Estate agent is trying to sabotage my offer, please advise

alyafai

I had an offer for a house accenpted in the sum of £208k paid for with a mortgage. I’ve been told that someone else had offered 206k cash but the vendor chose me. The estate agent (EA) tried to set me up with their in house mortgage broker who charges £400. I opted to use a different mortgage broker who doesn’t charge a fee. Now all a sudden the EA has an attitude with me and is saying the vendor is unsure if they want to proceed with my offer because im not using their in house broker. Im worried that the EA is forcing me to pay for their service or risk losing the house. Can anyone please help and advise me what i can do?

ACG

Knock on at the vendors and ask them. 

athenianguy75

Get a written confirmation on what the EA said and then Knock at the vendors and ask them

dunstonh

Now all a sudden the EA has an attitude with me and is saying the vendor is unsure if they want to proceed with my offer because im not using their in house broker.

Contact the vendor and tell them that the estate agent is trying to sabotage the sale by creating potential blockers that could breach FCA regulations.     Ask them if they told the estate agent them that the buyer had to use their in-house salesperson.

While the estate agent is not regulated by the FCA, the mortgage adviser is.  So, if the introducer to the mortgage adviser is telling lies to get the business, the mortgage adviser is classed as being complicit and this would fall foul of TCF and Consumer Duty.   

This is all about the estate agent trying to maximise commission. It wont be the vendor.   

ACG

athenianguy75 said:

Get a written confirmation on what the EA said and then Knock at the vendors and ask them

There is no way the agent is dumb enough to put it in writing. 

alyafai

ACG said:

athenianguy75 said:

Get a written confirmation on what the EA said and then Knock at the vendors and ask them

There is no way the agent is dumb enough to put it in writing. 

I emailed the agent asking for an update and they’re written back saying that the vendor is considering the cash offer and that the cash offer has been increased. No mention of the mortgage broker. It’s incredibly convenient how they’re now saying the cash offer has increased only after ive told them I won’t be using their broker. I feel as though i have no choice but to contact the vendor but if it is true that the cash offer has increased then I won’t be able to compete or get into a bidding war

ACG

alyafai said:

ACG said:

athenianguy75 said:

Get a written confirmation on what the EA said and then Knock at the vendors and ask them

There is no way the agent is dumb enough to put it in writing. 

I emailed the agent asking for an update and they’re written back saying that the vendor is considering the cash offer and that the cash offer has been increased. No mention of the mortgage broker. It’s incredibly convenient how they’re now saying the cash offer has increased only after ive told them I won’t be using their broker. I feel as though i have no choice but to contact the vendor but if it is true that the cash offer has increased then I won’t be able to compete or get into a bidding war

Agents are not stupid. 

As it stands you do not have this house by the looks of it. By knocking on, you MIGHT get it. 

In the words of Delboy "he who dares".

saajan_12

Unfortunately you can't tell if it's 
- really an increased cash offer (possible)
- bluff about increased offer to get you to increase - this would be in the interest of the vendor to get them the best price
- bluff to make you use their in house broker

The last one is not allowed per FCA, but practically your best shot is to try to contact the vendor, and find out. 

chanz4

cash buys also tend to try and drop price prior to exchange

ACG

chanz4 said:

cash buys also tend to try and drop price prior to exchange

100% this happens!
Or if not, then you find out they are not a cashbuyer. They are securing the money against another property, waiting for a gift - something always ends up causing a problem at the business end. 

Postik

Would the agent really try and sabotage a sale for the sake of a couple of hundred quid in commission or whatever it is?  If they were successful and the vendor went with the cash buyer the agent still wouldn't get any commission because the cash buyer won't need a mortgage broker.  It seems just as likely to me that the vendor is dithering and can't make their mind up.