Can an estate agent show my buyer new properties?

jezzer_72

Hi all

Long story short… we accepted an offer on our property at the end of June. We had been really transparent with the buyer (we showed them around) in that we would need to find a property to move to before we could sell.

We had an offer accepted on a property about 3 weeks after accepting our buyers offer. The seller also told us that they need to find a property and spoke directly with our estate agent to make sure our buyer was happy to wait, no issues were flagged to us at that point. 

About 4 weeks later the seller of the house we were had an offer accepted on took the house off the market (end of August) so we are back to looking.

Today, the estate agent that sold our house casually informed me that they had been showing our buyer properties and that they had viewed properties even though we accepted their offer.

Is the estate agent allowed or meant to be doing that? As far as I’m aware, we are paying the estate agent they ought to be working in our best interests and not the buyers. Taking our buyer to new viewings doesn’t seem to align with our interest and seems to be working in that of the estate agent.

I understand that it is up to the buyer if they want to view other properties as we are not in exchange but is the conduct of the estate agent correct? If not, what can I do about it as it’s a total lack of trust for me and makes me question if they had even marketed my house the best they could.

Any help would be appreciated. England

Wonka_2

jezzer_72 said:

Hi all

Long story short… we accepted an offer on our property at the end of June. We had been really transparent with the buyer (we showed them around) in that we would need to find a property to move to before we could sell.

We had an offer accepted on a property about 3 after accepting our buyers offer. The seller also told us that they need to find a property and spoke directly with our estate agent to make sure our buyer was happy to wait, no issues were flagged to us at that point. About 4 weeks later the seller of the house we were had an offer accepted on took the house off the market (end of August) so we are back to looking.

Today, the estate agent that sold our house casually informed me that they had been showing our buyer properties and that they had viewed properties even though we accepted their offer.

Is the estate agent allowed or meant to be doing that? As far as I’m aware, we are paying the estate agent they ought to be working in our best interests and not the buyers. Taking our buyer to new viewings doesn’t seem to align with our interest and seems to be working in that of the estate agent.

I understand that it is up to the buyer if they want to view other properties as we are not in exchange but is the conduct of the estate agent correct? If not, what can I do about it as it’s a total lack of trust for me and makes me question if they had even marketed my house the best they could.

Any help would be appreciated. England

But the issue is you haven’t ‘sold’ your house and you’re not proceedable. 

If your (potential) buyer doesn’t have confidence that things will proceed they’re going to look at other things - whether via ‘your’ agent or others. 

There’s also potential that the agent doesn’t think you’re proceedable so is looking to get something from their relationship with ‘buyer’ 

If you want things to progress to your expectations you need to find a house 

GDB2222

jezzer_72 said:

Hi all

Long story short… we accepted an offer on our property at the end of June. We had been really transparent with the buyer (we showed them around) in that we would need to find a property to move to before we could sell.

We had an offer accepted on a property about 3 after accepting our buyers offer. The seller also told us that they need to find a property and spoke directly with our estate agent to make sure our buyer was happy to wait, no issues were flagged to us at that point. About 4 weeks later the seller of the house we were had an offer accepted on took the house off the market (end of August) so we are back to looking.

Today, the estate agent that sold our house casually informed me that they had been showing our buyer properties and that they had viewed properties even though we accepted their offer.

Is the estate agent allowed or meant to be doing that? As far as I’m aware, we are paying the estate agent they ought to be working in our best interests and not the buyers. Taking our buyer to new viewings doesn’t seem to align with our interest and seems to be working in that of the estate agent.

I understand that it is up to the buyer if they want to view other properties as we are not in exchange but is the conduct of the estate agent correct? If not, what can I do about it as it’s a total lack of trust for me and makes me question if they had even marketed my house the best they could.

Any help would be appreciated. England

Your estate agent has to show some credibility with the buyer. Plus, it may be that by looking around your buyers come to the conclusion that, however slow you are being, they will stick with you.

Anyway, if I were your buyers, I'd also have given up on you by now. 

Chief_of_Staffy

Since circumstances have changed since the buyer put in their offer, it's not unexpected that they're looking at other options. Surely you don't expect the estate agent to refuse to let them view a house? Then they'd be directly failing the other sellers on their books. The only thing that the estate agent couldn't do is to process an offer from the buyer on another property without first cancelling yours.

jezzer_72

GDB2222 said:

jezzer_72 said:

Hi all

Long story short… we accepted an offer on our property at the end of June. We had been really transparent with the buyer (we showed them around) in that we would need to find a property to move to before we could sell.

We had an offer accepted on a property about 3 after accepting our buyers offer. The seller also told us that they need to find a property and spoke directly with our estate agent to make sure our buyer was happy to wait, no issues were flagged to us at that point. About 4 weeks later the seller of the house we were had an offer accepted on took the house off the market (end of August) so we are back to looking.

Today, the estate agent that sold our house casually informed me that they had been showing our buyer properties and that they had viewed properties even though we accepted their offer.

Is the estate agent allowed or meant to be doing that? As far as I’m aware, we are paying the estate agent they ought to be working in our best interests and not the buyers. Taking our buyer to new viewings doesn’t seem to align with our interest and seems to be working in that of the estate agent.

I understand that it is up to the buyer if they want to view other properties as we are not in exchange but is the conduct of the estate agent correct? If not, what can I do about it as it’s a total lack of trust for me and makes me question if they had even marketed my house the best they could.

Any help would be appreciated. England

Your estate agent has to show some credibility with the buyer. Plus, it may be that by looking around your buyers come to the conclusion that, however slow you are being, they will stick with you.

Anyway, if I were your buyers, I'd also have given up on you by now. 

Can I ask why? 

We found a house 3 weeks after we accepted an offer, it was just that the seller decided they didn’t want to sell any more. On the same week (end of Aug) we had that house removed from the market the buyer of our house told to us about the survey and so we have booked in the contractors and undertaken the work in September. 

our solicitors are instructed from the first house we had our offer accepted.

I feel like we are pushing this forward on our end, the buyer had a the survey done on our house in August so it’s literally 1 month after being told of the issues it found. 

Granted we now need to find another house which isn’t easy… but we offered on a house on Monday but not heard if it’s been accepted or rejected yet as they had other viewings booked in. We also have 3 viewings booked in for this weekend already. 

jezzer_72

Chief_of_Staffy said:

Since circumstances have changed since the buyer put in their offer, it's not unexpected that they're looking at other options. Surely you don't expect the estate agent to refuse to let them view a house? Then they'd be directly failing the other sellers on their books. The only thing that the estate agent couldn't do is to process an offer from the buyer on another property without first cancelling yours.

I mean we are paying them to market our house and an offer has been accepted, we respond in a timely manner and are progressing with dealing with issues. We were just unfortunate with the house that we initially found. In my mind, they are failing my (whose interest they are meant to be working) by showing my buyer around other houses after an offer has been accepted.

If they can do it then fair enough but it seems wrong but I can’t find anything concrete about their conduct. 

jezzer_72

Wonka_2 said:

jezzer_72 said:

Hi all

Long story short… we accepted an offer on our property at the end of June. We had been really transparent with the buyer (we showed them around) in that we would need to find a property to move to before we could sell.

We had an offer accepted on a property about 3 after accepting our buyers offer. The seller also told us that they need to find a property and spoke directly with our estate agent to make sure our buyer was happy to wait, no issues were flagged to us at that point. About 4 weeks later the seller of the house we were had an offer accepted on took the house off the market (end of August) so we are back to looking.

Today, the estate agent that sold our house casually informed me that they had been showing our buyer properties and that they had viewed properties even though we accepted their offer.

Is the estate agent allowed or meant to be doing that? As far as I’m aware, we are paying the estate agent they ought to be working in our best interests and not the buyers. Taking our buyer to new viewings doesn’t seem to align with our interest and seems to be working in that of the estate agent.

I understand that it is up to the buyer if they want to view other properties as we are not in exchange but is the conduct of the estate agent correct? If not, what can I do about it as it’s a total lack of trust for me and makes me question if they had even marketed my house the best they could.

Any help would be appreciated. England

But the issue is you haven’t ‘sold’ your house and you’re not proceedable. 

If your (potential) buyer doesn’t have confidence that things will proceed they’re going to look at other things - whether via ‘your’ agent or others. 

There’s also potential that the agent doesn’t think you’re proceedable so is looking to get something from their relationship with ‘buyer’ 

If you want things to progress to your expectations you need to find a house 

Fair but we couldn’t be anymore proceedable as we weren’t being allowed to view until we accepted an offer on our house which was only the end of June. 

user1977

The end of June was almost four months ago. If you're finding it this difficult then do you really need to link your sale with a purchase? 

jezzer_72

user1977 said:

The end of June was almost four months ago. If you're finding it this difficult then do you really need to link your sale with a purchase? 

Unfortunately yes.

This is because the ‘profit’ from our sale is paying for all of our fees, deposit and stamp duty. If we don’t have this sales price we change the max offer we make on potential homes. 

Im also aware it’s 4 months. Like I said, it’s only been a month or so since the sellers of the house we were going to buy removed it from the market. Tbh I’m not bothered that they are viewing other houses, they have little certainty that they will get this house, I get it. I’m more interested in what “duty” do the estate agent have to me with my house sold subject to contract.

Uriziel

If the buyer liked another property more surely you are happy for them to have found something they prefer? Would you prefer it if they went to another estate agent and instead got a house from them instead? I don't understand your logic at all. How about you lower the price? The buyer would be more keen on waiting for you if they knew they were getting a good deal and could not get it elsewhere. I guess you're not going to do that.

jezzer_72

Uriziel said:

If the buyer liked another property more surely you are happy for them to have found something they prefer? Would you prefer it if they went to another estate agent and instead got a house from them instead? I don't understand your logic at all. How about you lower the price? The buyer would be more keen on waiting for you if they knew they were getting a good deal and could not get it elsewhere. I guess you're not going to do that.

It’s priced attractively for the market. There aren’t many properties in our condition at this price point already. We aren’t trying to take the P at all. 

My point is more about our estate agent, if I was the buyer I’d be looking at other houses for sure if I didn’t think I would be getting the one I’ve had an offer accepted on.