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Don't mislead your buyer
It is important to talk about the duties and requirements imposed on a salesperson by the Property Misdescriptions Act.
The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 makes it against the law offence for estate agents and property developers to deceitfully and falsely portray property that they are interested in selling. This particular Act does not affect individuals who put up their homes for sale in private. Nevertheless, this does not mean that you can be economical with the truth in fact, fairly the opposite.
If someone buys your property on the basis of misleading information you have given them either verbally or in writing, or in the property details you have written, they could sue you for damages for misrepresentation; if they discover the misrepresentation after contracts have been exchanged (or missives concluded in Scotland) but before completion, they may even be entitled to pull out of the deal.
With an overall idea relating to the provisions of the Act which in leads to the consequence extending to estate representatives and property developers the same responsibility that a private seller has, is a good guide to what is acceptable practice when describing a property for sale. You should not create any misrepresentations of detail. If you are not aware of the answer to a particular question asked by the buyer, you just need to say so as it is good to speak it out instead of making up what you believe they may wish to hear.
The Act can be downloaded from the Office of Public Sector Information's website at www.opsi.gov.uk and is imposed by local Trading Standards Officers. One local authority has created the following directions for estate agents and property developers which offer practical tips as to what is acceptable practice under the Act.
- A property is capable of being offered in its finest show, only if it does not misinform.
- Stipulations such as 'flawless state' or 'newly renovated' be capable of being used but they be required to talk about and publicised to the whole property if not or else settled.
- Eye-catching description can be used as selling points but not to the keeping out of the negative features if on the whole result is a deceptive portrayal. You need not oblige and reveal a leaky roof, say, but your description taken as a whole must not give the impression that the property does not have this shortcoming.
- Do not create bigger geographic areas when you do not posses it, such as Cotswolds, Peak District or Lake District, further than their established boundaries. Make use of the correct postal address in its place. And if a property is in one county geographically but its postal address is in an adjoining region, both have to be given equal importance.
- Expressions such as 'simple entrée' or 'near to' or approximate trip times to neighbouring facilities or transportation links should be keep away from in favour of the genuine distance in miles, i.e. '10 miles to junction 12 on the M4', or 'six miles from Cirencester'.
- If a dwelling has open fields on three sides but an abattoir or a nightclub on the fourth it is best not to consign to the viewpoint to any extent, and if you plan to use photographs, evidently tag and label them.
- Photographs are capable of being deceptive. Steer clear of using very broad angle lenses which can create a property seem to be much larger than it is and let alone digitally enhancing a photograph to make it look attractive or cropping if the consequential outcome is ambiguous. To give an example, do not take in a view of the garden from the bedroom window if there is a rubbish dump next door and you have cropped the picture to get rid of it.
Particulars produced by estate agents normally comprise of a disclaimer and even though this may not be lawfully a requisite, it is functional to repeat and remind buyers that even with the best will in the world, mistakes can be made and purchaser should be cautious and make sure for themselves the precision of all measurements and statements.
A disclaimer could consist of the following:
- These details are proposed to provide a fair and significantly correct overall description for the supervision of proposing purchasers and do not comprise a proffer or part of an agreement. Forthcoming purchasers and/or lessees have to to search for their own expert recommendation.
- Each and every portrayal, measurement, region, orientation to circumstance and essential permissions on behalf of usability and occupation and other details are given in good spirit and are supposed to be accurate, but any proposing purchasers should not depend on them as statements or depiction of detail, other than it has got to satisfy themselves by inspection and checks or else as to the accuracy of every one of them.
- All measurements and dimensions are estimated.
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