Suspect Fake offers on a house? How can I check?

judosteffer

Hi everyone,

Couldnt find any other threads on this but forgive me if its already posted.

I thought "shill bidding" e.g. inventing other people bidding on a house is illegal.

Basically I put an offer on a house for £193,500. I understood from the estate agent in previous conversations that there had been no other offers for this house at all.

Then suddenly the day I put the offer in, the estate agent tells me " oh someone put another offer in"

I was like, yeah right- who?

But they said "oh, not at liberty to tell you"

anyway, because I wanted the house I put in a revised offer of £195,000

Which was accepted, but I reckon the estate agent was inventing the "other person" who I dont think existed at all, but has now made me pay £1500 extra for the house.

Is there a way to prove this?

e.g. I thought all offers had to be submitted in writing - could I ask, under the freedom of information act, to see all the offers? If it turns out the offer never existed- could I take them to a small claims court? What would be my chances of winning?

If not, whats to stop ruthless estate agents from always "inventing" fake offers, just to push the price up?

Fashionably_Late

I would check http://www.offerregister.co.uk

This was suggested by a friend of mine.

lynzpower

first up, no one made you do anything,. you chose to bid more, and some of us would not have done that.

You cant see letters to the vendor, unles the vendor wants to share them with you.

freedom of info act only applies to government agencies, not businesses. Data protection act applies to compalnies, but only your own data can be shared.

judosteffer

lynzpower wrote: »

first up, no one made you do anything,. you chose to bid more, and some of us would not have done that.

You cant see letters to the vendor, unles the vendor wants to share them with you.

freedom of info act only applies to government agencies, not businesses. Data protection act applies to compalnies, but only your own data can be shared.

So basically estate agents can do what they want, entirely free of any law? Is that right? Surely its illegal? Are there no controls at all over this kind of thing happening?

Alfie1999

The EA didn't force you to increase your offer.

You either think the house is worth what they want or you don't.

Take responsibility for your actions.

Taadaa

I think it's quite easy to panic when faced with something like this, then wonder afterwards if you have done the right thing.

You can check the register as suggested, and consider what you will do after that. Or accept that what's done is done, you are getting the house that you want, and forget about it.

lynzpower

judosteffer wrote: »

So basically estate agents can do what they want, entirely free of any law? Is that right? Surely its illegal? Are there no controls at all over this kind of thing happening?

Nope, they are constrained by all the trading standards legislation, also the EA act, and property misdescriptions act.

No one forced you to up your offer. you certainly wont be the last person to have made an increased offer while feeling the pressure

If you dont want to pay that then simply phone the EA, and tell them you want to make a revised offer 1500 below.

then if it gets rejected youll have saved yourself a 1500 quid.

if there is no other buyer the EA might com grovelling back to you.

Guy_Montag

You can always drop the price at the last minute by £1,500

BrixMorta

If you dont want to deal with an EA who's job is to get the best price for a property then dont. There are plenty of private sellers websites you can use to source your next property. How about Tesco's, their sellers are saving loads and this could be passed on to you in a lower sale price.

lynzpower

Guy_Montag wrote: »

You can always drop the price at the last minute by £1,500

and watch the vendor tell you where to go leaving you a nice big sols bill .
Brilliant advice guy!

Guy_Montag

lynzpower wrote: »

and watch the vendor tell you where to go leaving you a nice big sols bill .
Brilliant advice guy!

Not my money *shrugs*