preferential treatment for using EA's solicitor and broker

Annie_Clark

Hi, a good friend of mine ended up offering asking price on a London flat and this below is the answer he received from the real estate agent (and the offer was rejected). Isn't this unfair trading? Is it worth reporting the EA for unfair trading? Thanks.

"Good Afternoono XXX

I am grateful for your consideration to increase your offer

The seller has been very keen to accept the current offer as the buyers have proved they
Really want the property, they have instructed our solicitors and are using our mortgage providers XXX who are ranked number 1 on TrustPilot with a review of 9.9/10

I was unable to find such high reviews for your broker and getting off to a good start with the mortgage is
Of high importance to our seller

Kind regards,

XXX"

kinger101

Write directly to the vendor with your offer. TrustPilot reviews are often solicited and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Annie_Clark

PS. I suspect the EA did not even send my friend's offer to the seller.

Annie_Clark

kinger101 wrote: »

Write directly to the vendor with your offer. TrustPilot reviews are often solicited and should be taken with a grain of salt.

How can my friend know who the seller is?

kinger101

BTW - did you introduce the typos or is that verbatim?

Annie_Clark

That's copy and paste from the EA's email... no comment on that.

kinger101

Afternoono. Missing full stops. Capitalized "Of" mid-sentence.

Could it get any more unprofessional.

The current owner should be listed on the title deeds (usually available for £2 from the land registry). Assuming they don't currently reside at the property, in which case, just post a letter through the door.

G_M

If the current owner does not live at the property, try the Land Registry Title. £3 here.

I'd also be tempted to send the email to either local Trading Standards, and/or whichever ombudsman scheme the estate agent belongs to.

* The Property Ombudsman
* Ombudsman Services Property
* Property Redress Scheme

ReadingTim

Making an enemy of the EA ain't gonna get them the property, so throwing their toys out of the pram wailing "it's not fair" isn't the best course of action, unless they don't want the place. And despite the semi-literate nature of the reply, it's phrased carefully enough not to fall foul of legislation relating to provision of other services like mortgage brokers etc.

Suggest a reply as follows:

Dear EA,

Thank you for your e-mail and information about the in-house services you can provide. I note your comments re. Trustpilot reviews, however, I am happy with my brokers/solicitors/whatever on the basis of personal recommendations from friends/family and/or prior personal experience.

I too believe it is important to get off to a good start, so will be instructing them to commence work on this purchase as soon as I receive formal acceptance of my offer. I look forward to receiving this at the sellers' earliest convenience.

Yours etc

eddddy

ReadingTim wrote: »

Suggest a reply as follows:

....as soon as I receive formal acceptance of my offer. I look forward to receiving this at the sellers' earliest convenience.

The OP says the offer has already been rejected:

Annie_Clark wrote: »

...(and the offer was rejected).

I think the OP's concern is that the offer was never passed on to the seller (which would have been illegal).

But perhaps more likely, the EA may have presented the offer in very negative terms - e.g. "I think it's a risky offer because the buyer is using an 'unknown' mortgage broker with no reputation etc". (Which is far harder to challenge)

ReadingTim

eddddy wrote: »

The OP says the offer has already been rejected:



I think the OP's concern is that the offer was never passed on to the seller (which would have been illegal).

But perhaps more likely, the EA may have presented the offer in very negative terms - e.g. "I think it's a risky offer because the buyer is using an 'unknown' mortgage broker with no reputation etc". (Which is far harder to challenge)

Apologies - missed that bit. The points remain though, should the OP wish to up their offer. As for whether the offer was passed on, then the law states all written offers must be passed on, however, if the vendor has expressly stated "don't tell me about offers less than £x, and the OP has offered less than £x, the law is somewhat irrelevant, and of little protection for the OP. And the OP will never know what the EA and his client have agreed, as it's none of the OP's business.

As for framing offers negatively where there's no kickback for the EA, well, that's far harder to challenge as you say, and indeed, the point about a riskier offer may even be factually correct, based on the EA's experience. And it's merely a happy coincidence that there's something in it for the firm.... However, ultimately, it's not the agent who makes the decision, it's the vendor. The agent is merely that - an agent of the vendor. The vendor should also be alert to, and guard against the inherent conflict of interest affecting all EAs whose firms also offer other services, such as mortgages, conveyancing etc.

Wailing to the trading standards or any of the ombudsmen services will sadly get you nowhere, so it's a case of upping the offer or moving on...