can you receive compensation from an estate agent?

[booboo67]

started proceedings to buy a house back in june. the literature the estate agents gave me said no onward chain. since then we have been given date after date after date. nothing on paper just all verbally. when all this was happening i didnt actually have the deposit money as i had just been divorced and was waiting for my ex to pay up. not wanting to let anyone down i paid extra to my divorce solicitor to speed things up. now still 4 weeks on i havent got my house. its not that i dont understand that things take time when buying a house cos i know they do. but i was led to believe there was no forward chain and their obviously is. now i feel like i am hassleing the estate agents!!! they gave me a new date for the 27th sept which mean we should complete tomorrow. i dont want to pull out but i also dont want to keep paying rent on the place i am in
thanks for any answers in advance

[bednobs]

how do you know it is in a chain? maybe when the house was put on it wasnt but now it is. i have a feeling you cant get comp from the estate agents because thye only go by what the sellers tell them, they dont verify this themselves

[lady_p_gold]

Have you not got a solicitor acting for you?? I do not understand how you could be doing all this through the estate agent. In fact, they are exactly that, an estate agent which advertises properties for sale for buyers or sellers. They are not usually involved in the legal process, and people drop in and out of chains all the time, so you could never rely on it. Three or four months from seeing a house to buying it, is quite usual in my experience. Hope all goes well.

[booboo67]

thnakyou both for your replies................ we have a solicitor but they dont seem to be doing anything and when that happens you probably start looking elsewhere!!!! will try again tomorrow
thankyou again

[buildersmate]

Get the solicitor to confirm a date for Completion.
This seems unusual because on Exchange of Contracts, a date for Completion is usually agreed at that point. Maybe you haven't exchanged contracts yet - I spite of the wording in your question.

[pingping]

this happened to me when i bought my house recently - the date for completion changed 3 times. After the sellers changed it a second time (extending it by 3 months), we told them that if they wanted to change it again then we wanted the asking price dropped to take account of the extra rent they made us pay. the threat worked and they didn't change the date again!

[Annlinda]

The last house I bought I had similar problem, so rang the estate agent gave the sellers two weeks to complete or I would pull out of sale and buy elsewhere. They completed in ten days. Be firm don't allow yourself to be messed about no matter how much you want the house. There is always another one just as good on the market. If you are renting you are in a good position to call the shots.