Are estate agents allowed to tell potential buyers the value of other peoples offers?

sat99

Hi,

I'm considering making an offer on a house and the agent called me to say that she has had 3 other offers on the house, and also told me what the value of those offers were.

I feel like the agent might be lying to push me into making a higher offer. Are they allowed to tell potential buyers the value of other peoples offers?

Thanks

NameUnavailable

You can read their code of conduct here https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/Codes_2019_a5/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A5_-_Effective_1_June_2019.pdf

I would be asking why haven't any of those offers been accepted. They may be lower, they may be from people who aren't able to proceed etc. etc.

AdrianC

sat99 said:

I'm considering making an offer on a house and the agent called me to say that she has had 3 other offers on the house, and also told me what the value of those offers were.

I feel like the agent might be lying to push me into making a higher offer. Are they allowed to tell potential buyers the value of other peoples offers?

Have you ever been to an auction, a REAL one?

eddddy

sat99 said:

Hi,

I'm considering making an offer on a house and the agent called me to say that she has had 3 other offers on the house, and also told me what the value of those offers were.

I feel like the agent might be lying to push me into making a higher offer. Are they allowed to tell potential buyers the value of other peoples offers?

Thanks

According to the Property Ombudsman...

• The EA can disclose offers to other buyers, if the seller has given the EA consent to do so.

• In that case, the EA should warn each buyer that their offer will be disclosed - and all offers must be disclosed to all buyers.

• The EA would be breaking the law, if they lied about other offers - or said anything misleading about any other offers (e.g. if they lied about the amount of the offer, or lied by saying it was from a cash buyer, etc)

But I guess some EAs might break the law. It's up to you to judge whether this particular EA would blatantly break the law, by telling lies about offers.

Thrugelmir

sat99 said:

I feel like the agent might be lying to push me into making a higher offer.

That doesn't mean that you won't be outbid. Were the offers close together?  When did you view the property? Might be that the vendors are wanting to weigh things up over the weekend. Not easy to do at work. 

74jax

I was frequently asked to disclose offers, it can be helpful so a prospective purchase knows what will not be accepted. I would usually say an offer of xxx was turned down as they couldn't proceed etc. 
As long as you have everything recorded on file that you are following the vendors instructions all is OK. 
I often had a letter from the vendor asking not to forward any offers below a certain amount too. 

NameUnavailable

Yes, if a vendor turns down an offer of say 250K and the next person offers the same, it's fair to expect the EA to tell you that they know the vendor won't accept it (of course they still need to note the offer regardless).

It is also possible to get some more insight without breaking any 'rules', for example was it an offer over the asking price? The EA could answer without giving too much away.

Ultimately the EA wants to get a sale, there's not really much incentive for them to deter a serious buyer.

theartfullodger

Expecting estate agents to behave decently and honourably will lead to disappointment and possibly worse.

PurpleZoombini

Always worth asking, some might tell you but most probably not. I've been told by plenty of estate agents that they can't even give a rough idea of what the other bids are looking like but it's not any kind of legal requirement that they can't disclose. 

Case in point, these estate agents who are essentially asking people if they'd like to gazump. So they clearly can say if they want to.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111197105#/?channel=RES_BUY

eddddy

PurpleZoombini said:

Always worth asking, some might tell you but most probably not. I've been told by plenty of estate agents that they can't even give a rough idea of what the other bids are looking like but it's not any kind of legal requirement that they can't disclose. 

Case in point, these estate agents who are essentially asking people if they'd like to gazump. So they clearly can say if they want to.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111197105#/?channel=RES_BUY

As above - that's because the property has been repossessed and is being sold by the mortgage lender.

In general, EAs don't like gazumping and will try to stop people doing it.


Using the link as an example, an offer of £178k was made on 2 months ago on 13th August.

If somebody now offers £180k, the conveyancing process will start again - and the EA will have to wait an extra 2 months to get their fee. And the EA might only earn an extra £20 in commission - so it's not worth it to them.

74jax

PurpleZoombini said:

Always worth asking, some might tell you but most probably not. I've been told by plenty of estate agents that they can't even give a rough idea of what the other bids are looking like but it's not any kind of legal requirement that they can't disclose. 

Case in point, these estate agents who are essentially asking people if they'd like to gazump. So they clearly can say if they want to.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/111197105#/?channel=RES_BUY

I hated selling repos. A ftb would get a bargain and be so excited. We would have to do notices in the paper up until exchange starting the offer price, then we would pray no one came in higher. It was horrible. Repo commission was so low too. Mainly as we didn't have to do much on them, but we dreaded having them in.