Annoyed

joeypesci

So went to look at a flat that had a 70 year lease. Got told "Don't worry about that it will be extended to 124 years". Then it all went quiet about that while we were putting in our offer. Then someone came along and outbid. So we eventually put in the listed offer and that got out bid. Put in our 2nd to final offer and was accepted but higher than listed price. We asked for it to be removed. This is when we were finally told "Oh its a repossession and the building society won't remove it. They want it on until exchange because of cause they want to get as much as they can for it." OK fine but annoying.

Got my solictor and mortgage advisor involved at that point. They then found out that the 70 year lease is staying. At the point of applying to get the 124 years lease this got halted and the flat went to repossession. The building society then said "We're not paying for the lease extension". My solictor and mortgage advisor called the agents and asked and they confirmed this and it appears they'd know this for a while.

So all this time they'd kept it quiet in the hope we didn't notice and just bought it.

What annoys me more is when I was on the phone to them the other day with my 2nd to final offer they said "We'll try our best, we want you to have this. We did take it off the site yesterday but the building society told us to put it back. However, we won't actively promote it now. We want you to have it" (I never informed him my phone records all my calls). What do we then see the next day? The flat showing the offer we'd put and "If you are interested then offer more and get in touch".

A holes.

Have now pulled out due to advice from solictor and mortgage advisor. Now looking at the property on their site a day later. Its back down to the original price. Suggesting either the so called "Other bidders" have found something else, aren't now interested or never actually existed.

I'm beginning to see why people don't like estate agents.

Carrot007

joeypesci wrote: »

So went to look at a flat that had a 70 year lease. Got told "Don't worry about that it will be extended to 124 years". Then it all went quiet about that while we were putting in our offer. Then someone came along and outbid. So we eventually put in the listed offer and that got out bid. Put in our 2nd to final offer and was accepted but higher than listed price. We asked for it to be removed. This is when we were finally told "Oh its a repossession and the building society won't remove it. They want it on until exchange because of cause they want to get as much as they can for it." OK fine but annoying.

Got my solictor and mortgage advisor involved at that point. They then found out that the 70 year lease is staying. At the point of applying to get the 124 years lease this got halted and the flat went to repossession. The building society then said "We're not paying for the lease extension". My solictor and mortgage advisor called the agents and asked and they confirmed this and it appears they'd know this for a while.

So all this time they'd kept it quiet in the hope we didn't notice and just bought it.

What annoys me more is when I was on the phone to them the other day with my 2nd to final offer they said "We'll try our best, we want you to have this. We did take it off the site yesterday but the building society told us to put it back. However, we won't actively promote it now. We want you to have it" (I never informed him my phone records all my calls). What do we then see the next day? The flat showing the offer we'd put and "If you are interested then offer more and get in touch".

A holes.

Have now pulled out due to advice from solictor and mortgage advisor. Now looking at the property on their site a day later. Its back down to the original price. Suggesting either the so called "Other bidders" have found something else, aren't now interested or never actually existed.

I'm beginning to see why people don't like estate agents.

Doubt this sort of thing is the estate agents. They want a quick sale (and they will just say anything you want to hear to accomodate it). This is messing around. It will be the seller, and if it's a repo it will be as is they won't pay for anything.

melstar11

It's standard practice for the mortgage company to do this with a repossession - what has happened isn't down to the EA. The EA just wants to secure a sale and make its commission. The mortgage company wants to get the most it can from a buyer to cover its costs.

I am surprised it wasn't obvious from the listing that it was a repossession - there is a fairly standard blurb you usually see on them so this is where the EA may have got things wrong. I get your disappointment re: lease extension, but again I would it was unlikely the mortgage company would spend any money on that. Your advisers have done the right thing by advising you to pull out. It will work out for the best in the end.

joeypesci

Yeah having spoken to my solictor they've said its standard practise putting how much has been offered. That's fine if that's the case but would be nice of the agents to tell us that and not lie that "We won't actively market it now". In my eyes, even if they are being forced, that is actively marketing.

Surrey_EA

joeypesci wrote: »

I'm beginning to see why people don't like estate agents.

Because some people don't understand what an estate agent is able to have control over, and what they don't?

Mr.Generous

With a "Corporate sale" (Repo) the agent is instructed to continue marketing the property until exchange of contracts, they set all sorts of conditions like the buyer making a contribution towards their fees and strict deadlines from offer being accepted until exchange. The agents will often wrongly say things like "It will be cleared by a house clearance company" when in reality all the **** will just be left. Council tax and utilities can be a bit tricky too. Unless the price is favorable they are not as good a buy as people think, if you get stressed over complications steer clear.

eddddy

joeypesci wrote: »

"We won't actively market it now".

The EA shouldn't really say that - but, in reality, it's pretty much true.

If your offer has been accepted, as it's a repo, with luck you will exchange in 4 weeks and complete 2 weeks after that.

So the EA is looking forward to their fee in 6 weeks.

If somebody comes and offers £2k more in 3 weeks time, then somebody else offers another £2k more 3 weeks after that - the EA now has to do more work, and wait 12 weeks for their fee.

Even if the extra £4k on the selling price earns them a few pounds more in commission, it's not worth it to the EA.

haras_nosirrah

To be fair when the ea said they wouldn't actively market they probably meant they wouldn't go and phone all their prospective applicants and tell them that an offer has been made and would they like to beat it. On a repo they have to put the price in the paper as otherwise the ousted former owner can sue the bank if they don't feel enough was done to get the best price for the property as unlimately the former owner is left with the fees and the bill at the end of it all

Mossfarr

joeypesci wrote: »

Yeah having spoken to my solictor they've said its standard practise putting how much has been offered. That's fine if that's the case but would be nice of the agents to tell us that and not lie that "We won't actively market it now". In my eyes, even if they are being forced, that is actively marketing.

Saying they "are not actively marketing" means that they will discourage any new enquiries. They will say things like "the house is under offer and quite far along the process" or "its unlikely the vendors will consider further offers at this stage".
They will also make it difficult to arrange appointments for any other viewings or at the very least only make appointments for a couple of weeks ahead as they are "too busy to arrange sooner".
I have found this to be pretty standard practice. I've bought two repos and this is how it was done both times.
They are not telling lies - they are not allowed to take it off the market.