Agent wants to " substantiate" our offer before he puts it to vendor?

HenBroon

Husband and I made an offer on a house yesterday; I put it to the EA in writing by email this morning. No response till about 5 pm when some "senior negotiator" at the agent calls me to tell me that this particular agent has what he described as a "trademark process" of ensuring that buyers can " substantiate" an offer before passing it to the vendor. I am to expect a call from his colleague tomorrow who just happens to be an independent mortgage broker.

We already have an agreement in principle via London and Country for way more than the amount we need to borrow, and are putting in a 50% deposit. We are chain free. I told the him this but he said that his mate would need to ask me some more questions.

It's a scam on two fronts isn't it? First, get some bloke to ask me a load of financial questions to work out how much more we have to spend and force us to up our offer. Second to drum up business for their broker.

Can I just decline to provide any more info and remind him that they are legally obliged to pass on the offer to the vendor?
Has anyone else come across this?

Oh and to cap it all, just before he put down the phone he said "Ciao".

HappyMJ

Just say submit the offer I'm not interested in talking to a mortgage broker or about mortgages as I have the funds in place already.

I wouldn't answer anything you don't want to reveal you have more to offer.

WeAreGhosts

i've come across having to substantiate an offer before, especially when there has been several interested parties. but having you speak to a broker is cheeky. decline and tell him he's legally obliged to pass on the offer.
if you have further problems, it'll probably be worth going to the vendor direct.

Herbalus

If you do remind them of their legal obligations, best do it as politely as possible. Getting their back up by telling them what they have to do isn't going to make them very co-operative.

Being sweet and saying that you already have a mortgage sorted, but thanks very much for the offer to help (and you told the EA that, so you feel very bad for the broker because it's a pointless call for them), will probably go down better.

HenBroon

No, you're not getting the full sense of how they put it. It was "we will not tell the vendor about your offer until you have provided enough financial information to us to prove you have the funds in place".

Not, "would you like to have a quick chat to our broker?"

HappyMJ

HenBroon wrote: »

No, you're not getting the full sense of how they put it. It was "we will not tell the vendor about your offer until you have provided enough financial information to us to prove you have the funds in place".

Not, "would you like to have a quick chat to our broker?"

Then just be firm with them and politely decline to prove that you have the funds in place. It's not a legal requirement to do that. It is required of them to pass on your offer. If they keep refusing approach the vendor directly with your offer and ignore the agency.

HouseBuyer77

It is required of them to pass on your offer

They may have specifically instructed the agent to not pass on any offer that has not been qualified? A silly thing for them to do but you could well imagine the kind of EA who asks for such things wouldn't be above convincing a vendor that this was a good idea (perhaps they could even go 'we'll ensure any offers passed on to you are qualified first, would that be ok?', then later if someone calls them out on this say they were simply acting on instructions from the vendor).

If this is the case then directly approaching the vendor could backfire (they'll decide you have something to hide which is why you're avoiding the process).

Give HappyMJ's suggestion a go by all means but if the EA has got the vendor bamboozled into thinking their pre-qualification procedure is vital you might just have to hold your nose and do it (or walk way, depends how much you want the place).

lessonlearned

Show your solicitor evidence that you have funds in place, ie bank statement for Deposit and the AIP for the mortgage.

Your solicitor then can email the EA to confirm that You have sufficient funds. The solicitor will not divulge your financial details.

it is part of the EAs job to ascertain whether or not the purchaser does indeed have the the wherewithal to buy. However, you do not have to divulge all your financial details to them nor do you have to meet with their Appointed FA.

eddddy

You could try 'playing the game'...

Say you've got an AIP, but if your offer is accepted you'll go in for a chat to see if they can find you a better deal.

Then they'll try a bit harder to persuade the vendor to accept your offer... hoping they'll get the sales commission plus your mortgage commission.

Then once the offer is accepted, you can change your mind about the chat, and stick with your current AIP.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Put plainly, when EAs do this they are making people give confidential data to those who are not working in their interest. It's really quite wrong when you think about it like that (I believe people are far too casual with their personal data in this country anyway).

Politely tell the broker that you're happy with the deal you got with a whole of market one. Say you understand that the vendor only wants to deal with serious buyers, so you'll get your solicitor to confirm your funds.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Contact the vendor directly. Tell them the EA has refused to pass on their offer and they are clearly free of any obligation to pay the EA their fee should you complete on the deal. Notify the EA of the same.