Cheated by the estate agent

[blueagle]

drhouse sorry to confuse you.
The original offer which estate agent put forward was 222k. But after the survey he told me the buyer wanted me to drop it down to 220k which I did reluctantly. After the sale when I spoke with the buyer he advised me their offer was always 225 and they never reduced it or asked for the price to be reduced. My solicitor had verbally asked me when he received the invoice from the estate agent if it was the right amount they were asking for (their commission based on 220k +5k). Buyer has advised me they never asked for any cashback so I strongly feel this 5k which the agent has got on top of their commission is my money. This is what I tried to explain to the Fair Trading Standards rep but it seems like he just didn't want to listen to me. Shall I call them again and discuss the matter further? Hopefully I'll be speaking with someone else today.

[drhouse]

So if I have this right the buyer paid 225K as he expected to do so. You got 225K and thought the buyer was getting a cash back of 5K. You paid this to the agent to pay to the buyer - can I say that I have done cash backs before but they have always gone through legal channels and I have NEVER known it to be done in this way.
Anyway, had the agent paid this to the buyer you would have been ok with this but the money appears to have disappeared into the agents pocket which I see as taking money by false pretences. However, I know nothing about the law I'm afraid so can't advise you there.
When they invoiced for their commission what was the 5K described as ?
Also it is now compulsory for all agents to belong to some form of redress scheme so they are conravening trading standards if they are not a member of one of the schemes.
Don't give up.

[blueagle]

drhouse many thanks for another detailed response.
Yes I would had been happy if the 5k was given to the buyer. But it seems like the buyer never had a deal of any cash back with the estate agent.
You've raised a very good point with regards to the agent being registered with someone. These guys aren't and that's one of the things I would be highlighting to the Trading standards. Another thing now that I've done some research on this. By law they're meant to forward all the offers in writing but I never received any paperwork from this estate agent.
As for what the 5k was for, I don't know at this stage. I've asked my solicitor to forward me a copy of the invoice he had received.
Thanks once again and I definitely won't give up so easily. Getting money back isn't my only aim, I want the local community to get to know the facts about this particular estate agent.

[Antony Wheble]

Was this done to help the purchaser con the mortgage company regarding the deposit paid on the property?

[nick81uk]

have you written a strong worded letter to them explaining that your going to complain to watchdog about them? a good name n shame never went a miss.