Feeling blackmailed by the ffing estate agents

[iphonedrone]

We put an offer in on a property that has been on the market for 2 years and has now dropped£85000.

We have a mortgage in place with an independent mortgage advisor. I phoned the estate agent yesterday to put in the offer and she tried to get me to make an appt to look at 'their' mortgages, I said I wasn't interested please just pass the offer to the vendor.

She then rings back this morning and opens with 'so i'm phoning to make an appt with our mortgage advisor when are you free?' I reiterated again that I wasn't interested and asked what the vendor said about our offer.

Oh well I haven't spoken to him yet, but we have had quite a few other offers so I want to get them all together before I pass them along . But I have to say you will be at a direct advantage if you have a mortgage through us .

WTF, she has had our offer for two days now, still hasn't passed it along and I now feel blackmailed that basically if we had a mortgage with them she would talk us up to the vendor.

Blardy estate agents

[bibbitybobbityhat]

"But I have to say you will be at a direct advantage if you have a mortgage through us" - completely against the law. Was she the branch manager? If not, ring and have a word with the manager. She may be trying her luck or under a lot of pressure within the company to arrange more mortgage appointments, but she was very silly indeed to say that to you.

Its odd that are suddenly lots of other offers after two years. Is it all because of a sudden price drop?

[iphonedrone]

There was an open day at the house just after the price drop (I sneaked a peek at her appts list and there were 3 of us coming) but she has hinted she has over 5 offers.

No shes not the branch manager, but I have spoken to our mortgage advisor and he is faxing them a copy of our certificate and informing them he doesn't like his clients bullied

[bibbitybobbityhat]

Good! That should put the wind up them. If there is any hint at all of unfair treatment then complain complain complain and name and shame.

[Gonzo33]

I'd sack them if mine were doing that!

[nickelbabe]

yes, you need to complain to the branch mananger.
she is acting illegally.

[lalalonglegs]

First, put a note through the door of the house explaining the situation so the owners know what is going on.

Second, find out what professional schemes the agency belongs to because I am pretty sure that trying to give priority to buyers who buy particular financial services is against NAEA and Ombudsman rules.

[mylovelymonster]

Second what's already been said. Give you offer details directly to the vendor.
Sounds on the brink of illegality, 'suggesting' that you will have a preference if you go through their mortgage broker.
They earn a nice commission, I'll bet, and desparate to up their income.

Deal with the vendors if at all possible, or chat with the branch manager if you think it would help.

[nocake]

Yes, contact the vendors directly.

Don't waste your time complaining to the property ombudsman, they're f*ck all use.

[SparklePrincess]

That's terrible... Keep us posted.

[kbaby]

Ours did the same when we bought our first house, we were too young to know better and actually took a mortgage with them to avoid losing the house. It stills pees me off to this day about what they did.
Agree with the others let the owners know about your offer

[SparklePrincess]

When I bought my first property in 1998 I had the mortgage arranged through a broker attached to an estate agents. When I refused to take out the payment protection insurance she was insistent I buy she threatened to withdraw the mortgage offer so I would lose my house. I then phoned the mortgage provider to clarify the position & they confirmed that the mortgage offer still stood regardless, so I told her to get stuffed. Its terrible that such practise continues to go on. :(

[Tigerbomb]

We had similar when we bought our house last year.

The estate agent kept insisting that not only did we have to have an interview with them about a mortgage but that we also had to bring all our ID, wage slips etc before they put an offer in.

Our independent mortgage adviser spoke to her head office. The offer was put in and accepted

I would truse a used car salesman before i trusted a fecking estate agent

[MavisCruetTheFairy]

What ThunderboltKid said -- absolutely send a note to the vendors explaining your offer and what the agent said.

[thelittlestkiwi]

I thought they were legally obliged to put an offer forward to the vendor? I would pop round and have a chat with them. That's shocking behaviour.

[nocake]

They are obliged to put an offer forward to the vendor but the ombudsman is so useless that there's no penalty if they don't. The only way to avoid this sort of shit from estate agents is to not use them.