Imbeciles or Crooks or?
Thinking of buying and / or selling a property through Chequers Estate Agents in Barnstaple, North Devon?
Be careful. Read our review / warning; Sellers: see end of page!
We are selling our modern, well located, 5/6 bedroom detached house, value £615,000
We need to move as I have progressed MND and need a bungalow (no stairs and an adapted bathroom). Plus, we need to down size and liquidate our asset as I am dying (so my wife and young daughters, youngest only 8yo) have a decent but low cost home and as much money in the bank as possible when I die (life expectancy under 2 years).
Chequers know our needs. They were meant to advise us as soon as they took on an ideal property for our needs. Their sales negotiator, Claire Tythcott, failed miserably; she "forgot". A perfect bungalow got listed by Chequers (61 Elizabeth Drive for only £365,000) but with no advance notice to us. Nevertheless, I picked up on it immediately and requested an urgent viewing and I let them know I wanted to make an offer. We were the first to ask but had to wait 3 days to view. Go look at 61 Elizabeth Drive on RightMove; check out the realised prices for identical bungalows on the same road over the last two years to see Chequers had apparently undervalued it by a staggering £40,000, hmmm!
On the morning we were to view, Claire Tythcott emailed me to say the viewing had been cancelled as the vendor had agreed to sell to someone else, despite my being the first one in wanting to make an offer. Chequers had failed not only to advance notify me, but had let someone else make an offer without telling the vendor I was first and wanted to make an over asking price offer; cash, no chain (we have enough savings to do this).
I complained but instead of dealing fully with my complaint, Claire Tythcott complained back at me because I said "This is BS"; poor lamb; her pride was seemingly more important than their customer loyalty and my housing needs. Understand that disabled friendly / modified properties in the area we want are RARE; they come up every 2 years on average, so I will likely be dead before the next one becomes available.
Chequers clearly do not care; they made a sale! But they lost my house sale from their portfolio, so they shot themselves in their foot when they failed me, DUH!
Sellers: The bungalow we wanted sold quickly because IMHO it was well underpriced at £365,000; we were offering well above that because other apparently identical bungalows on the same road sold for well over £400,000 in 2025 and 2024! So, IMHO, Chequers did a rotten job for us and the vendor.
Imbeciles or Crooks or?
I believe Chequers clearly knew or should have known that 61 Elizabeth Drive was worth £40,000 more, they somehow forgot to inform me a rare disabled adapted bungalow in our chosen area had come onto their books, plus allowed another buyer to get in before me! Why? I suspect the obvious, that they sold the bungalow to a friend or relative at a knock down price; surely, otherwise, Chequers could not have been that inept. If I right, they may well have committed a criminal act (fraud and deception); no, really! So I am considering filing a criminal complaint against Chequers Estate Agents (Barnstaple) Ltd. of 66 Boutport Street, Barnstaple, Devon, England, EX31 1HG, director Richard John Bushnell.
Good riddance Chequers Estate Agents; karma happens.