Can estate agents do this?????

monkeymaster

redwineguzzler wrote: »

Hi,
Please be patient, this is my first post, but have looked at this site for many months.

Right - my problem is we have sold our house, we have put in an offer on another which was accepted, on condition it was taken of market (we are cash buyers) memorandum of sale was sent to us, we have solicitors working on sale etc. had a look on rightmove and house had been removed from our estate agents, only to find it had gone on with a completely new one, phoned my estate agent who denied knowing anything about it, but later that day found out he was lying, and he was the one who delivered the house keys to the new estate agent. (owners of house live abroad, so I cant speak to them about it) told my estate agent that he should speak to the owners and find out what is going on? apparently owner said he was just hedging his bets...............
Not happy with situation at all, this just leaves us with chance of being gazumped, and left to pay solicitors bills.:mad:
Any advice?

If they're going to play like that I'd pull out. What other tricks are they going to pull? If you're a cash buyer you can pretty much take your pick at the moment - it's a buyers market, take advantage!

megadishu

By the way - not all estate agents are bad - so please refrain from making insulting generalisations.

I have been working for an estate for about 4 months part time and have gained respect for the amount of work that goes in keeping deals together. I am happily surprised by how much work goes on in keeping the wheels turning to progress the sale and keeping people aware.

I work for this agent as they have done such a good job for me in buying and selling 3 houses.

I would ask your solicitor to get in touch with the vendor's solicitor and ask directly what the vendor's intention is so you can know if your offer might be replaced.

From my point of view it is a buyer's market but not all vendors see it like that. I also have a friend who have a very standard modern house but have had several full asking offers, despite having just lost a buyer - so you could end up losing the house but equally it depends on the vendors patience, particular circumstances, many factors that are not known.

I would go in and talk to each estate agent face to face after talking to the solicitors to be very clear on what is going on. You can then make a decision on what you know.

I agree that the current process is full of flaws and can mean people end up with survey and legal fees they should not have to pay. During the short time since I have worked in an estate agent I would say that only 1% of people are truly genuinely messed around by people with no principles, morals etc. No fun if you end up the victim but reassuring that majority of people are not like this.

Obviously as with ALL walks of life you may encounter good or not so good organisations that you deal with. Unfortunately in desperate times when people face losing their livelihood a few more people may use a few more
underhand tactics.

I am surprised at how many people are still moving who do not actually need to. There are many who have to by change of job, divorce, health reasons, death etc. etc.

Good luck and I hope it works out well for you.

PropertyPro

redwineguzzler wrote: »

Thanks Mark,

I feel I need to speak (as you say) to the solicitor tomorrow, but I think we in UK, need to have a more secure way of house buying. This is so stressful, and we, along with most other people have not got money to waste on solicitors whilst the vendors have no worries.

That's true, but I feel all is not lost here. Speak to your solicitor in the morning and if you get a chance let us all know how you get on.

napoleon

This is your moment, this is your time. The global economy is in meltdown.

GAZUNDER, GAZUNDER, GAZUNDER

If you don't you'll be kicking yourself in a year's time

Bf109

megadishu wrote: »

By the way - not all estate agents are bad - so please refrain from making insulting generalisations.

Evidence? .

Annpan

If the deal was they take it off the market, then they are in breach of your gentleman's agreement. Therefore, you don't need to behave like a gentleman and can gazunder without guilt.
And - I'm saying this as a seller.
However, they may have been in the process of changing agents and giving them the benefit of the doubt, give them another chance to be honourable. To my mind they're nuts to be upsetting their buyer. If you came to buy my house, I would treat you like gold dust.

PropertyPro

Bf109 wrote: »

Evidence? .

Despite owning a business which acts for the property purchaser instead of the seller, I feel I must speak on behalf of the honest estate agents out there. (Yes, they do exist.)

Having worked with various agents over the years, I can report that there are some bad eggs who would hold their mother hostage if they thought it would guarantee a sale. On the flip side, there are plenty of good people who do an awful lot of work to try to sort out the many problems that can arise during a transaction.

It's not easy trying to keep a deal together when vendor and purchaser are threatening to pull out at the last moment or screaming at the agent because they are not having things their own way.

Every profession has its share of good and bad workers. Estate agency is no different.

50plusabit

Firstly I must agree with Propertypro, I have just moved and my agent was wonderful (well he was the vendors agent). My 1st agent was crap, the second was fine, the the vendors agent was wonderful, the vendor was a pain in the !!!!.
I think you need to speak to the solicitor asap, then the new agent and explain the situation, if he is a good agent he will give you help.
I know if I was in this situation,I would be very tempted to start looking for another house, just in case it comes to that. Speak to the first agent and ask that he puts the situation in writing to you. Also say that the offer you made was on the condition that the property was taken off the market. Might be a good idea to get a frind to ring first and try to book a viewing!
Its true agents like yours leave the good ones with a bad name.

AJ1982

Hope it works out... but if u really wanna annoy them, make an offer through the new estate agent, once the sale goes through sit back and you can simply imagine the both estate agents fighting with him over "introduction" fees.

pawpurrs

There will be no fight over introduction the original Agent has allready recieved an offer, I would get the original agents to speak to the vendors and ask them to take the property of the market with the new agent, please dont start playing silly games.