How do I report an unscrupulous estate agent?

adhoc

Apologies in advance if this has been asked before. 

My family viewed a house and put in an offer. The estate agent said there had been a number of offers already including investors with cash. We are looking to buy with a mortgage and around 25% deposit. 

I didn’t think it odd when the estate agent kept asking how big our deposit was as we appreciate sellers would prefer a buyer who is ready to buy for a smooth purchase.

The estate agent called today to tell me that other offers had now been received including some at higher than ours. He then went on to say that he and his manager had discussed and could agree a final sale price of £15k lower than out offer price provided we paid this £15k difference to them! WTH?!

I don’t want to share too many details as I am wary now of this company. I don’t feel like anything would be achieved by reporting this to higher up within the estate agent management. I don’t know how/what to warn the seller about either. 

I wanted some advice on who I might report this underhand practice to? Is there a process to follow? Unfortunately this discussion was by phone so there is no evidence of it. 

To add some context, we have previously had some unhappy experiences with other estate agents in this area where houses go very fast. But no-one has yet suggested a bribe! 

theartfullodger

Sadly this is the sort of behaviour that is all too common & does not surprise me.  Part of life, a bit like having a known liar as PM. 

eddddy

It would be fraud - so the police would potentially be one option for reporting this. 

It's probably breaching the Estate Agents Act as well - so Trading Standards would be the people to report it to.

You could also report it to the property ombudsman, who would probably report it to the appropriate authorities.



But as you say, the estate agent would probably deny saying it, so I'm not sure that the police or trading standards would have any evidence to go on.

I guess you could pretend to go along with the plan, in order to gather more evidence. But you'd need to be careful that 'going along with the plan to gather evidence' isn't interpreted as conspiracy to commit fraud and/or the EA saying it was your idea etc.

 

aoleks

phone the agent again and record the conversation. say you think you misunderstood him the first time.

then get the house for the lowest possible price without paying them anything or else...

canaldumidi

Which ombudsman scheme do they belong to? Report them there.

caprikid1

Is this part of a national chain or a standalone local agent. I cannot think if this is a national chain this is policy !.

dimbo61

I  am sure Artful will be along to tell you that Estate agents don't need any qualifications and could have been released from prison last month.
If you can record the conversation, go view the property and play back the bit where the ( Nice agent )  is asking for a bribe of £15,000 to the vendor. Speak to them direct and have your written offer and mobile number to hand. 
Stupid market and lots of buyers chasing very few properties.
People paying over the top prices 

googler

What are the actual figures involved? 

Is there any possibility that behind this the seller is trying to pull a fast one for some reason? 

74jax

I'd ask them to confirm in writing to make sure you haven't misunderstood. 

adhoc

thanks for the replies and advice. Hmm I don’t think they would put this in writing and a recording of a conversation without consent is not allowed right? 

This is not a chain. In fact I need to check which local to that area estate agent this is. The house was on sale for offers above £475k. Due to the state of the house - not bad but needs refurbishment inc. basics like broken letterbox and pane on front door - we had put in an offer of £460k but made clear our upper limit was £475k once we were informed that others had offered more than the asking price. 

I think we will just pull out of this. We will try to warn the sellers - an oldish couple but can’t see why they wouldn’t think it was us being shifty! I suspect they will be conned but don’t know who else can do anything without evidence? I just hope they have family looking after their interests. 

[Deleted User]

Just tell them to submit your offer to the buyer and if they fail to do so you will report them. I'd be surprised if the other offers even exist.