Estate Agent Blocking Offer

MoneyTreeMe

Hi,
I'm interested in a flat.  I phoned an estate agent to enquire.
However, they put the phone down and I phoned back but they cut me off.
I then got a solicitor to call on my behalf but they said the flat is not available.
I then got my friend to call a few hours later and the same agent said it is available.
What to do in this situation? Do I call the police as the agent is blocking my access to the free market when they should not?

eddddy

I suspect you might not be telling the whole story.  Why did the EA refuse to speak to you? I'm sure you have a pretty good idea.

Out of interest - why have you instructed a solicitor, or was the solicitor really just a friend of yours? (It's potentially a criminal offence to call yourself a solicitor, if you're not.)

hazyjo

Definitely more to this. Have you pulled out of previous purchases, or been a serial viewer/made lots of previous offers? Or are you implying racism or something? Really, you seem to be trying to get us to read between the lines. If it happened to me, I wouldn't think to tell a forum nor involve the police! 


Please elaborate.

[Deleted User]

MoneyTreeMe said:

Hi,
I'm interested in a flat.  I phoned an estate agent to enquire.
However, they put the phone down and I phoned back but they cut me off.
I then got a solicitor to call on my behalf but they said the flat is not available.
I then got my friend to call a few hours later and the same agent said it is available.
What to do in this situation? Do I call the police as the agent is blocking my access to the free market when they should not?

Definitely call the police. Scotland Yard needs to start investigating ASAP. 

Doozergirl

Lover_of_Lycra said:

MoneyTreeMe said:

Hi,
I'm interested in a flat.  I phoned an estate agent to enquire.
However, they put the phone down and I phoned back but they cut me off.
I then got a solicitor to call on my behalf but they said the flat is not available.
I then got my friend to call a few hours later and the same agent said it is available.
What to do in this situation? Do I call the police as the agent is blocking my access to the free market when they should not?

Definitely call the police. Scotland Yard needs to start investigating ASAP. 

If they had to ask in the first place, I don't think your reply is going to be taken in the way you intended.  They're probably on the phone right now. 

OP, a little bit of background on any previous dealings with the EA would probably be insightful.  

If you're desperate, you can drop a note in to the letterbox of the flat rather than phone the police.  It's more likely to get you viewing.  

AdrianC

MoneyTreeMe said:

I'm interested in a flat.  I phoned an estate agent to enquire.
However, they put the phone down and I phoned back but they cut me off.
I then got a solicitor to call on my behalf but they said the flat is not available.
I then got my friend to call a few hours later and the same agent said it is available.

Assuming there really is nothing more to the phone calls between you and the agent than you state, then perhaps the truth is that the flat really is unavailable? I presume neither solicitor or friend said "I'm phoning on behalf of MoneyTreeMe"? If, indeed, the agent even know your name from your simple and innocent initial enquiry about the property...

Are we talking about rental or sale?

pbartlett

It is actually against the law for an EA not to pass on any offers. The EA is, of course, perfectly able to include any recommendations to the vendor along with the offer.

Write a formal letter of complaint to the EA. Point out they are breaking the law by not passing on your offer. Once the complaint is answered, you have the option of going to the Property Ombudsman

AdrianC

Doozergirl said:
If you're desperate, you can drop a note in to the letterbox of the flat rather than phone the police.  It's more likely to get you viewing.  

Assuming the flat isn't empty, only being checked by the agent.

AnotherJoe

pbartlett said:

It is actually against the law for an EA not to pass on any offers. The EA is, of course, perfectly able to include any recommendations to the vendor along with the offer.

Write a formal letter of complaint to the EA. Point out they are breaking the law by not passing on your offer. Once the complaint is answered, you have the option of going to the Property Ombudsman

That's incorrect. There are many caveats to that. For example the vendor may have said to reject all offers that are below a certain level or not from procedable buyers, etc. 

Anyway this is a  classic "missing back story " post where's there's no doubt a whole longer history that makes sense, and that may or may not be right / proper / legal but until they reveal that then it's all a guessing game. But the OP presumably thinks posters here are fools to simply believe the EA took against them for no reason whatsoever (be that reason legal or not). Which by itself says a lot about the OP.

MovingForwards

OP is in Scotland and solicitors are involved with the process pretty much from the start.

davidmcn

MovingForwards said:

OP is in Scotland and solicitors are involved with the process pretty much from the start.

That's true, though judging from their posting history I would take the whole story with a large sack of salt...