Sun 9 Aug 2009
A thought has just struck me. I have read many posts on this and other forums which basically say ´buyer beware´. In other words it is our (the buyers) responsibility to check, check and check again every little thing that the ´professional´ people we are paying are saying and doing.
Now hold on a minute. Lets´s try an analogy.
If I was buying a second hand or, for that matter new, car from, and let´s be honest here, a group of people who do not have the best reputation for honesty in the world. The one thing I could be assured of was that the vehicle had, at some point in it´s life, been thoroughly checked and tested as fit for purpose, safety and legality.
Even the Arthur Daley´s of this world cannot sell a vehicle which was not, when brand spanking new, legal (except if it was lime green, in which case it should have been scrapped straight away).
Imagine the following situation.
You walk into a showroom and pick a car. Pay for it and receive a receipt. You then wander blithely down to the registration office to pay your car tax and pick up your registration documentation and number plates only to be told that the vehicle that you have parted with your cold hard cash for cannot be registered and used on the public highway because the manufacturer cut a few corners and didn´t do their job properly or apply and receive the correct certification.
I don´t know about you but I would be, to borrow a phrase, somewhat miffed. In fact I think I would be likely to grab a baseball bat and a few of the boys, and go and pay said salesperson a visit. Where upon I would be guilty of, to put it mildly, ´demanding money with menaces´.
Guess what. This scenario could not happen.
Why then is it happening, on a daily basis, in the housing market? Where is the system going wrong? Why, after all these years of abuse, has it not been fixed?
Now I know that there are excellent groups out there like the AUAN and AULAN who are fighting for the rights of people who have, through no fault of their own, found themselves in this situation. My question is, who is fighting to stop this happening in the first place?
If anyone knows of such an organisation could they please let me, and others like me, know about it, for it is surely worthy of our support, their actions and any changes to the system that they may achieve will benefit us all in the long run.