now?

Not to mention they also asked me if I'd be putting an offer in..... BEFORE I'd even viewed the property. I just laughed at the time and thought they were joking. Now I'm not so sure

@knittingaddict yes as we then found out it was shared ownership property

I haven't read the whole thread but if you feel the circumstances warrant it, you can report the estate agent to the Property Ombudsman.

To those who say there is no point in complaining, that isn't true. Buyers can suffer financial losses as a a result of rogue estate agents hence why you can seek redress.

Yes @knittingaddict
The EA probably didn't realise and valued it as a standard house.
OR
the seller told the EA they owned 100%, were selling 100% and didn't need permission to do so.

Stroppy messages from HAs to EAs telling them they are marketing SO properties incorrectly are not unknown.

So it was offered at one price and now you’re paying half that price to only buy half of it?

@savvy7

I haven't read the whole thread but if you feel the circumstances warrant it, you can report the estate agent to the Property Ombudsman.

To those who say there is no point in complaining, that isn't true. Buyers can suffer financial losses as a a result of rogue estate agents hence why you can seek redress.

Except if the vendors didn't tell the estate agent it was SO, there is no case. See disclaimer I posted earlier.

I don’t think the estate agent is at fault, it’s the vendor. They estate agent only knows what they are told and they are NOT a lawyer, it’s not their job to read through everything with a fine tooth comb and establish the legal situation. It’s their job to take what they are told to market, find a seller and then hand over to solicitors. It sounds like they were not told it was shared ownership (so wrongly advertised it as 100% stake) and the vendor is as fault here.

It’s hugely frustrating but the EA has a narrow role, it’s why you should immediately get your solicitors to quickly chat to vendor’s side and confirm that you are buying what you think you are at the earliest opportunity. The EA also wants to get their commission so are no doubt frustrated with where this has ended up, but their job is to market on behalf of vendor, not research the factual basis of the sale. I had a similar frustrating issue with a problem discovered during convayencing that should have been disclosed from outset—wasn’t the EA’s fault as the vendor had not disclosed. They likely gave the vendor paperwork at the start to sign, and they probably ticked a box to say they had authority to sell when they didn’t.

Regardless this would have been immediately picked up by solicitors—it’s their job to do this. You shouldn’t be sitting around waiting for this property, you should have immediately responded to EA that the error on the vendor’s part is not yours to deal with, you will continue your search

Your problem with the vendor. They should have told the EA it was shared ownership and contacted the HA re permission to sell before marketing.

@Macanecheeseeee

Not to mention they also asked me if I'd be putting an offer in..... BEFORE I'd even viewed the property. I just laughed at the time and thought they were joking. Now I'm not so sure

That’s not crazy? I’ve always been in a situation buying where the viewing has been to confirm that everything is as presented in listing, with expectation of offering if so.

Oh dear. This is a logistical nightmare. If the Housing Association will still own 50% then they won't just accept that their bit is worth half of a random figure the estate agent decided. We had to have a professional independent valuation when paying off our HTB loan.

It's not that clear cut I'm afraid. Estate agents need to carry out their own due diligence - a disclaimer isn't a get out of jail free card.

The estate agent has no duty to check that the person instructing them to market a property for sale actually owns it.

Your solicitor will have done that when they checked the Land Registry title to the property.

Your complaint is with the vendor, nobody else. Everybody else is just doing their job.

So yes YABU.

@WoodPell really? Now that is something I didn't know. I wonder if I am paying over the odds for the property now.

I might be missing something but you put an offer in thinking you were buying the whole property, but now it's shared ownership you're still happy to offer the same amount for part of the property.

That's a walk away moment if there ever is one.

One of the first things your solicitor would do is a report on the property for you, once they'd checked the title. What did that say about the current owner of the property?

Is this shared ownership as in a Housing Association property, or shared ownership as in two people owning it as tenants in common / joint tenants?