Dexters Estate Agents
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Mislead buyer on chain, wasted time & money
I had an offer accepted on a property in Hampton and proceeded to do legal work having been told that chain was closed. I made it clear at the time verbally and on all the offer forms that my own buyers had put a deadline of 4 months to exchange and complete. This was a hard deadline as they were renting and had been given notice as the landlord was selling up. I was advised that the chain was closed as the vendor was buying a property also being marketed by Dexters and the vendor of that property was not reliant on the sale proceeds for their onward purchase. I therefore reasonably assumed that the transaction could complete in the 4 months. I also discussed this with Katie the agent for the vendor and she concurred. However, a few months in prior to her going on holiday and when the legal work on my sale and purchase were nearing completion I asked if she could agree a likely exchange date for the contracts. My calls were fielded and her manager confirmed the chain was not closed. I was left with no choice but to find another property to buy as I would have lost my sale. This fiasco cost me £1000 in wasted legal fees and a lot of upset. Dexters don't seem particularly scrupulous and they didn't much seem to care, matter of fact telling me that they had another interested buyer. Not surprising when they refused to list the property as sold subject to contract. They wanted to use it as a hook to get interested buyers to see other properties and assured me that they were not doing viewings on the property once my offer had been accepted. Buyers and sellers in Hampton beware. I notice the property still has not exchanged so their tactics do not advantage those they act on behalf of and pay their commission either!