Did estate agent keep offers from me

user1977

owly11 said:

user1977 said:

owly11 said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Perhaps the EA's bank account was full and wasn't able to fit any more commission into it.

The commission is tiny and presumably doesn't go directly to the personal bank account of the estate agent.  Whereas a bribe would.  I have definitely read about people who have experienced offers not being passed on.  It's a thing and it does happen.

So how would you propose to investigate whether it happened? And even if you found out that it did happen - what would you do about it? You'd presumably then have to prove that whoever made a higher offer would actually have followed through with it (a huge proportion end up chipping away at the price or just pulling out).

I wouldn't need to prove that the higher offer would have been gone through to completion - only that the estate agent withheld it - because that's illegal and I could make a complaint about him then.

What do you think the result of a complaint would be? I can't really see this being worthwhile from your point of view.

TheJP

owly11 said:

user1977 said:

owly11 said:

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Perhaps the EA's bank account was full and wasn't able to fit any more commission into it.

The commission is tiny and presumably doesn't go directly to the personal bank account of the estate agent.  Whereas a bribe would.  I have definitely read about people who have experienced offers not being passed on.  It's a thing and it does happen.

So how would you propose to investigate whether it happened? And even if you found out that it did happen - what would you do about it? You'd presumably then have to prove that whoever made a higher offer would actually have followed through with it (a huge proportion end up chipping away at the price or just pulling out).

I don't think there is any way to investigate it other than trying to ask around.  I suppose I keep thinking in the internet age there must be some way of trying to find out who viewed the property - those who viewed it and didn't get it may subsequently have secured a different property in the same or next road.  It's a very tight knit/small community that people are desperate to move into so it's possible someone knows something.  I still have contacts there.  I wouldn't need to prove that the higher offer would have been gone through to completion - only that the estate agent withheld it - because that's illegal and I could make a complaint about him then.

Its a non-starter, firstly you will never get your hands on the details of who viewed the property due to GDPR. The EA also likely wont have any contact details of these people as they may only hold the information for a short period.

As you state the house needed some work, could it be that this put those that viewed off? Do you know if all 23 viewings went ahead? I booked in to view a house and the EA told me they were doing a open day viewing as 15 people wanted to view, i cancelled as i knew the house was top end of our budget, great location  and people would bid higher than asking. Perhaps the interest in the property put people off from viewing/bidding. There is also nothing wrong with changing what your intentions are for the house after you have bought it. 

theartfullodger

aliby21 said:

why do you think an EA would not pass on higher offers?

Sadly there are some estate agents (just like some MPs, some religious leaders, some members of that family, some traffic wardens etc etc etc ..) are on the fiddle.

I once popped round to see an excellent opportunity of a run-down huge house, arrived, someone who I'd earlier seen behind the desk at the selling agents was coming out, told me she'd just bought it.. which turned out true.

theoretica

Another possible scenario is that the estate agent encouraged you to accept the offer in hand and did not encourage advertising for longer, as waiting longer for a higher offer would not have increased their commission much. 

owly11

@TheJP that's what i thought at the time - but now having seen properties on my road that needed even more work than mine and sold at a higher price it's making me question it.  I know that only one or two people didn't turn up for the viewings  so there was still a huge amount of interest.  I don't know and i'll never know - it just feels horrible thinking that I may have been ripped off.