“April 11th 2013On Tuesday we were disconcerted to learn that ......”
1 Star Review
Apr 19,2013
By:
'Sylvia'
Apr 19,2013
Branch: Northampton, 1-5 Bridge Steet
Services: Sales (Prospective customer)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: NN2
Branch: Northampton, 1-5 Bridge Steet
Sales (Prospective customer)
Postcode: NN2
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April 11th 2013
On Tuesday we were disconcerted to learn that the vendor of the property we were in the process of buying had decided to withdraw from the sale. We believe that the Estate Agents at Horts have acted in a totally dishonest and disreputable manner. If we had been told at the very beginning that the vendor would only sell if the whole transaction went through on April 10th we would not have embarked on the process at all as we would have considered the timeframe too difficult. Certainly a couple of weeks after making an offer we were told that the owner was anxious to sell because he ¢â‚¬â€œ as we understood it - had somewhere to move to on that date ¢â‚¬â€œ we were only told this week that he was in fact being evicted from his current home and would pull out of the deal if completion hadn't taken place on that specific date. We had assumed he had another property to move to and, as with all property transactions in the UK, the completion date would depend on all parties being in a position to proceed. As this was not the case it would appear that at no time has the owner had to risk any money and therefore he was able to withdraw at absolutely any time with no financial loss whatsoever whereas we have incurred considerable costs.
In conversation with Adam Wellesley on Tuesday he inferred that we were to blame for the delay because we did not instruct solicitors straight away ¢â‚¬â€œ well money certainly came out of our bank account within a week of us agreeing the sale so not a significant time delay. The choice of solicitors was left to the estate agents but we were not happy with the way this worked, apparently one group took our money, another were doing the work but one evening at 7.30 pm we had a telephone call from Birmingham Midshires asking who our solicitors were as they had changed ¢â‚¬â€œ this was something of which we had no knowledge. For this reason we chose to instruct our own surveyor rather than one suggested by Horts as we were not happy with the suggestions being pushed onto us.
Last week ¢â‚¬â€œ Thursday 4th ¢â‚¬â€œ I confirmed with Michael Haig that we would be bringing a builder round just to give us some idea of the costs of essential work needed on the house, we considered this essential as our surveyor had said that the so called downstairs toilet room was in fact uninhabitable and would possibly have to be demolished. Michael said he would get back to confirm the appointment time. Between Friday and Monday we made numerous telephone calls to both Horts and Michael Haig and left messages with Horts ¢â‚¬â€œ strangely nobody ever seemed to be available to answer. Finally on Monday evening we got through on the telephone and the person we spoke to said that he thought he had seen an email saying that the vendor had withdrawn from the sale. This was the first we had heard of this. He said he would get back to us as soon as possible to confirm ¢â‚¬â€œ but of course he didn't bother, therefore first thing Tuesday morning we telephoned and spoke to Adam Wellesley at which point everything became clear.
We feel it is despicable that we were not informed formally of this at the first possible opportunity, that we were kept in the dark as to the vendors intentions ¢â‚¬â€œ he risked absolutely no money while we have lost a considerable amount, not even counting the amount of time we have wasted, and that nobody had the courtesy to tell us the deal had fallen through until we made yet another telephone call on the Tuesday morning.
Hardly personal or professional services! Unethical and dishonest would be our description.
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After we'd carried out a survey we found significant defects with the property. Perhaps the seller and Horts were hoping we'd rush into buying this property and miss these defects? We've expended considerable time and money on trying to buy this property, putting down money for mortgage brokers, soliticitors, surveys, and searches. Horts and the seller haven't lost anything, they took a risk that the sale would complete in time, risking our money and not theirs.
Please, if you have read this far, consider carefully whether you wish to use Horts as an estate agent. They withhold information where it suits them and try to cut corners at every opportunity. Certainly a company to be avoided.