Estate agent is a b*****

ali137

Sorry about the tile of this thread.

I viewed a 2 bed ground floor flat today and the asking price was £170,000. I waited outside the house patiently for the estate agent to turn up but he came late, so before he turned up the house owner (75 year old man) insisted i came and saw the house. The estate agent then turned up and found me in the house talking to the house owner and he looked p***** off as i did not wait for him so he could show the property and talk crap basically.

After i finished looking at the property i waited for the estate agent to leave and i secured an offer with the house owner for the price of £158,000. The house owner told me to make an offer with the estate agent and when he gets asked he would say yes to the offer of £158,000.

The estate agent came back to me and lied and said that the owner did not accept my offer. I phoned the house owner and he said that he told the estate agent that he accepted the offer i made, but the estate agent was persistently telling him he could get a higher price. the vendor told me that he is scared that as he is in contract with the estate agent he thinks the agent will sue him, i don't have a clue what the hell the house owner is talking about. Thats his house he can sell it for 1p if he wants.

Can some tell me please when you sell a house what are the conditions on a contract with an estate agent???

What should i do?????

It seems to me like the estate agent has all the power over the owner of a house.

By the way i offered £158,000 because the owner had stared som refurbishment on the house but has not completed it.

sorry about the long thread i am really p*** off the the estate agent.:mad::mad::mad:

homer_j_3

By law, the agent has to pass on the offer - which he has done

The seller has the decision to accept or reject the offer

if accepted then the property should be sale agreed and put into the hands of mortgage co and solicitors to do their bits.

I would see if the EA is NAEA registered and forms part of the ombudsman scheme and make a formal complaint. Sounds like the EA is trying to play you big style.

http://www.naea.co.uk/help/complaints.asp call them and ask them what they think of your situation

BrandNewDay

It sounds to me like the EA has talked the owner into saying "no." When he told the EA that he would accept the offer, the EA argued that he could get much more and convinced him of that, so the answer truly was "no." Then, when you called him, he was embarrassed so he fobbed it off on the EA, so he wouldn't look like the bad guy. "I'm afraid of being sued" probably seemed easier to say than "I've changed my mind and I won't accept your offer, after all."

terrierlady

owners and sometimes buyers are liars, they seem afraid to speak the truth to each other, a friend has put her property on the market and every time a viewer comes around she seem postive they are going to offer one discussed her move date etc but when she phoned the agent they had brought elsewhere, owners sometimes themselves like the above poster stated dont like to speak the truth and say no, what i need to move is £..... then at least everyone is singing the same song, the agents are sometimes worthy of the complaints etc thrown at them but there are also good ones.
arrange another viewing with both vendor and agent present and make the offer so they both hear the same amount and get the deal done.
Dont be put off.

ethansmum

We part-exchanged our house for a bigger one. We booked a viewing through the EA, we liked it- they liked our house so we talked it through together and the deal was done. The EA had absolutely no input whatsoever- they didn't even come to the viewings.

lush_walrus

Well, I would say this is more likely to be the vendor saying one thing to you and one thing to the EA, than the EA stopping the offer. The fact that generally the EA takes viewers around says that the vendor is not happy (or perhaps as he is 75, his relatives are not happy) for him to show viewers, and rightly so in the world as it is.

My guess is there may be someone else involved, ie a relative who is also having a say in the acceptable price. I am yet to come across an elderly person who actually makes the decisions in these situations....9 times out of 10 they are moving in the first place because their daughter or son or whoever thinks that they will be better off moving.

The EA has very little to gain in stopping an offer being accepted, they want the sale.

cattie

Your offer should have been made thorough the ea in the first place. They are instructed by the vendor to sell the property. Vendor's are the one's that pay the ea his fee & as such a decent ea will do their very best to ensure the vendor receives the best price possible for the property.

Sounds to me that the ea in question is trying to do just that, and perhaps concerned that an elderly person with little experience of selling property does not understand the need to negotiate the best price possible from any potential purchasers, so certainly nothing wrong there.

ali137

The owner although 75 years old seems to know what he is doing as he has another house that he was selling. He also has a son and a partner which he told me. His son apparently done most of the building work. The vendor also told me that he wants to move from this country so therefore needs a quick sale.

Thanks Homer J i think i will make a complaint to the ombudsman. To tell the truth i think i will not go for the flat anymore as i am really p**** off.

BrixMorta

It's precisely this sort of ignorance that fuels the negativity towards EA's. In this instance they are trying to protect their client from a bullying potential buyer. Sellers often find it very difficult dealing face to face with people and often say yes in this type of instance to keep up a harmonious atmosphere.

Elliesmum

I negotiated our *deal* when we sold our second house without the EA's involvement, they don not like it. But at the end of the day they still got their fee with very little work ?

EM xx

BritBrat

Why don't you ask to have another look around and while the three of you are all together make an offer and sit back and see who say's what.

I think it would be fun.