Estate Agent not passed offer on

RHemmings

It would be interesting if people got friends or family to put in bogus offers on the properties they have for sale, and see if the offers get put through.

LucyLocketOutOfPocket

Find out if your EA is a member of the Ombudsman of EAs. If they are then you may have redress. My co. is a member & I have a duty of care to my vendors...this includes passing on ALL offers. We have to verify that the offerer can afford the property, but even if they cant we still have to tell the V and advise them of the Os situation.
You can see if you EA is a member of the Ombudman here
https://www.oea.co.uk/

No wonder we have a bad name generally! There ARE some good EAs out there..!

Jorgan_2

Unless you have instucted your EA, in writing, not to inform you of any offers below a certain figure, they must put all offers forward to you as soon as possible. Its the law. If you want to complain about the EA speak to your local Trading Standards officer.

maizie_moo

Thanks to everyone for your advice and just to give an update; I spoke to the EA yesterday, who said she was not aware of this third offer, but that she would try and find out who it may have been given to, as it definitely wasn't her. She also said she would speak to the couple. She did confirm they rang up last week to chase an offer, but as she wasn't aware of any other offer, she assumed they were talking about the offer which we refused, and told then there was no change, ie, offer was still rejected. The agent did come across as being sincere and when I told her that the couple said they would now consider some of the other houses they were interested in, she was quite surprised. She also said that when they were taken onto the EA books their level of funds indicated prices of houses in the region of 40/50k less than ours!! Their logic being that as they had to accept a lower offer on their house to sell it, then they would submit lower offers on houses they viewed.

I rang the EA again today, but she has now gone on holiday...so will have to wait until she is back to see if she managed to speak to this couple. We have decided this couple are time wasters and even if they were to come back with the same or higher offer we would refuse to sell to them. I don't think they can be trusted.

We have signed up with a new EA from yesterday and within and hour and half of being on market, we have someone wanting to view! So I'm busy tweaking the house ready for tomorrow. Wish me luck!

[Deleted User]

Good on you, I wouldn't trust that couple either! Good luck and keep us posted.

CashSaver_2

maizie_moo wrote:

As a bit of background, we have only had one viewing, this couple. They telephoned us with an offer, far too low so we rejected it. They then formally put an offer in via the EA, which again was way too low, so again we rejected it. The EA sent us a letter confirming our rejection. We have had limited contact with the EA since, except on the day we handed our cancellation notice in, that same day they rang up, not as we expected to enquire why we were cancelling, but to say "well you've had a few viewing but maybe the house is overpriced and to think about reducing it"!
The interested couple claim they lost our contact detail and that is why they kept contacting the EA and not us direct.
It has been suggested by the couple that perhaps as the agency is commission based, then an agent may have been hoping for a higher sale to enhance their commission element. I'm not sure about this, as the rate is 1.25% which wouldn't realise such a great sum, commission wise. The difference between the asking price and the offer price was 5k

The bit that made me chuckle was that the interested couple lost your contact details. Did they forget which house the'd put an offer on? Even if they didn't have your telephone number you would have thought that would have remembered the address!!

I had problems with an EA trying to get a second viewing for a house I liked - so I just went round to the vendors and left a note. We eventually made an offer that was accepted.

hechizero

I had a similar experience a short while back. In fact the EA refused to take my offer. Then after creating a raucous, said he would take the offer, but there was no way I could confirm it reached the seller...EA's suit themselves and IMO this type of blatant disrespect for the law happens on a daily basis. The reason the law does not work is that all communication with an EA is usually verbal. They know that verbal confirmation is not worth anything. Not in the real world and certainly not in court. EA's are basically pimps for houses don't trust them - period (there are a few exceptions, but too few to mention)

Jorgan_2

hechizero wrote:

I had a similar experience a short while back. In fact the EA refused to take my offer. Then after creating a raucous, said he would take the offer, but there was no way I could confirm it reached the seller...EA's suit themselves and IMO this type of blatant disrespect for the law happens on a daily basis. The reason the law does not work is that all communication with an EA is usually verbal. They know that verbal confirmation is not worth anything. Not in the real world and certainly not in court. EA's are basically pimps for houses don't trust them - period (there are a few exceptions, but too few to mention)

Always ask for written confirmation that your offer has been put forward & the outcome of it is stated. We always confirm in writing to both parties, with a copy of the offer letter to the vendor attached to the proposed buyers letter. The feedback from the vendor is stated, even if they are considering the offer & haven't said yes or no.

chadfield

Don't understand why these guys bothered to pop round to follow up on the offer but at the same time 'will not commit'. They sound a bit dodge pot to me....

lush_walrus

hechizero wrote:

I had a similar experience a short while back. In fact the EA refused to take my offer. Then after creating a raucous, said he would take the offer, but there was no way I could confirm it reached the seller...EA's suit themselves and IMO this type of blatant disrespect for the law happens on a daily basis. The reason the law does not work is that all communication with an EA is usually verbal. They know that verbal confirmation is not worth anything. Not in the real world and certainly not in court. EA's are basically pimps for houses don't trust them - period (there are a few exceptions, but too few to mention)

Ok, just so you know, according to trading standards (who deal with anything to do with EAs registered or not same as any other organisation) all EAs are obliged to put forward all offers, both verbally and in writing to the vendor. So if you feel that an offer has not been put forward, then simply check with the vendor.

Secondly, verbal communications do stand up in court, to such a degree that verbal contracts exist and are exactly what happens when you go into a shop to potentially buy an item. There is an offer, ie the item for sale at a price, and upon purchasing the item there is an acceptance, which forms a contract that the shop will sell it at advertised price, and the purchaser will pay x amount. Same applies to properties, where there is reason to believe that due to such and such verbal offer, there is such and such verbal acceptance or rejection etc so once an offer has left your mouth an offer of a contract exists.

Thirdly, any EA will more than welcome any realistic offer on any property, as realistic offers on property result in a sale and end result is that they get their commission.

Buying and selling property is a very emotive situation for both the buyer and vendor and this is where half of the want to blaime an EA comes from. Yes there are some dodgy EAs but Im afraid dodgy exists in every career path. But as reading through this thread has proven, it isnt always the EA to blaime!