Gazumped due to malpractice - grounds for compensation?

wattsthethoughts

Closed the thread. 

SpiderLegs

Agents don’t accept offers, vendors do. They are the ones that have messed you around.

I suggest you put it down to (bad) experience and move on.

societys_child

Having an offer accepted does not mean it's sold.

There's a bit more too it . . .

greatcrested

To be honest it sounds like confusion on potentially two fronts:

1) two agencies involved and neither knew of the sale agreed by the other

2) 3 owners, not communicating well between themselves.

EAs who receive an offer have to pass it on to the seller irrespective of whether a sale has been agreed by them or another agent. But especially if they were unaware of the other sale!

Yes they must remove from the market if they arrange a sale, but they must still pass on offers (up till Exchange).

The other offer was made on the Monday, accepted on Tuesday and we only found out on Thursday

The timeframe seems pretty short - it's not like weeks had passed......

As you say:

I know I need to let it go, it's done now, but I just can't get the story to add up

You'll never know the precise truth, and it really makes no differece. Move on.

wattsthethoughts

societys_child said:

Having an offer accepted does not mean it's sold.

There's a bit more too it . . .

I'm not that oblivious. I'm just !!!!!! off and upset lol

AdrianC

wattsthethoughts said:

So my partner and I placed an offer on our dream house on 16th November for £251k
There are 3 sellers, we were told 2 of them were in agreement and the third wanted to wait for a higher offer. We waited and waited (12 days) to get accepted whilst they were 'deciding between them' but finally we did!

So your offer was actually accepted on 28th Nov.

It was listed with two estate agents - agent A (who we dealt with) and agent B for the purposes of explanation. We then got our memo of sale through on 30th November ... and the property was removed from the market with agent A and we assumed that they would be telling agent B that it had been sold too.

Whether B were told or not doesn't make a lot of difference in the grand scheme of things.

Agent A specifically said that agent B's contract with them expired on 30th November anyway so they would have to remove it from the market.

Apart from the minor detail that A have no way of knowing what B's contract with the vendor actually is, just because a lock-in period expires does not mean they have to immediately cease marketing.

Called me back around 10 minutes later to tell me that the seller had accepted another offer for 260k to a cash buyer and 'forgotten to tell us'.

Exactly. The SELLER accepted the other offer. Not the EA. The EA is merely a conduit.

You had plenty of warning, in the 12-day delay to accept your offer, that there was a risk of gazumping because the vendor wanted more money.

So we did some digging with the help of my family who are property developers themselves. Firstly, we called agent B and explained. They were 'mortified' and hadn't been informed it had sold and said they didn't know it was even listed with another agent until they saw it on Rightmove. Personally, I call !!!!!! on this for various reasons. Agent B said that they had a solo listing agreement so it should not have ever been listed with agent A in the first place.

Not your problem. That's one for the vendors to argue between the agents.

We then managed to make contact with one of the sellers. Explained everything and he was shocked to say the least. He explained that he and his brother were a silent investors and had no idea about any of it, let alone the decision making process, this was all down to one man - the man who both agents had been dealing with.

Not your problem. That's one for the three parties to argue between themselves.

Around 40 minutes later, we received a call from the main seller. He apologised and told us he had been in contact with Agent A all week. The other offer was made on the Monday, accepted on Tuesday and we only found out on Thursday evening because we'd seen the sold board and called them, not because anyone had told us. He said he had instructed Agent B to take it off the market and supposedly has emails to prove this (we are yet to see these). So that second offer should have never come in, not to mention supposedly after their agency agreement had ended.

Complete bull. He could have said to B "Oh, sorry - I've already accepted another offer. No, I buyer.won't gazump." - but, instead, he said "Another nine grand? Great. I'll accept that one and sack off the other one." You. There is only one person making the decision here, and he's the one stringing you a line.

Ultimately, he had a better offer and took it. The rest is just back-story. Either side can pull out for any reason or none, right up to the moment of exchange - and less than a fortnight after acceptance of your offer, that was a LOOOONG way off.

NameUnavailable

As above, you just have to accept it and move forward. Why waste your energy demanding an apology, not that they're obliged to offer one (in fact they would be best advised not to).

Until contracts are exchanged on a property deal (in England at least) nobody is committed to anything and money spent of legals/searches etc is at risk. That is just the way the market works, like it or not. Put your energy and time into finding the next one.

wattsthethoughts

NameUnavailable said:

As above, you just have to accept it and move forward. Why waste your energy demanding an apology, not that they're obliged to offer one (in fact they would be best advised not to).

Until contracts are exchanged on a property deal (in England at least) nobody is committed to anything and money spent of legals/searches etc is at risk. That is just the way the market works, like it or not. Put your energy and time into finding the next one.

Crappy isn't it. Feel like putting my energy into yes finding the next but also making sure it doesn't happen to others! Maybe I'll start lobbying haha. In 2016, there was talk of it being made illegal as it is in Scotland amongst many other countries. Stupid it hasn't happened here yet as it is truly gutting, not to mention immoral.

greatcrested

wattsthethoughts said:

NameUnavailable said:

As above, you just have to accept it and move forward. Why waste your energy demanding an apology, not that they're obliged to offer one (in fact they would be best advised not to).

Until contracts are exchanged on a property deal (in England at least) nobody is committed to anything and money spent of legals/searches etc is at risk. That is just the way the market works, like it or not. Put your energy and time into finding the next one.

  Maybe I'll start lobbying haha. In 2016, there was talk of it being made illegal as it is in Scotland amongst many other countries. Stupid it hasn't happened here yet as it is truly gutting, not to mention immoral.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6223423/is-the-whole-property-buying-process-too-complicated#latest

Crashy_Time

societys_child said:

Having an offer accepted does not mean it's sold.

There's a bit more too it . . .

Exactly...