Dirty tricks to sell property

Thursday, 21 August 2008 12:00 AM

As many as one quarter of Brits have lied to potential buyers in order to grease the wheels of a potential sale, a new survey has confirmed.

In order to make their property more appealing to prospective buyers sellers lie about everything from a leaking roof to problems with crime in the area.

However, the most popular deception among potential sellers is the boiler - with eight per cent of homeowners admitting to being less than honest with buyers in a survey carried out by Homeserve.

A similar number were willing to tell little white lies with regard to potential problems with neighbours or parking.

With the length of time taken to sell a property amid the declining property market - with the latest research from Halifax showing an 8.8 per cent drop in prices over the last year - sellers are becoming ever more deviant.

"Buyers should take note of this worrying research," said Jon Florshiem, chief executive of Homeserve Membership.

"In the current housing market it has become increasingly difficult to sell property and unfortunately a worrying number of desperate sellers are resorting to hiding problems rather than paying money to have these problems rectified.

"Buyers should thoroughly inspect the property before making an offer - ask sellers to move furniture, lift floor coverings and check that heating, water and electricity is in working order."

The findings also suggest sellers in the north of England were most likely to cover up problems with their new property, with 42 per cent admitting being economical with the truth.

Sellers in the north were also most likely to admit to covering up cracks in the walls (14 per cent) and leaking roofs (12 per cent).

Chris O'Toole

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• uk property news