When an estate agent gets the measurements wrong - do they get into trouble?

[KatyMac]

Go on please say yes

how wrong.

I think when alcoves are involved they measure the widest part of the room.

When they say there is 15m road frontage and there is only 10m

Sadly not, it usually has a disclaimer and says these measurements are a guide and should be checked!!

They usually cover their bums tbh and like fizzy says put a disclaimer on the details

hmm...not sure.

you would have to check the propert mis-descriptions act.

Oh poop

property

Nah they cover their btms - defo. And I'm sure some of it is accidentally on purpose.
We saw one recently and couldn't work out how they got the total internal square footage and then we realised they had included the garden!!

Yeah, certain notorious London agency always seems to have rooms that are bigger than other listings when same house is being sold through more than one agency

Double poop

Does road frontage mean front garden? Or distance from road? Does it hugely change the house for you?

It's for the nursery - it's less parking

10m is about 30 ft & that means only 4 parking spaces (at 2.4m each)

whereas 15m was 6 plus a path in the middle

Ah I see. Poop, as you say. And indeed bugger.

Have you spoken to yr solicitor?

Not got one yet

But it isn't the end of the world

I just thought I might be able to 'use' it

i would honestly raise it with a solicitor, they may well be in breach of the property mis-descriptions act. that measurement isn't just a little bit out, it's 50% out.

i work in a solicitors and estate agents and they are alway really picky about accuracy on property details. there was a new law about it that came in recently. imho it would def be worth getting a legal type to check it out

It says all room sizes are approximate

But I don't think 10m vs 15m is approximate it's plain wrong

True. I would get legal advice too.

[Hmm]

Have you actually spent any money or time as a result of the incorrect measurements?

No - I didn't believe them. Luckily

I guess I'll just tell them

katymac - i've just done a course today on the property mis-descriptions act (i work in a solicitor and estate agents). it is very clear that what you have described is definately a breach of this act. any information given by an agent that could mis-lead a 'reasonable person' is in breach of it.

you need to report the estate agency to the local trading standards officer and they should give the agents a rollocking

Apparently frontage means distance fro the road not lenght along the road I was wrong