Is this illegal or just poor business practice?

Iamdave

Had a bid accepted on a property this week, mortgage and solicitors in place etc etc,

Someone else bid on the property yesterday so I upped my bid to what I understand matched them, this person is said to be a cash buyer and so vendor wanted to switch to them in the mind that the sale will go through quicker.

firstly will the process with cash buyer be that much quicker considering I was having the bank survey done today and only be waiting on solicitors then?

The property was under offer previously from a person i understand to be this 'cash buyer' who then pulled out with my understanding to be from the vendor that he wasn't as clear cut a cash buyer as he'd made out.

The above is just the background to my case

With regards to the thread title, I accepted that the vendor wanted to go with the other vendor, fair enough that's up to me. When Estate agents told me of this they suggested/implied that the new buyer had offered asking price which I was not prepared to match.
so I rang my solicitor to cancel them in order not to incur further costs. I explained the situation to them the situation to which they asked if I'd increased my offer I explained that I was under the impression from the agents that the new buyer had offed asking price which I was not prepared to match that offer. (fair enough)

I then spoke to agents again trying to seen if the vendor would go with me as our bids were equal and I'd already incurred costs (BS'd the amount a bit), trying to pull on the heartstrings. agent then rang my solicitor (without my permission) about the situation, solicitor apparently told agent that I'd said a specific amount had been offered (£3k less than asking price) which I did not say, I said that i was under the impression asking price had been offered.

Agent then rang my mortgage adviser (who I had yet to speak to about the collapse) accusing them of feeding me info on the new buyer as they work out of the same office, (which obviously they couldn't have as I had yet to speak to them)

What I wanted to know is a) has the agent any right to be ringing my solicitor without my express permission and b) should my solicitor be telling them anything about what I've said to them about the situation?

Thanks

shortchanged_2

Welcome to the murky underworld of buying property.

Iamdave

Doesn't really answer my question lol

Just unhappy with that level of service especially if they want me to us them again.

jimjames

Iamdave wrote: »

What I wanted to know is a) has the agent any right to be ringing my solicitor without my express permission and b) should my solicitor be telling them anything about what I've said to them about the situation?

Anyone has the right to call your solicitor or any other solicitor for that matter and they do not need your permission to do so.

Your solicitor has a duty of confidentiality not to disclose your personal information to third parties (Data Protection Act etc) - however I would guess that you gave them permission to speak to the agent on your behalf as they would be unable to proceed with the transaction without it.

Iamdave

Yeah I can see your point, was very unhappy with them ringing my adviser accusing them of feeding me info though. Especially when I hadn't even spoke to them myself.

poppysarah

Find another property to buy.

Don't up your offer against a cash buyer incase its one that has flown from the mind of the EA into a brief and tortuous existance before disappearing and leaving you paying more.

JimmyTheWig

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it wasn't all an act to get you to increase your price.

Who would accept an offer from someone who's already messed you around rather than the same offer from someone who's already got the ball rolling?

I'd tell them they've got until the end of play today to accept your current offer, otherwise it will drop to what it was when they first accepted it.

[I'm assuming that you're a first time buyer, i.e. you don't have a property to sell which might fall through. If you do then the cash buyer will be a much more appealing prospect.]


As to the legality and professionalism, I agree with jimjames that you will have given your consent for them to talk to each other. You really want everyone talking to everyone else to help the sale go smoothly.

Iamdave

Yeah I'm a first time buyer, the only potential stumbling block was the survey which was due today. Cash buyer had messed seller around before doubt it's a ploy for then to get me to up my offer as they've already switched to this cash buyer even with my increased offer.

The sellers main motivation seems to be a quick sale, I can't really see how much quicker it's going to go with the cash buyer as it's the solicitors who generally slow things down isn't it?

ERICS_MUM

Non of this is illegal or poor business practice, but personally I expect my EA to talk to me first before contacting people to move it on quickly. If it were me I would walk away from this house and this estate agent. You won't feel able to trust him/her and I think the vendors aren't sure what they want.

Good luck with buying your first home.

Iamdave

Yeah also thought it unprofessional that when they rang me about the higher offer they basically said thie vendor was going that way, no ringing me to see if I wanted to up my offer.