Skulduggery from estate agent - so insulted thinking of pulling out of negotiations

blueskyrooftop

The matter is slightly complicated in that I viewed the house initially via EvilAgency back in October when the house was on at OIEO £350k, however last week the vendors sacked them and moved to RandomAgency to go on for £349,995. Second viewing was also made via EvilAgency.

This weekend I accepted an offer on my house (yay!), second viewed and made an offer on the above house via EvilAgency at £332,500. This was rejected within ten minutes, as expected, with the vendors stating that they wanted something 'close to the asking price'.

This morning, I made a second offer of £340,000, heard nothing back all day. I was thinking perhaps they'd come back with a definite counter offer and perhaps we'd be able to meet at £342,500 - a decent price, considering an identical house next door with a brand new kitchen and bathroom sold at £360,000 back in May and the fact that the house had been on the market for so long with no offers, but no, nothing that sensible...

EvilAgency finally called me back about 4.30pm with the bombshell news that after 6-7 months on the market and no previous proceedable offers, the vendors had suddenly received a similar offer via RandomAgency.

What is more, and this is what really really :mad::mad::mad: because it was designed to mess with my head, the vendors want to create a 'race' between the two bidders, and have said that the first offer over £350k will be accepted, even if an offer of £5k more comes in 10 minutes later.

I was flabbergasted, and pointed out that this all seemed very convenient and also didn't seem to be in the vendors' best interest should the second offer be a higher offer, and the guy at EvilAgency (the manager, who I'd never spoken to before this point) got quite irate with me, saying how the owners were doing me a favour :rotfl:by allowing me to compete in this way.

After I got off the phone, I called RandomAgency to enquire about the property, anonymously of course. They had only just got the property on their books and had received no offers. :mad::mad::mad:

Frankly I'm insulted and feel that neither the vendors nor the estate agents are trustworthy enough to enter into negotiations with. What happens if we got to the week of exchange and they decide to magic up another 'offer' of £10k over the agreed price?

Please note, this house started off with a third agency at OIEO £360k back in spring. I'm a cash on completion buyer with my sale agreed and no chain behind me. The home owners are retirees and probably paid off the mortgage years ago, so have no incentive to move quickly and haven't been seriously looking. I'd stated that they could have time to find a new place.

Basically, I'm not sure what my question is - just venting. I'm furious and disappointed. Anyone had anything similar happen?

lewishardwick

Walk. You'll probably get messed around a lot more. Remember the EAs don't work for you...

C_Mababejive

But thats what most EA's are,,crooks who break the law but are rarely prosecuted.

G_M

Go back to evilagency and say you are not interested in playing games, or entering a race, but that your offer of £340,000 remains on the table.

Do this in writing and send a copy to the sellers at their address - this may all have been down to the agency with the sellers having no idea.

Then forget the house and start looking again.

If evilagency comes back to you, re-assess at that point. If they don't, well, you've moved on.

seashore22

I think you need to relax a bit.

The sellers are under no obligation to sell to you at any price. Houses come and houses go.

Also confused about why you seem to be negotiating via the ex EA and not their new one. Perhaps I've misunderstood your vent. I'm assuming that it's because the old agency introduced you to the house? Not sure if it binds you to the old one or just your sellers.

seashore22

We had sellers who wanted us to enter a contracts race and happily walked away. You don't have to play anyone's game if you don't want to.

eddddy

The Property Ombudsman is very clear on this, so you could complain to them, if you want:

9h By law you must not misrepresent or invent the existence, or any details, of any other offer made or the status of any other person who has made an offer.

Link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/documents/rules-codes-obligations/residential-estate-agents/TPOE27-6_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_-_effective_from_1_Oct_2016.pdf

But I suspect the reason the EA did it was because the vendor was adamant that they would not accept less than £350k. So the EA invented a story in the hope of getting you to offer £350k.


(The EA probably would have been happy if your offer of £342.5k had been accepted. The commission on the extra £7.5k is relatively insignificant.)

eddddy

seashore22 wrote: »

Also confused about why you seem to be negotiating via the ex EA and not their new one. Perhaps I've misunderstood your vent.

Negotiating through the new EA is the wrong thing to do.

The seller would then probably have to pay two lots of commission, instead of one... which would put the OP at a disadvantage, compared to other buyers.

seashore22

Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I didn't think of it from that point of view and was thinking of it as purely the sellers problem.

blueskyrooftop

Yes, edddy - but surely then the estate agent could have said, "Look, they'll only consider an offer over £350k". Fine. I can work with that information dispassionately. Why aim to create panic?

seashore - the agent that 'introduces' the buyer gets the commission, even if the purchase happens after that agent has been sacked and a new agent appointed.

eddddy

blueskyrooftop wrote: »

Yes, edddy - but surely then the estate agent could have said, "Look, they'll only consider an offer over £350k". Fine. I can work with that information dispassionately. Why aim to create panic?

I agree.

Buying and selling property can uncover some very 'creative' behaviour - from the buyers, the sellers and the EAs.

I guess trying to work out why people really say things helps you decide on the next steps.

Bear in mind that the vendor may have no idea that the EA said this. And whilst it would be nice to 'get your own back' on the EA for lying to you, that may not be the best strategy for eventually getting an offer accepted.