Estate Agent issue

Tombo2001

I'm looking to buy a house at present.

There is one agent which dominates the local area, well they are one of two that dominate

Anyway, one of the estate agents keeps consistently overtstating the size of properties they are advertising....

They are getting worse and worse for this, a new property they have, they have overstated the size of it by about 35%.

The difficulty for me as a buyer is
(i) the people I have to compete against to bid for such a house might believe their numbers
(ii) I dont want to challenge them directly as I have to deal with them

Anyway, is there anywhere I can go to complain and is it worth complaining about?

As far as I'm concerned its false advertising.

coylemj

Check out the agent's website or business card, see if he a member of one of the recognised associations. For example, if he has 'M.I.A.V.I.' after his name, then he is a member of the Auctioneers and Valuers Institute of Ireland, you could complain to that body. But like SIMI for motor dealers, all of those organisations are trade lobbies and exist solely for the benefit of their members.

If you study any literature that goes with a 'For Sale' property, there are disclaimers all over the place saying that the drawings, dimensions etc. are 'for information only' and do not form part of the contract i.e. they are worthless and you need to get your own surveyor to measure the place to make sure that you know what you're buying or bidding on.

Personally I don't see why he is getting up to those tricks, if I was looking at a house I wouldn't be bothered looking at the sq. metres number, all I'd care about is the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, that's what matters to most people - and the alignment of the garden.

Tombo2001

Thanks

There are no disclaimers on myhome.ie to that effect, and no indication that the figures are 'not exact'

on the point of the surveyor, most bidders do not get a surveyor in until after they are sale agreed, at which point the bidding is done.