Estate Agents trespassing and misrepresenting property

[SlugLobber]

Hi All,

I rent out a house which is next door to a for sale property. Naturally I was curious to discover how much theirs was up for, as it's smaller, so i just went onto Rightmove.

Well, I discovered that the chekky wotsits have been into my garden without permission, going through a closed gate in the process and taken a picture of MY (well my tenant's, now) view. You can see the rustic fence erected by us, the kiwi in the corner of the photo...it's blatantly obvious how they got the pic. Next door has a conservatory right up to the boundary and there's no way to that viewpoint without blatant trespass.

I'm less than impressed and have emailed the agent to tell them to remove this picture from the brochures and online ads, informing them of my displeasure!!

Do I have any discourse if they refuse to take it down? Next door do not have the same view - they are the middle of three cottages and put up a tiny conservatory that blocks the view and light to their remaining tiny courtyard. They also have a much higher fence that is overgrown with weeds from theirs and the cropfield side. So, the agents is very much misrepresenting the property, which I have informed them of.

To say I'm fuming is an understatement. My tenant is, too (I phoned to make sure they hadn't given permission). Same agent apparently parked on my driveway on a different occasion and received a right royal bollokking from my tenant (the house two doors down was also going up for sale - this was a separate complaint!).

[zazen999]

Been there done that!

The people 5 doors down, whose [small] divvied up garden plot was next to ours had a pic of our decking on their Rightmove page. I went ballistic and they did take it down the next day but for ages people would ask how much our house was going for when we were in our garden. It's right by a canal and the biggest 'canalside' section so it's quite common to have conversations across the water with the gen pub.

If they don't take it down I'd be surprised, but surely right move have a complaints section?

[WendyC]

How rude! Don't think there's much you can do about trespass unless damage was caused. But if I was looking at pictures of a property I would expect them to be visible from the house. Good luck, I would be fuming too!

[julesapple]

Maybe you should make an appointment to view the property (and waste some of their time) and ask where the view is - the lovely view as shown in the particulars.....

Jules

[SlugLobber]

I emailed the agent direct. As far as I'm concerned it's not Rightmove that's at fault, as the agent puts up ads on there. Can't say I'm surprised that this has happened to other people and if anyone visits the property, they'll notice straight away that the view is different.

Good news is that it's up for 16k more than we paid for ours 4 years ago and is considerably smaller. The house itself is bigger and as extras has a wetroom, dining room, 3 sided garden and driveway. In these times I think that's pretty good!

[Newton]

Estate agents are not allowed to misrepresent property by law. The property misdescriptions act. They may be in breach.......16k more though........

[VirginVegGrower]

Never trusted estate agents. Think you've done the right thing really..,

[salome2001]

Good news is that it's up for 16k more than we paid for ours 4 years ago and is considerably smaller. The house itself is bigger and as extras has a wetroom, dining room, 3 sided garden and driveway. In these times I think that's pretty good!

Don't get too excited. in this market they won't get anything near the asking price, expect it to go for about 5% under, 10% if they don't sell quickly

[snohare]

Aye in this financial climate you need to be selling for a fiver before you can be sure of a sale !

had a pic of our decking on their Rightmove page.

All I can say is, this just proves that some estate agents want decking !

[zazen999]

I emailed the agent direct. As far as I'm concerned it's not Rightmove that's at fault, as the agent puts up ads on there. Can't say I'm surprised that this has happened to other people and if anyone visits the property, they'll notice straight away that the view is different.

Good news is that it's up for 16k more than we paid for ours 4 years ago and is considerably smaller. The house itself is bigger and as extras has a wetroom, dining room, 3 sided garden and driveway. In these times I think that's pretty good!

I know it's not rightmove at fault - however they are the ones displaying the information. I'd also not email them, I'd be on the phone talking to the manager wanting to know why they had been trespassing on my property.

[SlugLobber]

My tenant was going in there today to play merry hell. Trust me, she's a right little terrier - I wouldn't want to annoy her!

Good point re: Rightmove displaying the pictures. Will email them, too, today.

If I don't hear back from them today I'll phone them tomorrow and demand answers from the manager. Have a bit of a phoning people problem, hence not doing that first!

[zazen999]

My tenant was going in there today to play merry hell. Trust me, she's a right little terrier - I wouldn't want to annoy her!

Good point re: Rightmove displaying the pictures. Will email them, too, today.

If I don't hear back from them today I'll phone them tomorrow and demand answers from the manager. Have a bit of a phoning people problem, hence not doing that first!

When you do phone, if you have to - stand up when you do it. Makes a whole lotta difference.

[veggiechicken]

You could tell them that you are going to report them to the National Association of Estate Agents (or whatever it's called) for misrepresentation. Find out from the Agent's website which associations they are members of, and see what their Code of Practice is on advertising - and bringing the profession into disrepute. If you sound as if you know all about it they may take some notice!

[Madasafish]

Work out how many days they have your property on the website. And invoice them £50/day.

Legally they should pay any sum you demand within reason.

[Mikey]

Estate agents, by definition are fluid with the truth. If it wasn't for Bankers we'd still be estate agent bashing.

I remember a company in West Wales advertising properties with more realistic comments such as 'compact, but big enough to swing a house cat.' I don't think they are there anymore, such as shame.