Estate agents renegotiating after offer is withdrawn

Cass_dot

Hi,

We went to view a property yesterday and reserved it for £600.
The offer we put in was rejected and counter offered at a higher rate.

Once we found out we had been rejected we asked the estate agent to withdraw our offer so we could get our reservation fee back. The estate agent agreed to this and said we would get the money back tomorrow.

However, an hour later we receive a call stating the landlord accepted our initial offer which was previously declined. In essence, the estate agent went behind our backs to renegotiate the offer and win it for us, against our instruction.

Now they are reluctant to pay back the £600, even though we withdrew our initial offer before it was accepted, without our consent for (re-)negotiation.

How do I move forward?
Is there a way I can get the money back?

Please help!

leespot

You mean a rental property?

Cass_dot

Yes, sorry!

leespot

Sounds dodgy to me, tell them your offer no longer stands due to it being declined. Thieving gits.

Cass_dot

the thing that changed was that the estate agents basically treated us very badly and we have found something new and cheaper..

leespot

Make it clear to them they you're not withdrawing an offer - they cancelled your offer by accepting a higher rental price from someone else. You are asking when your now (invalid) reservation fee will be refunded. They cancelled the reservation, not you. You don't even need to explain to them why you longer want the property.

Cass_dot

Is there anywhere where i can get templates to write these sort of letters?

G_M

Dear Mr Agent,

Having paid a deposit of £600 on xx/xx/17 on the basis of an offer of £X pm, for the property at landlocked Avenue, on xx/xx/17 you advised us that the offer was rejected. You further confirmed our deposi would be returned.

Consequently we found alternative accomodation.

I look forward to receiving a refund of the deposit within the next 3 days.

yours sincerely,

Cass_dot

PhilE

Citizens Advice might have templates, or could offer suggestions. The letter would be simple really, state the time and date that you withdrew the offer, the time and date they got back to you saying the offer was accepted.
As the latter was after the former, they are due to refund their fee as per their written agreement with you (which I assume exists, they should have given you a copy of their terms and conditions)

If you have the emails regarding this, save them. From here on, do everything by snail mail with dates and signatures. Add that if you do not hear back from them within 10 days, you'll be forced to take this matter further.

If they call you about this, whatever they say ask them to send it to you in writing, at least by email so that you have written proof.

saajan_12

PhilE wrote: »

The letter would be simple really, state the time and date that you withdrew the offer, the time and date they got back to you saying the offer was accepted.
As the latter was after the former, they are due to refund their fee as per their written agreement with you

No, in general if you pay a deposit and then withdraw your offer, you should lose the deposit, especially if they (subsequently) accept. Otherwise what is the deposit for if it doesn't lock you in?


The point here is that THEY REJECTED your offer. Therefore, they can't keep the deposit. Further, THEY said they would refund your deposit, and on RELIANCE of that, you secured another property etc, so now they are breaching that second agreement to refund.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Seeing as they rang you an hour after the rejection to say that the offer was now accepted, it would seem unlikely that you had found another property in that time. What did you say to them when they called you an hour later?

I don't think the estate agent has been doing any renegotiation behind your back. Those timescales suggest that
1 You offered
2 Agent put the offer to landlord who asked for more
3 Agent came back to you and told you the counter
4 You refused the counter
5 Agent went back to landlord and told him of refusal
6 Landlord said "Oh take the first offer then"
7 Agent comes back to you with acceptance

This is a perfectly standard negotiation. The only thing is that at point 4 you asked for your offer to be withdrawn. It could well be argued that the negotiation wasn't even finished yet. What exactly was said at each point is crucial.
At what point did you find the place that you liked better? Am I right in supposing that it was after you paid the deposit but before you received the rejection and counter-offer?