Estate agents and dodgy dealings! I'm going to sound really thick in this thread...

bonbannah

Myself and partner have seen a house, liked it, wanted to put an offer in. After a few visits and phone call Estate agent said I reckon I can get it down to ___, if you give me 1k! We thought this a bit odd but put an offer in, then a slightly higher offer - both refused, then slightly higher. She came back to us and said that the middle offer had been accepted but we need to give her 2k!

Thinking about this, this probably means she didn't tell them the highest offer but just wanted to see how much money we have!

Unfortnately my partner who dealt with this part of the process was in a one tracked, I just want the house mood so said 'fine'.

She also said she needs a 1k holding deposit.

It seems she wants all of this in cash.

The house is not on the market with any other estate agent.

My partner has said that from now on I should speak to her in the hopes that the 2k can be 'forgotten' or I can say no to it!

Obviosuly I have no intention of handing over any cash. The holding deposit I can just about accept if paid by cheque with a formal agreement/ contract. But, I do not see why we should pay her a bribe - will this not get us into trouble as well at some point? (aside from the fact we don't actually have that money in cash - we would have put the money on the mortgage).

We really don't want to lose the house. However, I think we may have to accept this as a possibility.

The owners currently rent the property out so there is no way we can just pop by with a note and our phone number.

Advice?! Do we walk away?

DVardysShadow

Take the matter to Trading Standards. Backhanders like this are unacceptable, it hurts the business of buying and selling property.

As for what is actually going on here, it may not be what it seems to be - the property may not even be for sale, there could be one of many different scams going on here. So you are probably better off thinking that this one is not really on the market.

bonbannah

The idea of it not actually being for sale has crossed my mind - there is no sign outside. No floorplan on the website....

G_M

If the payment is a deposit, which eventually goes towards the purchase price, and you get a receipt which makes this clear, then it's unusual but acceptable.

If it is a cash back-hander, with no receipt or paperwork, it is outrageous. Go to Trading Stanfards.

DVardysShadow

bonbannah wrote: »

The idea of it not actually being for sale has crossed my mind - there is no sign outside. No floorplan on the website....

It is rented. Anything interesting about the viewing? Were the tenants there? How were they towards you?

bonbannah

The tennant was there when my partner went the first time, not when we both went, was there the last time we visited. We visited with very short notice the last time and the estate agent had to be pushed to arrange it.

The tennant rents the property from the same estate agents. We asked her about the neighbours, she seemed to know whether they were 'nice' but not names/ ages (thinking about it now!).

We asked her about how much utility bills were and she didn't actually give us an answer to this, just said she doesn't use the heating much in summer!


We also asked her who owned the property, she said somebody called 'Natalie' - although we have now looked the property up on the land registry and this is not the name of the owner! She did say she deals with the estate agents though not the owners.

I do believe the tenant lives there though - there was a bouncy castle in the garden which was removed whilst we there, had been up for her duaghter's party.

We have got the names of the owners, would it be weird for us to try and contact them if we can find them on directory enquiries?

FATBALLZ

Walk away. There's a good chance she'll take your cash and the sale will fall through (whether intentionally or not) and you'll never see your money again.

bonbannah

to be fair the 'backhander' was only to be paid on completion, but still... it's not like she won't get paid for it already!

bonbannah

She seemed fairly happy to move, she wants to be back in an apartment rather than a house. She also said the (same) estate agent has said she will find her somewhere to live!

DVardysShadow

bonbannah wrote: »

... We have got the names of the owners, would it be weird for us to try and contact them if we can find them on directory enquiries?

Your difficulty is working out who is in on it.

Nothing makes me think that the tenant is part of it. Presumably she was fairly accepting of her imminent move?

So is the owner in on it? The most benign explanation in my mind is that the agent is trying to fund a bung to the tenant to move out. Still not acceptable.

It would not be weird to contact the owner - for some explanations, the owner would definitely want to know.

bonbannah wrote: »

to be fair the 'backhander' was only to be paid on completion, but still... it's not like she won't get paid for it already!

The carry on with your offer, explain to your solicitor, him to write to seller's solicitor and query the arrangement. Move to a safe distance.

bonbannah

After a couple of discussions with friends we have found out this isn't entirely unusual! (althought still not quite right either)

We think that in order to get the vendors to lower the price (which the did substantially from original asking price), she agreed to lower her fee- and is then asking us to make up for this.

We'll wait for the letter of acceptance and then decide from there how to proceed.

Thanks for the advice everyone.