Any advice gratefully received - dodgy agent

THJ

Hi

To cut a really long story short, my mum is downsizing. She's in her 70s, widowed and even though she's a pensioner who struggles with money her house is worth a lot. It's been on with an agent for 6 months, with the family doing the liaising as she's never bought or sold a house by herself and frankly, she's too trusting. It started at 1.5m on their advice, now reduced to 1.33m.

They have been generally rubbish but the hassle of getting another agent, more photos, etc has kept us with them.

We extended thevcontract for a month 2 weeks ago and in this time the house was at 1.37m. An offer came in for 1.3, we said no. The estate agent advised we drop to 1.33 to generate more interest and hopefully increase the offer to halfway. I hate this nonsense, but agreed and it worked. Buyer apparently upped offer to 1.315m. I say apparently because a formal offer was never received. We said mum would have a think, which she did and wanted to accept. When my sister phoned the agent a couple of days later he said "You rejected that offer and the buyer's now in Australia"

He then sent an offer letter and reject letter retrospectively and advised us to lower the asking price to 1.2m though comparable housing stock on the road and area is way above this. And this is a week after receiving a near asking price offer!!

We have made a formal complaint to the estate agent as required by the Property Ombudsman. BUT we are still 2 weeks in contract? Obviously, we have lost faith in them completely. We asked him to contact the buyer in Australia to accept the offer but he's not interested now after we "rejected his offer". I know not sending an offer in writing is against the law but he's adamant he did. Why on earth would we reject the offer he had engineered?

In addition to this, they had the house advertised as "chain free" although they were alerted to the error. This led to several confused conversations with viewers.

They have 13 more days to respond to complaint and 2 weeks for contract to run-what happens to viewings in the meantime??

Sorry to ramble. I know it seems like a first world problem, but this house is her pension. She'll be buying smaller but the same area (London)

Thanks for reading.

booksurr

so you have a vastly overpriced property which did not attract any offers in the 6 months it was initially on the market

then when you got an offer your greed got the better of you and you rejected it on the basis it was 5% below your asking price. Yet anyone knows that a range of +/- 5% is well within the normal margin for settling on a final price versus an asking price. I fail to see how the agent has let you down, it appears you have instead let yourselves down.

mozza78

Really not sure you are going to get a whole lot of sympathy here when asking you're using the suffix 'm' to talk about your housing woes

G_M

Stop efin about!

1) get in 3 other agents and get their valuations to compare. Ask them for a) what they recommend marketing at and b) what they think it might actually achieve. Compare with your current asking price.

2) do your own search of sale prices of localproperties

3) You clearly aren't happy with this agent.

We extended thevcontract for a month 2 weeks ago

meaning what? What are the exact terms of the contract? A minimum term of 1 month (2 weeks ago)? What about notice period (often 4 weeks)? Are there any penalties for ending the contract (eg payment for an otherwise free EPC)?

4) appoint new agent. Make sure the minimum contract period is not more than 8 weeks (does not mean you can't stay longer), and notice period is maximum 2 weeks.

Ask old agent for a complete list of everyone they have introduced up to end of contract and give this to new agent, so as to avoid arguments if one of them returns via new agent.

5) if the complaint makes you feel better, go for it. But what do you hope to achieve? Farmore important to focus your time/energy of the future, not the past.

So assuming your contract requires you to give notice, do so now (you may be locked in for another 4, 6 or even 8 weeks depending on notice period.

THJ

Wow, what a mean lot. You didn't even read the post.
If it was a 200k house and an agent hadn't passed on a firm offer and then fabricated an offer and rejection letter you'd be full of advice. The offer was accepted.
The fact is London properties are this price. My house isn't worth a 3rd of that, but I didn't buy in the 70s and pay rippling mortgage rates through a huge recession.
Similar properties on the road without one of the key features are priced at 1.4 and above.
Honestly, I don't mind opinion. But read the post first.

Pixie5740

Just because the agent has advised advertising at a lower price doesn't mean you have to take that advice. However, when you say that other properties in the street are priced at 1.4m do you mean that's what they've actually sold for (recently) or just that they're being advertised at that price?

If you're not happy with the current agent read the contract and see when you can terminate it. If you're stuck with them in the meantime get someone to phone up as a mystery shopper enquiringly about your mum's house and see how they fair.

csgohan4

if you want to sell soon, you should reduce the price, if you want to sell at a higher price, you will need to wait and/or redecorate the property.


A 1.33m house is out of reach for a lot of Londoners, not many people earn 300k a year to get a mortgage. Hence the wait will be significantly longer. Unless your in a prime location like Chelsea.


There's a 3.4m house near me that has been sitting unsold for the past 1 year.


You could place the rightmove link for critiquing.

THJ

Hi

Thanks for the recent replies.

The last property (opposite) sold for 1.43 in March, terraced not semi detached like mum's. It is in a desirable (not when I was growing up!) part of North London, houses sell for around 1.3-1.4. Hence her willing to accept offer of 1.315

I should have left the price of the house out of the original post as it has become the main issue. I included it to show how ludicrous it would have been to reject an offer like that on such a pricey property. The main issue is that offer wasn't put to her in writing and certainly not within the 2 days which is required by law. Then a letter and a rejection letter were sent out retrospectively. I just need to know what is her position having made a formal complaint due to an illegal activity, but still being 2 weeks in contract.

Thanks.

csgohan4

THJ wrote: »

Hi

Thanks for the recent replies.

The last property (opposite) sold for 1.43 in March, terraced not semi detached like mum's. It is in a desirable (not when I was growing up!) part of North London, houses sell for around 1.3-1.4. Hence her willing to accept offer of 1.315

I should have left the price of the house out of the original post as it has become the main issue. I included it to show how ludicrous it would have been to reject an offer like that on such a pricey property. The main issue is that offer wasn't put to her in writing and certainly not within the 2 days which is required by law. Then a letter and a rejection letter were sent out retrospectively. I just need to know what is her position having made a formal complaint due to an illegal activity, but still being 2 weeks in contract.

Thanks.

Life is too short to be arguing over a maybe offer. What you have objectively is a house on the market for sometime that you want to sell.


Maybe the photos are poor or the decor old fashioned e.t.c?


You need to see why the other houses sold quicker than yours. How long had they been on the market e.t.c? Only you can answer that.

marksoton

What's more important. Selling the house or getting petty in legal wrangling that'll result in absolute jack for you?

DaftyDuck

Just move on with another agent. The market for higher priced houses is weaker now than in March, so you may not achieve your expectations. Overpricing, then chasing a falling market is never wise.

As to the dodgy agent, doesn't sound that bad to me, but just move on. Life (particularly your mum's ) is too short for that. A legal fight is going to achieve nothing, and will just delay selling.