Buying a house through an estate agent can give you a powerful, and sometimes false, sense of security. But the agent doesn’t guaranty that the seller actually owns the property or that all the paperwork is legitimate. Whether an agent is liable after a fraudulent sale depends on what happened, what the agent knew, and what duties it owed.
The term “fraudulent property” may apply to a number of situations. These include where the seller pretends to be owner of the property, forged title documents are presented, a property is marketed without the consent of the owner or where material facts are deliberately concealed. These are different situations in the law.
Estate agents in Nigeria must not knowingly or recklessly give false or misleading information. They could also be liable for negligent misstatements if they give false information without taking reasonable care. Consumer-protection rules also impose on businesses the additional duties not to make misleading statements or omissions of material information, particularly where the omission would influence a buyer’s decision.
But liability is not guaranteed. A general principle is that an agent is entitled to rely on information supplied by a seller unless there are warning signs. If the seller presents what looks like a valid ID and documents, and there is no hint of fraud, the agent may not be expected to do a full title search. This is mainly the responsibility of the buyer’s conveyancer and the Land Registry process.
The position changes if the agent ignored obvious red flags: inconsistent identities, hurried instructions, unexplained changes to bank details, a seller who refuses normal verification, or a price far below market value. An agent who knows or reasonably suspects a transaction is fraudulent may be subject to civil claims and, in egregious cases, criminal investigation.
The buyer may also have a claim where the agent has made a specific misrepresentation such as the seller was the registered owner or where the agent has concealed a known defect. The buyer would usually have to show that the statement was false, that they relied on it and that they suffered financial loss. Evidence of the agent’s emails, advertisements, viewing notes and identity checks can be crucial.
The first priority is to contact a solicitor, the buyer’s conveyancer, the lender and the police.
Buyers should not assume that an estate agent’s presence replaces legal protection. Independent conveyancing, verification of the seller’s identity, direct checks with the Land Registry, and careful scrutiny of payment instructions remain essential. An agent can be responsible, but only where the facts show more than a transaction that simply went wrong.