Almost three fifths of Britons have lied while selling their home

If you're very keen on selling your home, what lengths will you go to close that deal? Well, according to a new survey by Thomas Sanderson, almost 46 per cent of home owners selling a property have lied at one stage of the process or another in order to secure the sale. 

Shockingly, over 30 per cent have lied about structural imperfections and work that needs doing to the property; 26 per cent have not been truthful about noise and bad neighbours; and 20 per cent did not disclose work that had been done on the property. 

At the more positive end of the spectrum, however, many people have gone the extra mile in order to entice buyers – not by lying, but by sprucing up their home. Almost 60 per cent did some painting or decorating work before putting their home on the market, 44 per cent changed all the lights, and more than a quarter (26 per cent) did up the garden.

And what about the buyers? Turns out they haven't been entirely honest either, with 29 per cent lying about their monthly outgoings; 21 per cent not being truthful about the extent of their debts; and a small but substantial 19 per cent not telling the truth about how many people would be living in the home. 

These stats prove once again just how important it is to commission an independent survey of any property you are seriously considering buying – and to do as much research as possible before putting in an offer. 

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