No response from agent?

englishhaze

We recently viewed a property in London and expressed interest and submitted an offer a few thousand below the asking price. The agent did not acknowledge that email by reply but confirmed in telephone and face to face conversations that they had received it and it would be passed to the vendor.

We received no further communication from the agent for a week, we had to instigate every interaction with them even going to their offices to follow up the offer and were told that the vendor was taking their time making up their mind and that they would let us know when there was anything to tell.

Today the property has been marked as "Sold STC" on their web site! We were never consulted on our offer or given any opportunity to improve it. We are cash buyers with no chain so we find it hard to understand why we weren't given any opportunity to fairly bid on this property.

Is this common practise for agents to just decide they're not interested in a potential buyer and cut them out of the loop by simply not corresponding? By not communicating they can't be accused of misleading or giving wrongful information since they didn't give any information! They didn't even respond to questions about the lease and management charges etc. We don't even know if they submitted our offer to the vendor.

Does the process of negotiation not happen in London anymore simply because there are so many potential buyers? The last time I bought a house the process was that you submitted an offer and if it wasn't acceptable then you were told so and given the opportunity to improve on it. That doesn't seem to happen now. If your initial offer doesn't meet requirements you're just dropped with no indication of why and no chance of a second offer.

Advice from anyone with more experience of the London property market would be appreciated.

alchemist.1

I imagine they received an offer substantially over the asking price in London.
In such a quick moving market EA's don't need to wait around for buyers like yourself to incrementally increase offers.

kinger101

Legally, EAs are required to pass on all offers to the vendor unless instructed not to (e.g., to far below asking). If this is a sale by the owner-occupier, you could always pop a note through their door.

Perhaps the other buyer's offer was more appealing and the vendor didn't want to negotiate further, but it's not unheard of for EAs to do friends favours.

marksoton

englishhaze wrote: »

We recently viewed a property in London and expressed interest and submitted an offer a few thousand below the asking price.

The fact is in London this simply isn't going to cut the mustard.

Vendors and EA's don't need to faff about with the normal conventions. Not particularly pleasant but that's the way it is.

englishhaze

So common courtesy of replying to correspondence just goes out of the window?

alchemist.1

englishhaze wrote: »

So common courtesy of replying to correspondence just goes out of the window?

Yes. Unfortunately.

marksoton

englishhaze wrote: »

So common courtesy of replying to correspondence just goes out of the window?

It would appear so...

kinger101

englishhaze wrote: »

So common courtesy of replying to correspondence just goes out of the window?

In an ideal world, they'd respond. But perhaps they had several offers above asking price, and they'd not have time to get back to you as you were never in contention.

AdrianC

englishhaze wrote: »

We received no further communication from the agent for a week, we ... were told that the vendor was taking their time making up their mind and that they would let us know when there was anything to tell.

Today the property has been marked as "Sold STC" on their web site!

So there y'go. Everything relevant in a nutshell.

You put an offer in. The vendor took a while to get back to the agent.
When they did, they said they'd decided to accept a different offer.

Next property, please.

The last time I bought a house the process was that you submitted an offer and if it wasn't acceptable then you were told so and given the opportunity to improve on it. That doesn't seem to happen now.

That time, yours would have been the only offer - just not high enough.
This time, we know there was at least one other offer.

pathtofreedom

You might think as a cash buyer that makes you look attractive. Depending on why they are selling, they might think you're a landlord or developer, and if they like their neighbours they might be happier to wait for someone with a mortgage, even if they offered the same if they think those buyers will fit in better.

Are you looking to buy for yourself to live in as your only residence, as it might be worth explaining that next time you offer on somewhere, to make it clear you're buying for yourself and why you like the house so much, especially in an area like london where they will have a pick of buyers.