Estate agent telling truth?

Does anyone know how up to date the Property price register is?

I was looking at buying an apartment last year in Dublin. There has been a 'For Sale' sign on it for several months so I called the Estate Agent to arrange a viewing. They said the place 'had been sold' but the 'for sale' sign is still up, there's no sign of it on the Property Price Register and as I pass it regularly, I can tell there has not been anyone living in it for about 8 months.

It's not listed on the Estate Agents own web site anymore or on the property portals. I have a feeling the owners took the business away from the Estate Agent and it might still be available. No idea how to get in touch with owners though.

Any ideas?

Why not write a letter and drop it under the door ?

The Register isn't uptodate and can be months out.

Can you leave them a note with your contact number? Maybe drop it in their letter box or under their door as previously suggested.
What about asking one of their neighbors if they know anything about the status of the apt?
Other than that you don't have too many options!

The register is very dependant on solicitor entering the details into the estamp system. Technically there is a time limit by when this should be completed after the sale completes, however the register has shown that more than a few aren't getting done inside this time limit. There is at least one known case of a solicitor not filing returns too which is with the Law Society.

Outside of that, on nearly all of the updates since it went live I've seen properties being added that have sale dates back in 2010. There is an email alert function on http://propertypriceregisterireland.com if you want to get alerted whenever the property shows up.

I wouldn't take the lack of it showing up to mean it hasn't been sold however. One house I passed yesterday was sold in Dec 2011 (not a typo) and is still empty. Was near the middle of last year before the sold sign was removed from it too.

When we bought it was up in no time, cant remember how quick now but it was less than 2 weeks after we were in

we bought in october

It may be that the house is not for sale as contracts are signed but there is a delay in completing or there is a delay in signing the contracts.

The house across the road from us only completed the sale 5 months after going sale agreed.