Agent listing without consent

lebowski1980

We had some agents round to give us a valuation on our property, We have not yet instructed any of them.
Tonight i saw that one of the agents had listed a 'coming soon' on their facebook page with a description matching ours. I messaged them and it turns out it is ours. I asked them to take it down as we had not yet instructed them and we were considering going with another agent.

They have also stated it with a guide price which is something we do not want. Although it doesnt show photos or our address, if ours does go up with a price i think people may put two and two together which may damage what we can ask for the property.

He has replied saying that he already has a couple of people interested and has offered us a fee that is a good 2 thousand lower than any of the other agents.

He also said he is confused as he thought we were using him - we never said in certain terms that we would. We talked about timescales but never formally instructed him or said that we would definitely like to use him,

I'm a bit torn between my utter frustration and breach of confidence from this person and the fact that a lower fee does give us more cope with what we can buy.

Anyway, is this kind of activity allowed and would you ever go with an agent who uses this kind of tactic? I know what my heart says which is to go with another as i feel like there has been a breach of trust but the extra money could get my family a better place to live

Dorian1958

I feel you have answered your own question by calling it a breach of trust; are you really going to form an effective relationship with this agent to help you with one of the most important financial deals of your life?

eddddy

I guess it depends how you look at it.

The EA sounds a bit determined and tenacious - maybe that attitude means they'll be good at finding buyers and selling your property.

Who knows?

Tom99

lebowski1980 wrote: »

He has replied saying that he already has a couple of people interested

Take that comment with a large pinch of salt. Unless he has been marketing your identified property the most they might be interested in is some further details.

trailingspouse

You could use the fact that he's offered to do it for a lower price as a bargaining tool with the other agents - 'We'd really like to use you but Joe Bloggs can do it for £X...' No harm in trying.

lebowski1980

Thanks for your responses.

So, we decided to go with the other agent who did lower their fees for us.
We have since messaged the agent who advertised our property telling him to take down the advert but he hasn't and he is not responding to us. This means we have an advert out there with a lower guide price than the one we have been advised to use.
Surely this is misrepresentation? Are there any suitable bodies that I can contact to make a complaint?

lebowski1980

eddddy wrote: »

I guess it depends how you look at it.

The EA sounds a bit determined and tenacious - maybe that attitude means they'll be good at finding buyers and selling your property.

Who knows?

This may be true but it doesn't change the fact that he was never instructed to. I haven't been round to his house and listed his car on ebay for him in the hope that he may want me to sell it (that's the logic i see in this anyway)

Cakeguts

Don't accept any viewings from the agent that you haven't instructed.

lebowski1980

Cakeguts, thanks - we have no intention of doing so.
The upsetting thing is that our house has been advertised at a lower price than other agents have valued at. Depending on how many people see it, they may already dismiss any higher figure thus meaning we can't sell our house for as much as we would have liked

eddddy

lebowski1980 wrote: »

Tonight i saw that one of the agents had listed a 'coming soon' on their facebook page with a description matching ours. I messaged them and it turns out it is ours.

lebowski1980 wrote: »

Depending on how many people see it, they may already dismiss any higher figure thus meaning we can't sell our house for as much as we would have liked

It sounds a little like you might be 'over-thinking' this.

I wouldn't have thought a vague description of a house by one agent on Facebook will have any impact on another agent selling your house.

(The description was so vague, even you as the owner wasn't sure that it was your house.)

lebowski1980

eddddy wrote: »

It sounds a little like you might be 'over-thinking' this.

I wouldn't have thought a vague description of a house by one agent on Facebook will have any impact on another agent selling your house.

(The description was so vague, even you as the owner wasn't sure that it was your house.)

Okay, fair point i guess although you never know.
I knew it was mine from the description as there are no other houses around here with the features he pointed out but you can't go accusing someone without first asking the question.

Anyway, like i said the issue is one of misrepresentation so i will be contacting whoever the trading standard body is for the industry and report them.