Established Home Purchase - Agent Inflated House Size - What Are My Options?

samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:09
Last edited 25/05/2022 - 14:13

Hello friends,

I recently signed a contract to purchase an established house under a private agreement (not auction) after an open inspection. The Agent quoted the size of the house as 30+ squares both verbally and in the Ad and recently I found out that its actual size is around 24 squares from third party websites. Even calculating manually is also giving me way less than the quoted size.
I signed the contract a week back and in the process of getting my unconditional approval.
What are my options here? TIA.

Home & Garden

Comments

  • djkelly69 on 25/05/2022 - 14:12

    Did the agent make this claim verbally, or in an ad/email/text?

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:12

      Both..

      • djkelly69 on 25/05/2022 - 14:20
        +6

        Save the evidence ASAP.

        Realistically what result are you hoping to get?

        There could be long and costly contract law arguments about mistake, but they are unlikely to achieve much. Your contract probably has a 'whole agreement' clause as well, so any representations by the agent are not likely to be sufficient to get you out of the contract. Which probably only leaves a claim against the agent, which would again likely be long and costly, and your damage difficult to quantify.

        • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:23
          +1

          I would be happy to get few $$ back… Not a big amount.. May be couple of thousands…

  • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:16
    +1

    It may depend if you bought at auction or not.
    Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a disclaimer somewhere and that the purchaser must make their own enquiries etc.

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:18

      It was brought through a private agreement.. not in Auction

      • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:24

        In your agreement, I imagine that the property was described in terms of the location, lot no., and something about a dwelling on it. I doubt it went to the detail of the construction size.

        • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:26
          +1

          I'm actually reading the section 32 while typing this to see what is mentioned about the house size.

        • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:29

          I don't see anything mentioned there about the size of the house..

          • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:34
            +1

            @samp365: I am not a lawyer but I think that document describes what you purchased. You are probably out of luck disputing it.

            • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:36

              @GG57: Yeah.. Looks like.. Will see if the agent feels anything morally…

              • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:40
                +13

                @samp365: A moral real estate agent? Nah.

              • Kangal on 25/05/2022 - 17:36
                +2

                @samp365: Realistically, you don't have a leg to stand on.
                But it is actually possible for you to get the Real-Estate Branch fined and/or the Agent fired from REINSW membership. Read and contact here.

                If you can get the latter done, then it would be in the best interest of the Agent to ensure you are happy. This would probably be done by paying back a few thousand dollars.

                • kiwimex on 25/05/2022 - 22:11
                  +1

                  @Kangal: Realistically he's missing about 6 squares to stand on!

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:19

      True.. Most of these Ad's have the default disclaimer..

      • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:44

        An obvious question perhaps. Did you have a property inspection undertaken by an independent provider prior to settlement?

        • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:46

          Yeah.. I had it yesterday.. Building and pest inspection.. The settlement is after 45 days.. I'm supposed to complete the inspection.. My loan and pay 5% next week..

        • 82norm on 26/05/2022 - 13:02
          +2

          A property inspection doesn’t generally inspect the size of the land/house so not sure what that would achieve.

  • orangetrain on 25/05/2022 - 14:27
    +1

    Did your solicitor ask you to contact Ozb?

    You paid them a lot of money to protect YOU

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:29
      +5

      Wish they were as prompt and helpful as this community.

  • mskeggs on 25/05/2022 - 14:27
    +1

    Possibly you could argue to cancel the contract. Is that the outcome you want?

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:30

      I thought I had paid 5-10k more for this property.. So, would be happy if I can get something back…

      • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 14:41

        The selling real estate agent didn't act on your behalf. They don't have the money you paid at settlement. The fees etc that they earned on the sale came from the vendor.

        I don't like your chances.

      • mskeggs on 25/05/2022 - 14:43
        +1

        Sure.
        Call the vendor and tell them you are walking away if they don’t drop the price by a few thousand.
        If it was me, I would say “good luck, you signed a contract.”
        So you would then need to seek to have the contract set aside, which would take legal proceedings.

        The only way I think you will “get a little back” is if you are sure you paid much more than any other buyer would have offered, in which case the vendor might be willing to lose some of their profit.

        • garetz on 25/05/2022 - 14:45

          losing 20% of the overall size isnt a few thousand, thats 10s of thousands.

          • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:48

            @garetz: True.. But I'm happy to get say a 5k

            • garetz on 25/05/2022 - 14:50

              @samp365: When the market declines you are going to lose a massive amount of money if you can even sell it at that smaller square meterage, i would get out of the contract asap if it was me.

              • mskeggs on 25/05/2022 - 14:57
                +6

                @garetz: I think this is a strange comment. I don’t think I have ever known the size of the building when I have bought houses.
                I have a look, decide if it is big enough, maybe measure a room to see if some furniture will fit.
                The land size is different, I guess.

            • MS Paint on 25/05/2022 - 16:37

              @samp365: It's about $1700 per square metre to build an open plan room in Australia.

              ~50*1700=$85k

              And you want $5k?

          • mskeggs on 25/05/2022 - 14:55
            +4

            @garetz: The house didn’t shrink, just the number the RE said was wrong.
            Imagine the tribunal hearing “Samp365, did you inspect the house? Yes. And did you make an offer after that inspection? Yes. And was the size of the property a key reason you bought it? Yes. And would you have offered less if the property size was correctly advised? Yes. OK, Mr Vendor, you can instead sell to your other buyer.”

            Absolute best case would be contract is voided and you pay your own fees, i reckon.
            The vendor is likely to have another buyer who was close to the price, so they won’t have much to lose.

            OP upside is limited to the amount they paid over the 2nd place buyer, no matter how great the discrepancy in what the agent said.

            • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 15:17

              @mskeggs: True.. Will just throw the ball to the Agent and see what best he can do..
              To be frank I cannot or do not want to go legal..

              • Kangal on 25/05/2022 - 17:40
                +1

                @samp365: If you go legal, they won't lose money only time.
                You will lose both money and time.

                Be firm, and put on a bit of poker-face. But in your heart don't expect miracles.

                ~50*1700=$85k
                And you want $5k?

                True.. But I'm happy to get say a 5k

                …be careful, they are probably watching this thread xD

  • screensaver on 25/05/2022 - 14:41

    What about conveyancing.does that cover size?

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 14:48

      Note sure.. These guys just asked for section 32 and some docs to sign.. They said no issues with the land..

  • screensaver on 25/05/2022 - 14:56
    -1

    24 square metres is less than the size of a double garage

    • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 14:58
      +1

      squares not m2, 6 squares = 56m2

    • MS Paint on 25/05/2022 - 16:17
      +3

      C'mon Pam. You're old enough to remember the difference between house squares and square metres.

  • [Deactivated] on 25/05/2022 - 14:57

    get em to add 6 squares on, you paid for 24

  • SnoozeAndLose on 25/05/2022 - 15:03
    +1

    you paid what you see, buyer can do whatever quote, measure, or inspection before they make their decision, in this situation it is more of a bad luck and the agent at most can give you a bottle of wine as compensation.

  • slow on 25/05/2022 - 15:21
    +2

    Did they maybe include garage and patio and you didn't? That is usually included in the quoted sizes

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 15:34

      I did add everything.. I saw similar numbers on sites like propertyvalue and onthehouse

  • Euphemistic on 25/05/2022 - 15:38
    +7

    So you went to the property, inspected it and found it a satisfactory size and purchased it and now want compensation because it suddenly shrank on paper? It didn’t get any smaller since you walked through it. The only place it got smaller is in your head.

    You forgot the first rule of real estate agents. If their lips are moving, it’s not the truth.

    • samp365 on 25/05/2022 - 15:41
      +1

      Agree with you.. I'm not blaming anyone.. Just trying to understand my options before I talk to the Agent.. At least this time I'll be prepared.

      • EightImmortals on 25/05/2022 - 16:11
        +1

        As per the above post, you inspected the property and must have liked it or you wouldn't have bought it. What difference does the on-paper size make?

        • orangetrain on 25/05/2022 - 17:15

          Why measure anything when it's in writing from the seller as fact? Otherwise these sellers can get away with lying because buyer liked it!

      • Euphemistic on 25/05/2022 - 17:48
        +1

        What do you mean options? But it because you like it or pull out because all of a sudden you are thinking it’s too small.

        Suck it up, the agent will claim a typo on the ad, or the person who measured wrote a wrong number in one place or something equally trivial. It might not be fair, but you’ll never prove they deliberately changed the number to sucker you in.

  • Drpepper666 on 25/05/2022 - 15:53
    +1

    Conveyancing solicitor should have supplied with you plans for the property. Speak to your conveyancing solicitor regardless, that's what they are there for.

    • Euphemistic on 25/05/2022 - 17:49
      +2

      Why? I’ve never got plans that identified the size of the house in my property transactions. Block size yes, house, no.

  • DashCam AKA Rolts on 25/05/2022 - 16:06

    I test drove a hatchback and liked it, so I signed a contract to buy it.

    The contact listed it as an SUV.

    Can I still get the hatch back, and a substantial discount as it clearly is not an SUV.

  • Benoffie on 25/05/2022 - 16:10

    Who uses squares anymore?

  • MS Paint on 25/05/2022 - 16:15
    +1

    Big difference between 24 and 30+ squares.

    That's 2 decent sized living areas or about 4 big bedrooms and a lot of $$$ difference too.

    You could easily guesstimate at an inspection and obviously you failed to do this. Why don't people research before such big purchases? FOMO?

    • Euphemistic on 25/05/2022 - 17:51
      +2

      Why do you even need to know the size? It’s only good for working out wether it’s worth inspecting a property. Once you are inside inspecting that’s when you work out if it’s big enough.

  • jason101 on 25/05/2022 - 16:23

    Did the "30 squares" include porch, patio, carport, garage, outbuildings etc ?

  • GG57 on 25/05/2022 - 16:42

    Surely OP bought the land and the building(s) on it. That is what OP is getting.
    It's not as though it was bought without inspection etc.

  • kiwimex on 25/05/2022 - 22:22
    +3

    I would push to get the contract voided. You could look at it like this if you purchase a car and it was advertised as a 6 cyl engine but in fact was only a 4cyl, thats a big difference. IMO it does not matter if you viewed the property or not, the size of the dwelling was incorrectly described. What if it was listed as being an 800sqm block of land but in fact was only 700sqm. Im sure you would want compensation for the 100sqm difference. Theres plenty of people that cannot judge the size of a home/block of land the home is sitting on.

  • dtxau on 26/05/2022 - 00:06
    +2

    Have a look at this, same thing but in the end, the buyer couldn’t do anything. Going down the legal route would have been expensive:

    https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/thread/3kv0q1v9

  • SlickMick on 26/05/2022 - 08:55

    If you reckon the price is too high for the smaller home, you have a few opportunities to walk away. e.g. You aren't happy with the interest rate on the finance you can arrange, or the building inspection shows unsatisfactory results; or they don't provide a full set of keys.

    It's pretty common to renegotiate the price according to defects found in the building inspection. (They'll give you a discount to get those issues repaired.)

  • kiitos on 26/05/2022 - 09:14

    Can you share the dimensions of the rooms you used to calculate the area?

  • Darayus on 26/05/2022 - 10:45

    you have time to rescind the contract within cooling-off period.

    what type of house is 30 sqm, look like a small half studio.

    • samp365 on 26/05/2022 - 10:48

      30 Squares.. Roughly 260sqm

  • MontyMacaw on 26/05/2022 - 12:37
    +1

    Been there done that but it was the size of the land. They said too bad I’m getting commission - it was an agent. So I said ok I’ll sue you for misrepresentation. They came back with, we will cancel the contract on the condition you don’t sue. True story.

  • greggyp on 26/05/2022 - 12:44
    +1

    You are given time to do all your checks, that is when you should have measured things if that was your concern.

  • 2esc on 26/05/2022 - 14:25

    You inspected the house in person before you bought? Did if feel like the home you want to live in?

    • GG57 on 26/05/2022 - 14:56
      +1

      Maybe it was like trying on shoes:

      They say they are size x but feel a little tight. I'm sure they will be ok…

  • OzHunterNSW on 26/05/2022 - 17:25

    Did the contract even state the actual house? Is the address correct?
    You need to point this out and state that the contract is void…

    Ask where the other 6 have gone

  • JIMB0 on 26/05/2022 - 19:01
    +2

    I seen a house listed that looked like it had a nice northern aspect according to the floor plans. Went to inspect it and it wasn't on the side of the street I was expecting. Turns out the agent had swap the north/south, he thanked me for pointing out the mistake and said he was going to fix it but never did. You need to do your own due diligence on everything. It goes the other way as well, one property actually had a significantly larger block than quoted in the ad.

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