Multi agency property

mbugsy18

Hi,
I have had an offer accepted by the EA and the memorandum of sale issued. I have asked the EA about the other agents involved and he has said he will take care of it. My offer was accepted on March 28th. I was also told while viewing the house that there was an offer and it was currently going through searches. I queried the EA agent again yesterday and he told me I/ EA had an exclusivity agreement in place. 

I am not sure what this is and should I be wary. The EA is pushing me to engage with their solicitors quickly but I don’t want to spend the up front fee of £1000 if I am going to be gazumped further down the line.
Anything I can do to get reassurance that the seller is definitely not going to mess with me. The property has been on the market since Jan 2020 with this agent and been reduced considerably since then every few months. I offered £5k below the current asking price. Also a search on Zoopla and Rightmove shows it’s still available and not SSTC with my EA and another.

Also, can I negotiate an upfront fee with the solicitors?

eddddy

mbugsy18 said:

 I queried the EA agent again yesterday and he told me I/ EA had an exclusivity agreement in place. 

My guess is...that's nonsense made-up by the EA.


Essentially, the EA you've offered through will almost certainly be "on your side", because they'll want you to buy so they get their commission.


But the other EA might still be keen to offer viewings and encourage gazumping, so they get the commission instead.



Your options include...

• Playing "amateur detective" and getting friends to phone both EAs to ask if the property is available.
• Saying that you won't instruct your solicitor to proceed until the seller instructs both EAs to mark the property SSTC. (But that delay might help the other EA to persuade the seller that you are a 'risky buyer' and/or give the EA time to do more viewings.)

mbugsy18 said:

I was also told while viewing the house that there was an offer and it was currently going through searches. 

You should really try to get to the bottom of this. Why didn't that sale proceed? Did the searches show up a problem?


The EA is legally required to disclose any adverse information like this.

mbugsy18

Thanks for the advice. Can I not call the other agent just to enquire or is that going to jeopardise the purchase?

AdrianC

mbugsy18 said:

I have had an offer accepted by the EA and the memorandum of sale issued.

There y'go, then.

I have asked the EA about the other agents involved and he has said he will take care of it.

Vendor's problem, not yours.

My offer was accepted on March 28th. I was also told while viewing the house that there was an offer and it was currently going through searches.

If that was true, then either that other buyer dropped out (why?) or you gazumped them.

I queried the EA agent again yesterday and he told me I/ EA had an exclusivity agreement in place. I am not sure what this is and should I be wary.

It's meaningless bull.

The EA is pushing me to engage with their solicitors quickly

Umm, I thought you had an MoS issued? That would require your solicitor's details.

So have you instructed the agent's recommended solicitor or not? If not, find one that isn't giving the vendor's agent commission...

but I don’t want to spend the up front fee of £1000 if I am going to be gazumped further down the line.
Anything I can do to get reassurance that the seller is definitely not going to mess with me.

Nope. The sale is just going to progress as normal from now on.

The property has been on the market since Jan 2020 with this agent and been reduced considerably since then every few months. I offered £5k below the current asking price.

It's been for sale for over a year, and suddenly people are fighting to buy it...?

Also a search on Zoopla and Rightmove shows it’s still available and not SSTC with my EA and another.

Irrelevant. The little flag on the listing means nothing. If you're worried, ring the other agents and ask.

Also, can I negotiate an upfront fee with the solicitors?

Bit late if you've already instructed them. But... ask them.

mbugsy18

@AdrianC The EA has referred me to their solicitors, the quote was acceptable. Various paperwork has been sent to me but I haven’t signed anything. The conveyancer in charge has sent me her details and what needs to be done which is provide the up front fees for sale and purchase.

eddddy

mbugsy18 said:

Thanks for the advice. Can I not call the other agent just to enquire or is that going to jeopardise the purchase?

You mean to pretend you're a punter who's interested in buying the property?  You can - and I can't see how it would jeopardise the purchase.


But some EAs might want to "grill" you before discussing any property...


"Can I just take some details first... your name, address, type of property you're looking for, areas your interested in, budget, mortgage status, etc, etc"


So you might have to prepare a whole story in advance. And the seller might have told the other EA your name - so they might catch you out.


Maybe phone them primarily about another property, and then ask about this one in passing.

AdrianC

mbugsy18 said:

@AdrianC The EA has referred me to their solicitors, the quote was acceptable. Various paperwork has been sent to me but I haven’t signed anything. The conveyancer in charge has sent me her details and what needs to be done which is provide the up front fees for sale and purchase.

OK... but you're going to need to move quickly, because that solicitor is now on the MoS. The vendor's solicitor thinks that IS your solicitor...

Remember - the agent is the vendor's agent. The solicitor is the only person on your side.
Why would you go with somebody paying the vendor's agent commission?
Where do their true loyalties lie, if they uncover something that might jeopardise the sale and lose the agent the sale commission...?

mbugsy18

“Why would you go with somebody paying the vendor's agent commission?”
Well, the solicitors I had been using were really slow and took ages to return my emails and when I called always spoke to someone not the solicitor who was dealing with my case. My first sale fell through but the searches and to get their purchase report took a month once the searches were in.
I know from reading the forum referral solicitors are frowned upon but I just want this to get done and my local ones are expensive and few reviews.

eddddy

mbugsy18 said:

“Why would you go with somebody paying the vendor's agent commission?”
Well, the solicitors I had been using were really slow and took ages to return my emails and when I called always spoke to someone not the solicitor who was dealing with my case. My first sale fell through but the searches and to get their purchase report took a month once the searches were in.
I know from reading the forum referral solicitors are frowned upon but I just want this to get done and my local ones are expensive and few reviews.

I guess on the plus side... the EA will see you as a "preferred buyer", because you're paying them an extra few hundred in conveyancer referral fees.


So that makes that EA even more likely to discourage gazumping.

mbugsy18

Thanks for the comments. One further worry as this is a newish build completed in May 2019 and has a NHBC guarantee would I need solicitors that have experience in new builds?

eddddy

mbugsy18 said:

Thanks for the comments. One further worry as this is a newish build completed in May 2019 and has a NHBC guarantee would I need solicitors that have experience in new builds?

No - that shouldn't be a problem for any competent solicitor.


But the builder's warranty part of the NHBC guarantee usually only lasts 2 years, so you might want to arrange a snagging survey before that expires in May.


Essentially, the surveyor will look for any defects in the original build, so that you can report them to the builder before the May deadline.


(You might still have a fight to get the builder to fix them, but you will have no chance at all of getting the builder to fix them, if you report them after the 2 year limit.)