AIBU to expect estate agents to know what they're selling??

[purplepencilcase]

Argh so frustrated!! Offer made on property, mortgage applied for and solicitor instructed.
The agents were not 100% sure if the curtilage of the property but absolutely gave the impression we would own the drive to the road.
My own research indicates we only gave right of passage over it, but highways a town it.

We looked found 3 times with different viewers, none of them actually knew anything about the property they were showing us.

Is this normal? I think I'm being naïve in thinking I can believe what the agents tell me 😞

I viewed a property once and the EA told me the house owned the land behind it, I looked over the fence at the well established and well manicured garden and told him he was talking BS!

Really really varies. We sold last year using an EA who was very successful in our area. He sent three people from his office round for a detailed tour of house, all making notes about stuff likely to be of interest to buyers (location of shops, play area, age of boiler, who owns which wall type stuff).

We did viewings to purchase with a variety of EA. A couple appeared to have never set foot in the house or even looked at the floorplan. One turned up with the wrong keys and had to go back to office to get the right ones(!). One couldn't answer even basic questions about the age of the boiler or when the extension was done. One didn't know whether it was a probate property or owner had gone into a home.

Our eventual purchase was supposedly chain-free, then suddenly was in a chain. Then EA said vendor would move into rented. Then he wouldn't.

HAHAHAHAHAH!

I looked around a red brick house once that was in a square and had been the staff quarters for a large nearby house, the agent said "I think it was built in the 1600s" Errr, no.

I don't feel at all sorry for the vendors, if they are naïve enough to choose such inept agents, then that's largely their own fault.

@Halstead
I was just emphasising what you said. Agree with you 100%!

Gotya! ☺️

End of the day, estate agents make the money when the sale goes through. They're not going to help it fall through, are they?

Re age of boiler and other such info: in Scotland the vendor pays for a 'Home Report' which the owner fills in. It should detail heating, type of fuel, supplier etc etc. I would not rely on an EA to remember that kind of stuff - you'll be disappointed at best and misled at worst.
EAs are acting for the seller, and if potential purchasers make assumptions that lead them to put in an offer (because they think the boiler is newer than it is or that the plot is bigger than the title deeds say), well, why would an EA give out facts that would put the viewers off?

I'd expect them to answer questions accurately though, even if they're not giving out facts unasked.

Not being able to answer questions about whether the vendor has gone into a home or if it's a probate property could have a significant impact on the timeline of the purchase

And I'd also expect that, if the EA tells me it's chain-free, that it actually is!

Although that is something that can change at the whim of the vendor, through no fault of the agent.

Sometimes, yes, I've seen it happen, especially if the house has been on the market for months and circumstances have changed but in our case it was simply not true and the solicitor who uncovered it, EA had lied and said it was chain-free when it never had been.

Had a doozie in my little town when I was looking around to buy. Lovely subdivided Elizabethan mansion with Georgian facing, v dilapidated. I went round the house with one of the top agency reps. Apparently two bedrooms. I opened a door (agent said it was just a cupboard) to find stairs up to a third bedroom with roof open to the sky and dead pigeons.

As a buyer , all I expect of seller agents staff , is the wit and willingness to post a brochure or make an appointment when requested. Never forget , they are paid by the seller to serve his interests.
Buyers/viewers are not their clients.

EVERYTHING legal related to the property is checked out by my lawyer, whose job is to serve me. That's what I pay them for.

I think I'm being naïve in thinking I can believe what the agents tell me

Very naive. You don't pay them, they are not there to serve you. They work for the seller only.

Estate agent selling my late fils house said in the particulars that it was built of non standard construction so not mortgageable! It wasn't, we live in the same street and we have a mortgage on our house as do a lot of others in the street. Estate agents are just sales people so I take everything they say with a pinch of salt.

I despair EVERY DAY at the sheer incompetence and uselessness of estate agents, both renting and selling. We have moved many times, now in rental while we look to buy. All useless. You see a house listed, then you have to do your own detective work to find out where exactly it is on the map (they can't be arsed to put the pin in the right place), what kind of heating it has, is there a floorplan, what is the EPC etc etc. All things you would expect to see at the top of the listing. God knows why people who are selling don't bother checking out their prospective agents before agreeing to pay them thousands for basically putting an ad on rightmove. Shower of twats.

They are obliged to find out and do their own due diligence they just often don’t.

That's a bit unfair! The estate agent is selling a house, not a view. It would be up to the potential buyer to find out if any new developments are planned in the area. The agent is under no obligation either to find this out or to let buyers know.

Caveat emptor.

80sMum, they are obliged to disclose significant planning applications within a certain distance and minor planning applications within a shorter distance.

It turned out a previous buyer had also pulled out for the same reason so the estate agent was well aware.

The estate agent standing on the front doorstep extolling the view........well.

Caveat emptor - well yes indeed, obviously we found out about the planning application before the purchase went too far, but consequently the vendor lost 2 sales, had the property listed as sold then relisted twice, which I'm guessing would ring alarm bells for other prospective buyers and eventually sold for significantly less than originally advertised. If the agents had been honest in the first place they could have saved their clients a lot of time and possibly money, they lost future business from us because I wouldn't look at any property they were marketing or use them to sell a property and they make themselves look like shysters.