My purchase offer was accepted but estate agents proceeded with another offer without telling me.

Mstty

Surely if they never issued the memorandum of sale there was no accepted offer so no money should have been spent on valuations etc.

Your financial advisor has let you down here. Maybe they get commission once the valuation is done?

eddddy

Mstty said:

Surely if they never issued the memorandum of sale there was no accepted offer so no money should have been spent on valuations etc.

Your financial advisor has let you down here. Maybe they get commission once the valuation is done?

The memorandum of sale would be written up sometime after the offer is accepted.  (The OP received an email from the estate agent saying that their offer was accepted.)


After an offer is accepted, the estate agent will ask buyer and seller for details of their solicitors, etc.  Once they have replies from the buyer and seller, they will write-up a memorandum of sale.

If the buyer or seller is slow to find a solicitor, or slow to reply to the estate agent, it might be a few days (or even a week or two) after the offer is accepted for the MoS to be written-up.

The MoS is just a useful list of info for both parties, it's optional and has no legal significance.


I don't see anything in the OP's posts that indicates that the financial adviser did anything wrong.

  

RonsDaughter

eddddy said:

RonsDaughter said:

thank you for taking the time to write such a clear and informative answer. I very much appreciate this. Obviously I only posted the bare bones of the story for brevity, and there is far more to it than what I have divulged in my post. I don't want to accuse the estate agent of criminal activity in my complaint if his actions do not amount to such, but it is clear the estate agent has at the very least breached aspects of Trading Standards, Consumer Protection and their own Code of Conduct. 

Thank you for the above information. I will check through my notes very carefully before I choose my path.

You don't have to explicitly accuse the estate agent of breaking the law. You can simply state the facts to the ombudsman, and say that you believe you have been treated unfairly. Something like...

• xx/06/2023 - I made an offer of £x for property
• 29/06/2023 - [estate agent] emailed me to say my offer was accepted (see copy of email as attachment 1)
• xx/xx/2023 - phoned / emailed etc etc
• etc
• etc
• xx/xx/2023 - booked survey
• xx/xx/2023 - survey carried out
• 18/08/2023 - [estate agent] informed me that I had been gazumped on 15/07/2023 and buyer had accepted a different offer

So it appears that the estate agent knew that another offer had been accepted before my survey on xx/xx/2023, but did not tell me until xx/xx/2023. Had they told me in a timely fashion, I would not have spent £x on a survey etc.



And you can leave the Ombudsman to decide if the law and/or the code of practice has been broken.


(I guess it's possible that the estate agent might argue that they got confused - e.g. when they were talking to you, they thought they were talking to the other buyer. But I think the ombudsman might say that was negligent on their part - they should have checked more carefully. And so still make them liable to pay you compensation.)

 

Thank you so very much eddddy. Fortunately I've got phone records and a few emails that my FA forwarded to me so I have proof of dates etc. Yes, state the facts, keep it simple and leave it to the ombudsman to decide. Thank you 

RonsDaughter

Ksw3 said:

I'd try and found out when they knew your offer had not been accepted, I would be quite put out if I had handed over my personal data (passports etc) and had a credit check when the agents had no legitimate interest in collecting or processing that data. 

I however imagine thay it was just a royal f up and only came to light recently. 

Hi, I don't know when the other offer was accepted, but the MoS was sent on the same day the EA arranged the date for my survey which was done 3 days later.

Mstty

RonsDaughter said:

Ksw3 said:

I'd try and found out when they knew your offer had not been accepted, I would be quite put out if I had handed over my personal data (passports etc) and had a credit check when the agents had no legitimate interest in collecting or processing that data. 

I however imagine thay it was just a royal f up and only came to light recently. 

Hi, I don't know when the other offer was accepted, but the MoS was sent on the same day the EA arranged the date for my survey which was done 3 days later.

Was it a survey or just a desktop valuation? 

I take it no one went inside the property?

How.much is that going to cost you?

[Deleted User]

Life's too short for all this, wasting your valuable time isn't worth it - yes, it's the principle and i get that.
Start using more of your time looking for a new place and just chalk it up to experience, OP.

RonsDaughter

Mstty said:

RonsDaughter said:

Ksw3 said:

I'd try and found out when they knew your offer had not been accepted, I would be quite put out if I had handed over my personal data (passports etc) and had a credit check when the agents had no legitimate interest in collecting or processing that data. 

I however imagine thay it was just a royal f up and only came to light recently. 

Hi, I don't know when the other offer was accepted, but the MoS was sent on the same day the EA arranged the date for my survey which was done 3 days later.

Was it a survey or just a desktop valuation? 

I take it no one went inside the property?

How.much is that going to cost you?

Hi, the survey was done inside the property, photos of inside supplied (different to those available on the Estate Agents advert). Survey dated and sent to FA on July date when owner says she was away from home for a few days that week and didn't let anyone in. The Estate Agent said they did not give the keys to the surveyor...   

GDB2222

RonsDaughter said:

Mstty said:

RonsDaughter said:

Ksw3 said:

I'd try and found out when they knew your offer had not been accepted, I would be quite put out if I had handed over my personal data (passports etc) and had a credit check when the agents had no legitimate interest in collecting or processing that data. 

I however imagine thay it was just a royal f up and only came to light recently. 

Hi, I don't know when the other offer was accepted, but the MoS was sent on the same day the EA arranged the date for my survey which was done 3 days later.

Was it a survey or just a desktop valuation? 

I take it no one went inside the property?

How.much is that going to cost you?

Hi, the survey was done inside the property, photos of inside supplied (different to those available on the Estate Agents advert). Survey dated and sent to FA on July date when owner says she was away from home for a few days that week and didn't let anyone in. The Estate Agent said they did not give the keys to the surveyor...   

ask the surveyor?

RonsDaughter

Catsacor said:

Life's too short for all this, wasting your valuable time isn't worth it - yes, it's the principle and i get that.
Start using more of your time looking for a new place and just chalk it up to experience, OP.

Letting people who break the law get away with it only endorses their behaviour and allows them to do the same to other people.
I have since found out that this particular person has a reputation for this sort of thing.
If someone else had followed it up in the past, it couldn't have been done to me and many others.

You're right though... valuable experience! And a waste of my time.
I will raise the complaint and leave the relevant authorities to deal with it. I just needed to be sure of my ground before making the complaint

GDB2222

RonsDaughter said:

Catsacor said:

Life's too short for all this, wasting your valuable time isn't worth it - yes, it's the principle and i get that.
Start using more of your time looking for a new place and just chalk it up to experience, OP.

Letting people who break the law get away with it only endorses their behaviour and allows them to do the same to other people.
I have since found out that this particular person has a reputation for this sort of thing.
If someone else had followed it up in the past, it couldn't have been done to me and many others.

You're right though... valuable experience! And a waste of my time.
I will raise the complaint and leave the relevant authorities to deal with it. I just needed to be sure of my ground before making the complaint

Can you explain why they did this, other than by mistake? I don’t understand how they gained in any way?