My solicitor has informed me that the sale of my house (which should have completed this week) is now on hold, indefinitely, and in danger if falling through, until a legal issue can be cleared up.

It appears that a young lady at the estate agents is involved in mortgage fraud - basically fudging the figures to mislead the lender about the value of the property, in order to secure a 110% mortgage for her buyer. Surprisingly, she no longer works for the estate agent.

That in itself is bad enough, but it now means I cannot sign up for a mortgage on a house we want. So it is possible that we won't get that house.

Other than the obvious costs and fees I've paid for, does anyone think I can screw the estate agent for this? Afterall, she was representing them.

Have you spoken to your solicitor about it, he's surely going to be more knowledgeable on the subject than we are...

Well, he was employed by them to oversee my sale. So, I'm not sure if advising me on possible legal action would be a conflict of interest.

I will be speaking to him about it later today, regardless, but it's always worthwhile getting outside opinions.

Ah yes, that makes sense. Most of the sales I've known about have had an independent solicitor.

Well, he’ll be working to his employer’s best interests - that would be the estate agent and not you, so I would think engaging an independent solicitor who would be working for your interests would be a very wise plan of action to take. I’d also suggest not discussing too much about your legal plans to the estate agent’s solicitors, though if he is worth his salt he would be trying to lay down some legal obstacles to you getting your fees back.

I'd speak to a different solicitor or the CAB.

Do you have legal cover?

It might be a litigation case and they will probably defer to someone who specialises in such cases. Your solicitor might have an idea if you have an actionable claim, and might even refer you to someone who can deal with it on your behalf. It might strengthen your case if the police are involved. If the mortgage advisor is charged with mortgage fraud the estate agents public liability insurance could come to the rescue and bail you out. I expect that considering how bad the residential sales market has been they might just go bust and leave you in the lurch.

I have just spoken to my solicitor. It turns out he was not employed the estate agents, but recommended by them, so he is acting solely on my behalf.

He is a conveyancing solicitor though, but previously had many years in litigation, and has assured me that the documents he holds are pretty damning and irrefutable, and he will happily provide copies for any legal litigation respresentative I hire.

He said it is likely that the lender will involve the police, in which case things will definitely hit the fan and I can wave cheerio to the house we want; as this will likely take a long time to resolve.

Pretty gutted really, I was already making some plans on what I was going to do to the property.

Not having a huge amount of success with CAB at the moment, it is difficult to get an appointment or telephone advice, but I'm still trying.

I've just remortgaged and the lender sent their own person around to do a valuation, even though I've already owned the property for 10 years and the LTV is 40/60. If they are lending the money then surely the onus is on them to make sure they are not defrauded and therefore not relying on speculation from the parasites.

Yeah, but how many houses actually sell for their full market value?

That depends on the market at the time, but the LTV meant that even if the house was sold for half the asking price the company would not have lost out. In that low risk situation they still sent someone around to do an independent valuation.

Yes but even if I am right and there is a huge crash in house prices over the next few years you should be okay still unless you have opted for anything that is not a repayment mortgage.