EA not passing on offer

blackshirtuk

Hi
I will try to make this brief....

A property came to the market on Monday, We made an appointment for Tuesday to view it (we were the first) Made an offer Tuesday afternoon.

Wednesday 9 am we phoned up the agent to see what the owner thought, but was told several others were interested and would probably now be looking for offers in excess of the asking price (£230k) and that there would be a meeting with the owner to discuss the offers that afternoon, so we offered £235K. They didn't say best offer or final bids or anything like that.

Wednesday 6pm we were called by agent to say our offer was not accepted and that the owner had accepted another offer. We queried why we didn't have a chance to up our offer but was told too late.

After feeling something wasn't right decided to go see the vendor (thursday afternoon) as we chatted at the viewing.

The Vendor told us that the agent did meet with him at 3 pm on wednesday and told him the best offer was £230k (even tho we offered 235k cash buy at 9am of the same day)

He went to the agents office thursday am to sign some paperwork and was told that the person who had offered £230k cash had now upped their offer to £237K !!

We told him what we had offered and that we could have offered if more if given the chance but were refused by the agent. We left our number and he was going to speak to agent.

Just had a call from the agent telling us we had gone behind his back to vendor and in doing so upset his client and that he (the agent) would never sell a property to us in the future and never wanted to hear from us again and to stop harassing his client!!

so to my questions,
I have read the code of practice and this board and I am under the impression the agent should have passed on our offer, a few post say by law they must pass on offers but I can't see what if any the consequences are for not passing on offers.

I do want to complain but if there is little or no punishment their seems no point. I am not worried that we didn't get the house so am not really seeking redress for any losses, but aside from being a little annoyed by this agent he told the vendor that he would get him the best possible price for his house to use in his retirement, he was downsizing.

So what can I do/should I do?? And what are the possible consequences for the Agent??

Many thanks for getting through the post and I welcome any advice or suggestions.

squeeks

Keep looking at other houses and make sure you never use that agent again.

rosie383

Any chance that the EA was Connells or one of their other group agents? And that you already had seen your own mortgage broker and didn't need to use theirs?

kinger101

The cash buyer will be a friend of the agent. You might write a letter to whichever ombudsman the agent uses, but unless the vendor is willing to confirm your version of events, it won't get you very far.

EDIT: Or as Rosie suggests above, the buyer use some other services provided by the agent. This ought to be made illegal. If I was selling a house, I'd only use an agent that didn't sell services to buyers.

Annie1960

You can complain to the Ombudsman or to the local press.
If nobody complains about this type of behaviour, then EAs will continue getting away with it.

stator

Agree with the above, the other buyer was probably using the EAs mortgage broker or conveyencing service, earning the EA an extra grand. You really must complain, it is absolutely disgraceful.

blackshirtuk

Thanks for the replies,

I have found the relevant rules from the ombudsman

Extract from The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Sales (as of 22.02.10)

· as recognized by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)

· as approved by the Office of Fair Trading under its Consumer Codes and Approval Scheme

6. Submission of Offers

6a By law, you must tellsellers as soon as it is reasonablypossible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged (in Scotland, missives have been concluded) unless the offer is an amount or type which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm each offer in writing to the seller, and to the buyer who made it, within two working days.

6b You must keep written or computerised record of all offers your receive – including the date and time of such offers – and the seller’s response. Such records should be made promptly.

Discrimination

6c By law you must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a prospective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them. Discrimination includes – but is not limited to – the following:

· Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.

· Telling the seller of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.

· Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.

· Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.

· Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided byyou or anyone else.

Can anyone point me towards which law this is referring to and who enforces it?

Thanks

Edit BTW it isn't connells this time but have had dealings with them in the past and now won't entertain them!!

eddddy

blackshirtuk wrote: »

....
Can anyone point me towards which law this is referring to and who enforces it?

Thanks

By coincidence, I posted that info a few mins ago in another thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/68348991#Comment_68348991

blackshirtuk

eddddy wrote: »

By coincidence, I posted that info a few mins ago in another thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/68348991#Comment_68348991

Thanks for the info

Any idea of the possible consequences for the agent assuming I could actually prove my case?

And should it be the vendor who should make the complaint?

ambioni

I think the problem here may lie in the fact that some EAs are solicitor-EAs and some are non-solicitor-EAs. Whilst the former are bound by strict Law Society guidelines and would be penalised for such behaviour, non-solicitor EAs are not and although they "should" adhere to a best practice guide not all do. If this EA was a solicitor-EA then of course complain direct to the Law Society England (or Scotland if that's where you are), otherwise the ombudsman may be a better route....and never use this EA again even if they are marketing your dream home

eddddy

blackshirtuk wrote: »

Any idea of the possible consequences for the agent assuming I could actually prove my case?

And should it be the vendor who should make the complaint?

I would assume anyone can complain about an offence being committed - and in any case, Trading Standards will want to talk to both seller and potential buyer.

It's all explained in the second link I provided to powys' site. Here's the relevant extract :

Powers of the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT)

The NTSEAT can issue warning and prohibition orders that could stop you working as an estate agent. The NTSEAT can require anyone, including clients and potential buyers, to give information or produce documents before deciding whether or not to issue an order or carry out other enforcement activities.



Making warning and prohibition orders

Warning and prohibition orders can be made against individuals, partnerships or companies, and anyone employed by them.

The NTSEAT will issue a 'Notice of Proposal' before making an order. This gives the affected person at least 21 days to explain why the proposed order should not be made.



Warning orders

The NTSEAT can issue a warning order if you break the law relating to:

Information on charges
Definition of terms
Your personal interest in a sale
Information to clients about offers
Information to clients about services provided to buyers
Misleading statements
Bias against buyers
Interest on clients' money.
If you breach the warning order, this could be proof that you are not considered fit to be an estate agent. You could be banned from further work under a prohibition order.



Prohibition orders

These orders can ban someone from all, or some aspect of, estate agency work. A prohibition order can be made if you have:

Breached a warning order
Been convicted of fraud or other dishonesty, or violence
Committed racial or sexual discrimination during your work as an estate agent
Been convicted of specified offences
Been convicted of certain offences under the Act
Breached certain provisions of the Act
Engaged in a practice declared undesirable under the Act.
A prohibition order can be issued whether or not a warning order was made previously. If you don't comply with a prohibition order, you have committed a criminal offence, and you could be fined.

Link: http://www.powys.gov.uk/en/licensing-trading-standards/national-estate-agency-standards/advice-for-estate-agents/