Sale agreed but estate agent still allowing viewings

Confused247

Hi all,

Two weeks ago, I placed an offer on a property which was accepted. I chose a solicitor, submitted my mortgage application and passed all the details to the estate agent.

Today I received a phone call from the estate agent informing me that the seller has received a higher offer and asked if I would like to increase my offer.

I asked for more details and found that these new potential buyers viewed the property almost a week after my offer was accepted and as the property was empty, the estate agent even showed them round.

Does anyone know if estate agents are allowed to let other potential buyers view a property once a sale has been agreed?

I could understand if it was a different estate agent but not the estate agent who is handling the sale.

McBozo

agent works for the seller, more money means more commission.

if you up the bid it should be on condition they take it off the market.

DRP

Short answer is that the ea/vendor can do what they want.

Did you make your offer conditional on the house going Sstc?

Confused247

DRP wrote: »

Did you make your offer conditional on the house going Sstc?

Yeah the house was already marked as SSTC on the website before the other people viewed.

Old_Git

you could up your offer and they drop it at the last minute ,or you could say stuff you and look elsewhere .

Thrugelmir

Vendor is the one who decides. EA merely follows instructions.

dancingfairy

Ultimately the agents work for the seller but you unfortunately don't know if the sellers wanted it to remain on the market or whether the agents persuaded them to keep it on the market to try and get more money. I guess it's sort of irrelevant now You can either rise to it and be sucked into a potential bidding war or walk away.
It's morally a bit dubious but really you have little or no rights to force them to take it off the market.
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Audrey_Wright

Until you've signed the purchase agreement, they have the right whatever they want.
If somebody of those potential buyers offers more money you go in the trash on the moment. That's how it works, I suggest, as they continue to look for buyers, you continue to look for apartments, and even slightly hint it to them somehow.
Do not in any way make it seem like you're desperate and would do anything for this deal, as they can pull leverage all day long. Make it clear that you want to buy the place, but you're not set on it.

You can even tell them you've found a similar offer and unless they hurry it up, or close the deal with you, they might just lose you. Nobody likes losing their ensured route, even for the chance to get something extra.

brit1234

Estate agents are just talking serpents, by stitching you up they get more commission. There also may be no second higher bidder and they may be trying to get to bid you against yourself.

CWSmith

We viewed a house, like it a lot, and at the end, the vendors told us that they had already accepted an offer which was much lower than they had wanted and invited us to top it.

Being new at this game, we were shocked and astonished. We had no idea that this sort of thing went on. Anyway, as politely as possible through gritted teeth, we said 'no thank you'.

When we phoned the EA to have a go at them over this, they professed complete ignorance that an offer had even been made on the property, let alone accepted.

What we didn't get was, why accept an offer that you don't want?

Confused247

Thank you for your replies.

I was hoping that some governing body had put a stop to this. I have already paid the survey fee so it looks like I'm going to lose this.