Estate Agent lied about offer - said offer I got was 150k when the buyer was offering 160k

AndyParton

Hi

If an estate agent said an offer I got for a house I was selling was 150k but the buyer was offering 160k, what laws are they breaking? This happened to me as the estate agent was scamming me and wanted to take more money than he deserved in performance fees

Thanks for any replies.

Andy

AdrianC

AndyParton said:

If an estate agent said an offer I got for a house I was selling was 150k but the buyer was offering 160k, what laws are they breaking? This happened to me as the estate agent was scamming me and wanted to take more money than he deserved in performance fees

Eh?

Surely if you accepted a £150k offer, the EA would get less than if you accepted a £160k one?

How do you know the buyer was offering £160k?

I think there's a bit more info needed...

esubbs

This doesn't really make sense. The estate agent gets paid by you (via your solicitor) at completion and based on the actual sale price. How can he scam you by passing on a lower offer? 

HampshireH

This makes no sense.

The money wouldn't go anywhere near the estate agent. You pay them whatever fee or % if agreed 

If a percentage then they would get less by passing on a lower offer 

eddddy

What type of estate agent is it, and what does your contract say about fees etc?

• Some "quick sale" / "we buy any house" companies work a bit like that - for example, they use a "back-to-back contract".

• So the estate agent buys it from you for £150k and sells it for £160k at the same time on the same day (although they usually want more than £10k for themselves)

Alternatively,

• Some estate agents don't charge the seller a fee, but charge the buyer an (extortionate) fee instead

• So the buyer is paying you £150k for the house and a £10k fee to the estate agent - but they just think of it as a total offer price of £160k (Often because the estate agent might call it an offer of "£160k including fees" to the buyer, but describe it to you as "an offer of £150k".)

So you need to check your contract. If you've signed a contract agreeing to something like the above, you're probably stuck with it.

Debt

I think the situation here is that the EA has somehow pocketed the extra £10k that the OP should have received for the house, and is going to also now get commission on the £150k sale price.

Can the buyer confirm in writing that they did offer this amount?

Jenni_D

Debt said:

I think the situation here is that the EA has somehow pocketed the extra £10k that the OP should have received for the house, and is going to also now get commission on the £150k sale price.

Can the buyer confirm in writing that they did offer this amount?

Care to elucidate on how? I think that's the issue with this story - it can't happen (other than perhaps with the We Buy Any House type people).

eddddy

Debt said:

I think the situation here is that the EA has somehow pocketed the extra £10k that the OP should have received for the house, and is going to also now get commission on the £150k sale price.

Can the buyer confirm in writing that they did offer this amount?

For the benefit of the OP, and any future readers of this thread...

... unless 'Debt' can come back and explain how this can happen, just treat this suggestion as illogical nonsense.

canaldumidi

I don't know how the WeBuyAnyHouse operations work, but surely there is still a contract agreed with the seller's conveyancer, with a specified sale price.....no?

OP needs to explin how he believes this scam can work. I suspect is more likely a caseof mis-communication.

Is the OP perhaps not a native English speaker? Not being familiar with how EA fees are paid in the UK might suggest a foriegn national.....?

eddddy

canaldumidi said:

I don't know how the WeBuyAnyHouse operations work, but surely there is still a contract agreed with the seller's conveyancer, with a specified sale price.....no?

I'm not sure what you mean by "a contract agreed with the seller's conveyancer".

With a house buying company - there would typically be 2 contracts - they're called "back-to-back" contracts.

• Contract 1 - the seller sells the house to the house buying company for £150k
• Contract 2 - the house buying company sells the house to a buyer for £160k

If that were the case, the OP would be signing a contract with a selling price of £150k.

Both transactions are completed at the same time, on the same day (like in a standard property chain).

canaldumidi

eddddy said:

canaldumidi said:

I don't know how the WeBuyAnyHouse operations work, but surely there is still a contract agreed with the seller's conveyancer, with a specified sale price.....no?

I'm not sure what you mean by "a contract agreed with the seller's conveyancer".

With a house buying company - there would typically be 2 contracts - they're called "back-to-back" contracts.

• Contract 1 - the seller sells the house to the house buying company for £150k
• Contract 2 - the house buying company sells the house to a buyer for £160k

If that were the case, the OP would be signing a contract with a selling price of £150k.

Both transactions are completed at the same time, on the same day (like in a standard property chain).

I was referring to your 'contract 1'. The buyer agrees a contact with the seller drawn up by seller's conveyancer with a specified sale price. The EA fee would be based on that price (in your example £150k).

If there is a 2nd backtoback contract, that is nothing to do with the OP/original property owner.