Corrupt estate agent

jimlfc

Hi all
My Mum put her house up for sale with the same estate agent that was marketing a bungalow she wanted to try and buy. She had an offer of £186,000 for her house and accepted this when her offer of £176,000for the bungalow was also accepted.
A few days later,she had another offer of £196,000 for her house but was told by the estate agent that if she accepted this higher offer, they in turn would have to up mums offer on the bungalow to £186,000 on her behalf because that was their policy!
Can any of you learned people tell me;
1 Is this legal?
2 If not what can she do about it?
The sale is still in progress and myself and my brother are convinced that what they have told our mother is completely illegal and immoral.
Thank you in advance
Jim

da_rule

No, they can only increase an offer with your mothers say so. Essentially they know your mum will have £10k more so they want the extra commission.

I would tell them to withdraw the offer on the bungalow she is buying and find another one with a different agent who doesn’t know how much she’s selling her house for.

The threat of doing this might have the desired effect as they will then have to explain to their client why the offer has fallen through.

eddddy

Your mum should just tell the EA that she is accepting the offer of £196k, and she is not increasing her offer of £176k on the bungalow.

And just leave things at that, rather than getting dragged into arguments about legality/morality.

Marvel1

Cheek !!!!!!!s, they would be the only ones that will benefit from having a higher commission!

EachPenny

jimlfc wrote: »

Can any of you learned people tell me;
1 Is this legal?
2 If not what can she do about it?
The sale is still in progress and myself and my brother are convinced that what they have told our mother is completely illegal and immoral.

Legally enforceable? No.

Morally? Best not go there when your mum has accepted someone's offer of £186,000 for her house and is contemplating leaving them in the lurch by accepting someone else's offer of £196,000.

It's business... and often a dirty one.

There is nothing "corrupt" about the agent asking a buyer to increase their offer on another property if the same buyer is looking to accept a higher offer on theirs.

jimlfc

The higher offer was in first but was from a buyer who had to put their house on the market to fund the offer. This they did,sold it quickly and came back to honour their offer. In the meantime the lower offer was placed by a buyer with funds in place.
The point surely is the EA is insisting Mum makes a higher offer for the bungalow off she accepts the higher offer for hers. It may not be corrupt but it is falsely manipulating the housing prices is it not? They surely are not able to enforce this?

G_M

Might also be worth speaking directly to the sellers of the bungalow to ensure theyknow she is sincere with her original offer. She does not know wha the agent might be telling them......

zagubov

Tell them this is a conflict of interests. They are not to reveal information about her sale price to her vendor, and your mum will not adjust her offer under any circumstances.

EachPenny

jimlfc wrote: »

The higher offer was in first but was from a buyer who had to put their house on the market to fund the offer. This they did,sold it quickly and came back to honour their offer. In the meantime the lower offer was placed by a buyer with funds in place.

No judgement was intended in relation to your mum's decision... just pointing out when it comes to property transactions people are looking to maximise the benefit to themselves.

jimlfc wrote: »

The point surely is the EA is insisting Mum makes a higher offer for the bungalow off she accepts the higher offer for hers. It may not be corrupt but it is falsely manipulating the housing prices is it not? They surely are not able to enforce this?

As above, they cannot legally require her to increase her offer (but have you checked her contract and the EA's terms of business?) although that is not the same thing as their request being unlawful (illegal).

Your mum can refuse to increase her offer and see what the EA does in response.

justjohn

Seriously there are some shady goings on in the EA business. I suppose thats what happens when the easy money dries up. lol

Comms69

jimlfc wrote: »

Hi all
My Mum put her house up for sale with the same estate agent that was marketing a bungalow she wanted to try and buy. She had an offer of £186,000 for her house and accepted this when her offer of £176,000for the bungalow was also accepted.
A few days later,she had another offer of £196,000 for her house but was told by the estate agent that if she accepted this higher offer, they in turn would have to up mums offer on the bungalow to £186,000 on her behalf because that was their policy!
Can any of you learned people tell me;
1 Is this legal?
2 If not what can she do about it?
The sale is still in progress and myself and my brother are convinced that what they have told our mother is completely illegal and immoral.
Thank you in advance
Jim

Accept the higher offer
Reject their request to increase her offer