Sellers agent refusing to deal with my agent

Homebuyer567

I am currently in the process of trying to buy a house. As I run a very busy business which takes up a lot of my time, I have employed the services of an agent to both sell my house and deal with the negotiations with the house I am trying to buy. The surveys (building and damp surveys) have revealed some problems so we are trying to renegotiate and lower our original offer. However, the agent of the seller is refusing to have any contact with our buying agent, presumably as he knows he will have a harder time dealing with a professional negotiator who is not emotionally attached to the property. He keeps calling both myself and my partner rather than our agent. We have tried ignoring his calls and just messaging back to ask him to speak to call our agent but he just ignores us. He also ignores all phone calls, messages and emails that come from our agent. Unfortunately he is the manager of the branch so I cannot go above him to his superior.
Is he breaking any rules by doing this? Can I force in law to deal with my agent or is he allowed to just ignore our requests?
I appreciate that he is acting for his client but surely he would have to appreciate that I also have an agent acting for me.
Any help would be most appreciated.

ElizabethRose

Have you actually provided anything in writing to confirm you have instructed the agent to the other estate agent? He might be worried about breaching gdpr by talking to your agent and needs something formal. 

Homebuyer567

Yes he has written confirmation that we have an agent dealing with our purchase. Our agent did initially have brief contact with a sales neg at the branch when sales memorandums etc were passed around, although at that point they only assumed our agent was selling our current house. He only got irritated he found out that our agent was also our buying agent.

Doozergirl

Could you try contacting the vendor to let them know that their EA isn't helping the situation and could they also have a word?  

I've acted as a buying agent several times and never had an issue.  

AdrianC

Homebuyer567 said:

Is he breaking any rules by doing this?

Nope.

They do not HAVE to engage at all with attempts to renegotiate the price down from the accepted offer, whether made by you or somebody on your behalf.

The vendor (or their agent) could just choose to let you decide whether to pay the accepted offer after all, or walk away.

Homebuyer567

AdrianC.
The buyer and their agent have accepted that the outcome of our surveys warrant a reduction, they have already confirmed they will accept a lower fee. It’s just that they won’t accept any communication from our agent. So it’s not really an issue with how much they except. It’s just that I need to do it through my agent rather than me personally.

moneysavinghero

If the sellers agent refuses to deal with your agent, then tell your agent to refuse to deal with the sellers agent. Get your agent to knock on the door of the seller and negotiate directly with them.

When the seller calls his agent to ask why he is risking the sale falling through he might change his tune.

Homebuyer567

The problem is the property is probate. I don’t actually know the address of the beneficiary. Or the executor dealing with the sale.

pbartlett

well could it all be solved quickly if you just shrugged your shoulders and on this occasion deal with the selling agent yourself.

rainbow_fountains

Homebuyer567 said:

The problem is the property is probate. I don’t actually know the address of the beneficiary. Or the executor dealing with the sale.

Have you got the seller’s solicitors details instead? Perhaps you could go through them to reach the vendor instead, maybe even get your solicitor to do it instead of you/your agent 

Homebuyer567

Pbartlett....
I’m theory yes but there are a lot of personal reasons why I don’t have the time for the backward and forward negotiations, apart from running business I am dealing with a terminally ill relative, we also care for my partners elderly father who undergoing cancer treatment. All this extra stress is why we paid extra money for a buying agent, to take care of this responsibility. It just seems like that was a waist of extra money, and I still have to deal with all the extra issues with the house.
I think I may just have to take this on the chin and deal with it myself. I will check with my solicitor to see if they can sort it.