What redress is available to a misled property buyer? Anthony Judge investigates
Recently there has been much interest in the regulation of estate agents. In February the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued proceedings against Foxtons under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/2083) in connection with the contracts they issue to their landlord clients. There has been a flurry of prosecutions against agencies for “flyboarding”—agencies erecting “sold” or “to let” signs without instructions to do so. There was also a warning in January from the Law Society that solicitors were losing work because some estate agents insist that clients use their own Home Information Pack (HIP) provider. A recent case has heightened interest in this sector.
In Lancashire County Council v Buchanan [2004] EWHC 3194 (Admin), an estate agent was cleared of offences under the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (PMA 1991). Under s 1, it is an offence to make a false or misleading statement about a prescribed matter in the course of an estate agency
