To be shocked by this? Can an Estate Agent actually do this? OMG!!!!

[PostBellumBugsy]

To put my house up for sale without my knowledge or permission???????

Back story:

Had my house on the market last year. I had a 12 week agreement with the estate agent & by the time I took the house off the market in December, that agreement had long since expired. As well as speaking to the estate agent, I also sent an email informing the manager of my decision to take the house off the market & I asked them to remove all marketing material from their website and all other marketing channels.

So, I have two different estate agents coming to pitch on Monday and I thought I'd have a quick look on rightmove to see what the competition is looking like & was stunned to see my own house up there (I had checked in December that all the marketing material had been taken down). It is also up on their website too.

Before I phone them & read them the riot act, does anyone know if they are able to do this?

[TwigsWithStupidLittleLightsOn]

Had you saved it on rightmove? Sometimes properties which have been taken off the market still show on my saved properties list, albeit it with a little flag to show they're not on the market anymore.

[Dawndonna]

No, they're not allowed to do this. It may have been a mistake, check first.

[PostBellumBugsy]

Twigs & Dawndonna, it hasn't been on there for a month - I'm a bit obsessed with Rightmove - so I'm sure it has been intentionally put back on. It may have been a mistake by someone in the office I suppose?

[Sallyingforth]

I expect it's deliberate. They are hoping to get a prospective buyer to tempt you with.
If you work on the principle that estate agents are mostly deceitful money-grabbing crooks you will not go far wrong.

[HollyBerryBush]

Also, if they don't have many properties to sell, they need to pad out their website to look attractive

[TiaMariaandSpringCleaning]

Call them and equire about your property and see what they say - at least that way you'll kow for sure if its a mistake or not

[JaquelineHyde]

It should say on rightmove when the property was put on

[HecatePropolos]

Instead of reading the riot act, why not get someone to call them and enquire about your property.

See what happens.

If they say to them sorry, that house has been taken off the market, it's an error - then you'll know.

But it will be interesting to see, don't you think?

Give me the details and I'll do it for you!

[HecatePropolos]

Sorry. i see Tia has already suggested similar.

[Goldmandra]

I guess that if you have no contract with them you will not be obliged to pay them if they sell your property for you. You could write to them to emphasise this point or get a solicitor to do so on your behalf and then, if they sell it and bill you, tell them where to get off.

[PostBellumBugsy]

It definitely wasn't on rightmove on Thursday of last week, as that is when I last had a look, so it went on either on Friday or yesterday. Cheeky buggers. I could not have been more clear with them at the end of last year that it was coming off & IF I was going to put it back on, I would be asking their competitors to pitch too, and that they were absolutely NOT to use the same old photos, it had to look like a completely fresh house on the market.
I am LIVID. They definitely won't be getting my business that is for sure.

[PenguinBear]

YANBU!

[PostBellumBugsy]

Thank you for the suggestions to phone & enquire directly about it. I'll get a friend to phone on Monday. My gut feeling is that they have done it on purpose - they are known as the most pushy & aggressive agents in the area.

[HecatePropolos]

In that case it would be VERY interesting to see what they do if they think they have interest.

you could end up with them phoning you. At which point you can tell them exactly what you've done and demand they explain themselves.

It would be very satisfying and they wouldn't be able to wriggle out of it as easily as if you just called them and complained and they said oops, sorry, mistake...

[PostBellumBugsy]

Hmmm, that is quite a good idea Hecate. The problems are that they are marketing my house with photos that were quite clearly taken last spring - which is a dead give away that the house has been on for a long time. It will also show up in Property Snake as having been on for the best part of a year too, whereas if I appoint a new agent, then it appears as a new sale.

[ZillionChocolate]

Has your house changed since the photos were taken? Otherwise why does it matter?

[Catchingmockingbirds]

I don't really understand, if you don't want to sell your house then why are you meeting with other estate agents?

[PostBellumBugsy]

Zillion - the garden looks different and I have redecorated two rooms.

Catchingmockingbirds - Who said I didn't want to sell my house? I do want to sell my house. I think it has a better chance of selling if I have fresh photographs & not the same ones that have already been up for the best part of a year. I also think that I should have control over who sells my house & when!

[diddl]

It could be a genuine mistake-just tell them to take the details down!

[ArkadyRose]

There are some really dodgy estate agents out there that do try to get away with stuff like this. We actually got "gazzumped" on a rental when a rival estate agents rented it out behind the landlady's back and actually moved a family in over the weekend - she had contracted them to list it then cancelled and listed it with our estate agents, but they'd made a copy of the key and rented it out behind her back anyway.

Behaviour like that is completely illegal, but estate agents do it anyway. At least with a house sale you don't have to worry they might try and move someone else in without telling you though!

[PostBellumBugsy]

I wouldn't put it past this lot Arkady! Sorry to hear about your experience.

[Punkatheart]

After I bought my house, they had a picture of it up in the estate agent's window - FOR A YEAR! Unusual property and I think they used it to interest people.

No they can't do things but yes, they do it anyway!

[DeafLeopard]

Does sound like they are using it to try and reel other buyers in. Some EAs are really unscrupulous.

[FruOla]

Well - they've either done it deliberately. Or ...

... maybe they were instructed to sell a similar house in your road more recently. They uploaded all the photos, floorplans, EPCs text etc to start marketing the other house on, say, 4th January.

So, on 4th January they made it 'live' ... except they clicked on the wrong house - yours instead of the other one?

[lljkk]

Would fresh photos make that much difference to encouraging a sale?