Can E/Agents refuse to divulge info?

Katykat

Son has his eye on reposessed house, going up for sale in 2 days. He's been advised through this site to put his offer in writing to the EA's and also send a copy to the seller ( BS or Bank we presume), but they wont tell him who the seller is. They say all business has to be conducted through them and the vendor doesn't want any contact with the buyer until an offer has been accepted.. He isn't trying to bypass them,he just wants to make sure that his offer actually makes it to the sellers. Whats his position?

Gorgeous_George

He cannot force the EA to provide the information. The EA is acting on behalf of the vendor.

GG

Incisor

Katykat wrote: »

Son has his eye on reposessed house, going up for sale in 2 days. He's been advised through this site to put his offer in writing to the EA's and also send a copy to the seller ( BS or Bank we presume), but they wont tell him who the seller is. They say all business has to be conducted through them and the vendor doesn't want any contact with the buyer until an offer has been accepted.. He isn't trying to bypass them,he just wants to make sure that his offer actually makes it to the sellers. Whats his position?

Yep, Estate Agents are not obliged to tell anyone who their client is, and if you try to demand the info too vigourously, you will p them off no end, because they don't want you doing anything with the vendor behind their back - an offer behind their back puts them in a much harder position to claim their fee, so they will fight it tooth and nail.

As I understand it, you can get the info from the LandRegistry. For a repo, you will need the details of the bank, who will be shown having a charge on the property

bookduck

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

He cannot force the EA to provide the information. The EA is acting on behalf of the vendor. GG

Yes, very true and in some cases the EA will not put his offer forward even if it is better as the EA may have mates put in a bid. It may be illegal to do, but does not stop some of them.

Your son could always contact the Land registry and for a few £, the will tell him who the owner is -2 days though, I'm not sure how fast they are. Neighbours are another source. Council are usually tight lipped, but he may get lucky

poppysarah

It'll be in the HIP. It does have a HIP?

SquatNow

bookduck wrote: »

Yes, very true and in some cases the EA will not put his offer forward even if it is better as the EA may have mates put in a bid. It may be illegal to do, but does not stop some of them.

Let them. If they want to get their mates to buy a house in a falling market then that their loss.

bookduck

SquatNow wrote: »

Let them. If they want to get their mates to buy a house in a falling market then that their loss.

Yes, but there are bargains out there even if the market is not falling. This one could be just to good to miss

Incisor

SquatNow wrote: »

Let them. If they want to get their mates to buy a house in a falling market then that their loss.

But manouvering to avoid a better offer from the OP is defrauding both mortgagor and mortgagee. The supposed mates might get it at less than the overall trough value.

bookduck

Incisor wrote: »

But manouvering to avoid a better offer from the OP is defrauding both mortgagor and mortgagee. The supposed mates might get it at less than the overall trough value.

Ia was in the same position as the OP, but knew slightly more than he did. The bank wants money and shortfall will be paid by the current owner. Say there was a 3 bed excellent condition detached house in Gillingham, half way between the hospital, walking distance to the train station and the town with its own off road parking too. the bank told the agents a ball park figure, the agents told their building buddy the ball park figure, the building buddy viewed and mad an offer around the ball park figure to the agent, who them made an offer to the bank. Say I was to contact the agent I would get a reply that the bank it already viewing another offer which they are about to accept. So the agets get commission. (not exactly sure about this bit) After the building buddy does some snagging he gives it back to the agent to sell and commission 2 - or a back-hander

I 'knew' the owner and was an interested party

Katykat

Thanks folks. Son only wants to pay the asking price, he just has a feeling that it is already cut & dried. It is a house he has wanted for ages, but it seems he's going to lose out.

bubblesmoney

i have strong suspision that a few EAs indulge in this. recently in the last couple of months i wanted to view 2 properties via an EA and both times i never got any dates to view both the properties. for one i called 3 times and 3rd time i even complained that no one ever gets back and then they told me the property is off the market but it was still on the market on rightmove for many weeks afterwards. i was so !!!!ed off i went to the house but it was vacant and couldnt complain to the vendors about the EA. now i never try to book any viewings with that particular EA (jump). i understand if this particular EA is of the sort that buys houses as well or gets their buddies into the game etc might be a possibility, so i figuure that must have been the game plan all along by stringing along the vendor or atleast thats the impression i got. i never ever ever bother looking at an advertisemnent about a house by that EA now. i was prepared to give almost asking price for that advertised property which i was after but that was not to be as i never got a viewing for it inspite of calling many times. even now one of the properties is still on the market, i asked for a viewing few times a month or 2 ago and they didnt get back to me. if they try to sue me for libel, they are welcome to, i have got my phonebill records to prove i called them quite a few times. infact i have viewed quite a few houses in the same development via different agents and mostly buying another house on the same estate for much lesser now because of their delaying tactics. so when my sale price gets on the net, hope the EAs buddy buyer gets screwed as hopefully my price might undercut theirs and if they put it back on the market hope they get screwed nice and proper. although there is a possibility they might have bought it for lower than me as they might be cash buyers. if only wishes were horses