compensation from Estate Agent ??

martinjade

Hi

Looking for some advice or any similar experiences please.

Recently bought a repossesed house that had been empty for a year. It was on the market with a national agent selling on behalf of a bank who marketed it locally via 2 local agents.

After discussing the moral issues etc we decided to make an offer which was accepted via 1 of the local agents. It then went on public notice. I arranged a survey, mortgage offer etc

A higher offer was subsequently received via the 2nd agent from a couple who lived locally. A "dutch auction" ensued culminating in us buying the house at £45,000 higher than my original offer.

During the process, it was brought to my attention whilst visiting the area that the other bidder was well known in the area as being a "Walter Mitty" type character and made a habit of this sort of thing. He'd put offers on other properties in the area, only to pull out at the last moment.

On more than one occasion I brought this to the agents attention who referred it back to the national agent and each time the message came back that he was "proceedable" and this had been verified. The reason that we were succesful is that on the day of my surveyors visit to the house, the other bidder attempted to bribe the surveyor into making up ficticious things wrong with the property(the surveyor rang me that night to tell me).

Having failed in the bidding process with the other agent, on the day of exchange he tried to put in a bid with the agent I was dealing with. !!

Since we have moved in we have subsequently learned that in no shape or form was he "proceedable" At no stage did he start a mortgage process, his age and current financial position would have prevented this. We had to jump through hoops to prove we were proceedable.

No one else was involved, so his actions and the fact that his position was not checked by the other local agent or the national one has cost us £45,000

I feel that I'll be probably be wasting my time, but surely there should be some form of recourse against the national agent and maybe the 2nd local agent ?

Thanks

JQ.

Yep, you would be wasting your time. Nobody forced you to increase your offers. There's no legal obligation for offers to be verified as proceedable - that's at the discretion of the seller. It is the EA's responsibility to get the highest price possible for the house, sounds like they did a good job.

If you feel you've overpaid, then that's the fault of the valuer not the EA.

jc808

A couple of rugby player mates, hockey masks, and some rather heavy pieces of Oak lumber time!!!

martinjade

You're quite correct no one forced us to increase our offers. However, isn't it fraudulent for an Estate Agent to confirm that someone is proceedable, when they haven't verified it. ? Surely, its like saying a house has 5 bedrooms when it only has 3 ?
Haven't overpaid at all, just questioning the underhand tactics used, and wondering what opinion the Property Ombudsman would have. Perhaps maybe just handing it over to the OFT, or a no win no fee lawyer would be suitable

celyn90

You said you found out during the process - but still proceeded with upping your offer. You made the decision to increase despite your doubts.

The EA has no duty and no right to tell you about the finanical status of another party - it's a breach of confidentiality. The other buyers status is nothing to do with you. If I had been the other buyer, I would have been seeing red if the EA had told someone else, however vaguely, about my finances or proceedability.

It's not for you to make judgements about someone elses finances. So what if he was too old to get a mortgage - he may have the cash sum in used twenties under the bed; you'll never know things like this for certain and neither would the EA necessarily. They don't have to vet the buyers - these decisions are with the seller. An offer is an offer - nothing is binding on either side until exchange.

If the mortgage company went with him over you guys, and he couldn't proceed, the house would have gone back on the market and the whole thing would have started again.

If it was truly the case he wasn't proceedable, haste cost you 45K, not the EA.

hazyjo

Until a mortgage is actually agreed, nobody is guaranteed proceedable (even then it can change!). The EAs can only go on what he tells them and shows them. Very easy to give the impression of being proceedable and I wouldn't be blaming the EA for getting it wrong.

Pain, but I don't think there's much you can do. It's the nightmare of buying a repo, or buying in a rising market.

The same thing could have happened with another buyer with a different reason. Until it's exchanged, anyone can pull out with any excuse. You might have been competing with someone who lost their job - still would be in the same boat...

Jx

martinjade

celyn90 wrote: »

You said you found out during the process - but still proceeded with upping your offer. You made the decision to increase knowing the very fact you now wish to blame someone else for.

I would think that alone would put you in a very weak position.

I think my post said that during the process I found out about the guy's character which, made me question his position and that on more than one occasion the EA confirmed that he had been verified as proceedable. It was only AFTER we had moved in that we found out that this was not true and that the EA had lied

How would you feel. ?

BitterAndTwisted

I'd feel that I had most of the information during the buying process to believe that the other prospective buyer was a time-waster. I would have withdrawn my offer and sat tight. You chose not to.

martinjade

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I'd feel that I had most of the information during the buying process to believe that the other prospective buyer was a time-waster. I would have withdrawn my offer and sat tight. You chose not to.

Yes, I agree. Hindsight is a wonderful science.

However, the judgement call made was based on 3 times being told that the other bidder had been "verified as proceedable"

Now to subsequently learn that this wasn't the case, and that this had been said to bump the price up, surely is not correct.

I'm a big boy and stand or fall by my decisions, we still got a bargain by the way, just wondering if EAs can say what they like without control or recourse.

celyn90

martinjade wrote: »

I think my post said that during the process I found out about the guy's character which, made me question his position and that on more than one occasion the EA confirmed that he had been verified as proceedable. It was only AFTER we had moved in that we found out that this was not true and that the EA had lied

How would you feel. ?

Applogies if I misinterpreted - your post does suggest that during the process you werre aware of the behaviour of the other bidder or at least had concerns. Sorry if my post came across as terse, it isn't meant to be.

I would feel annoyed, really really annoyed; but if there had been any inkling of anything dodgy I would have sat back. It's difficult I think to keep your cool - especially once you start to tip cash into the process and get attached to the place.

We were gazumped three times on ours (also a repo/FTB). Only small amounts each time, but it was super stressful. On the last attempt, I just made it clear that that was my final offer, if the other guy wanted it that badly I would send him a "New Home" card with good grace. And then we waited and didn't respond to phone calls for a bit.

We went in with a pre-set limit before we even placed an offer and were not going to budge over that.

It is stressful, it is hard to keep your cool, it is hard to judge, hard not to panic when you think you are losing your grip on something that you want; I'm not saying it isn't - I just don't think you have any recourse.

If you didn't know any different, would you be happy with the price you paid and the house you have? That is the main thing

JQ.

EA : are you proceedable?
Other bidder : yes I am.

EA has verified they are proceedable.

There is no law relating to the definition of what is proceedable, it's up the the EA and their client to decide what they accept.