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?

[FruOla]

Yes, lljkk, to an extent, of course it can work. Not least of which she said that she's redecorated a couple of rooms and also re-vamped her garden. (Think of Anne Maurice, the House Doctor. Presumably the OP has made some refreshing changes which might make her house look more appealing.)

But the reality is that the OP disinstructed that particular agent in December.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Well obviously they can't actually sell your house without your permission. The owner of the Ouse would have to sign papers, etc to sell it.

I suspect someone has messed up, either at right move or at the estate agents.

[travailtotravel]

If this is their tactic, you shouuld also report them - there's an estate agents professional body, trading standards and a good old fashioned letter to a local paper that will put some wind up them and warn others!

[FruOla]

Rightmove is not responsible. It is just a 'property portal' which is 'fed' by the individual agents' websites. The OP's issue has to be with the agent.

[JustFabulous]

Bit weird that at the same time you decide you want to try again to sell your house they put it on their website again..

[noddyholder]

Don't be surprised if once they see you have instructed another agent they suddenly have a potential buyer

[InWithTheITCrowd]

Just check the small print too, though. Our house was on the market, and when we decided to ditch our dreadful estate agents, we were advised that if there was an offer on the house within 6 months of changing agents, the original estate agents could still invoice us for marketing leading to the sale UNLESS we paid them a fee on cancellation (£300) to go with another estate agent.

Turns out that we did sign for this.

And just cancelling and taking the house off the market incurs the same fee.

It may just be our crap estate agents, though?

[lalalonglegs]

It is specifically against the Ombudsman's Code of Conduct: see clause 5a.

[FruOla]

And I'll repeat what I said earlier :

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?

The reality is, they can't 'sell' (or, indeed, market) your house without your knowledge or permission - think about it logically. Just do the sensible thing, as PPs have said upthread, phone them tomorrow morning and calmly ask why it's there.

[PostBellumBugsy]

Well, they certainly are marketing my house without my permission FruOla. I'm reasonably confident, that even with my small brain, I would actually notice a sale!

Thank you for that lalalonglegs, I thought that might be the case.

InWithThe - I went through the contract as thoroughly as I could and once the 12 week period had expired, then there didn't seem to be any punitive clauses if I appointed a different agent, took the house off the market etc. I'll double check though. The contract expired well over 6 months ago too.

[FruOla]

PostBellumBugsy. Sorry, I think you might have misunderstood what I was trying to say.

I do completely understand that they have your house back up on the internet, against your instructions - as you disinstructed them some time ago.

What I simply meant was, that they are not allowed to do this. So your best bet is to phone them and ask why they appear to be marketing your house again, despite the fact that you haven't reinstructed them.

[ATouchOfStuffing]

I think the main problem here is if they are advertising the property for less than other agents - in reality, even though you don't want them to sell it for you, it is still advertising your house, which is a good thing, as long as you don't pay. If so nip it in the bud ASAP as buyers will notice and wonder what is wrong with the house, even if nothing is.

I used to work in an EA office (not as EA) and they have very high targets set by their management, even with the down turn in the market they were expected to pull out the same profits as years when the housing boom was in full swing. I think this extra pressure has ensured the unscrupulous EA's get better commissions and more promotions unfortunately.

In reality, they won't expect you to have read the Ombudsmen, and are probably hoping to pip other agents to the post. If they get interest ask to speak to the buyer directly and tell them which agents you are using and the real price - explain RM didn't have authority to market the property but you would be happy to deal with them through X. RM may not let you have potential buyers contact details of course, but worth a try.

[FruOla]

Rightmove is not responsible.
It is just a 'property portal' which is 'fed' by the individual agents' websites.
The OP's issue has to be with the agent.

[StuntGirl]

I'd have thought it was just a mistake until you said you frequently check the website and it's only just reappeared. My friend bought his house two years ago and his still shows up on right move searches

Call them and calmly ask why it's showing up. Then make them remove it and take your business elsewhere.

[DeafLeopard]

I like the idea of getting someone else to ring up and pretend to be interested in it.

That way you will find out what they are playing at.

[drjohnsonscat]

They do this to pad out their offering - if someone genuine rings they say it's been taken off the market but can I offer you xyz?. This happened to me and the estate agent said it was a mistake but I knew fine well it wasn't.

[milf90]

did you get your friend to phone?

[DeafLeopard]

That makes sense drjohnson but I'm dying to hear what happens when the OP speaks to them.

[HecatePropolos]

Did you get your friend to call them?

[PostBellumBugsy]

Sorry to be slow updating. I did get a friend to phone & there was no hint of a suggestion that my house might not actually be on the market.

I'm sending a very polite (as god forbid I may one day need to buy something through these jokers) letter explaining that they are to desist from marketing the house immediately & just in case I hadn't been clear enough in previous correspondence, they are no longer agents for my property!

[DeafLeopard]

they are cheeky buggers. Thanks for updating us

[diddl]

Did friend ask for a viewing??

[maddening]

get the friend to ask for a viewing first - maybe hand the letter to the agent when they turn up with her :-)

[HecatePropolos]

no no no no letter.

Get your friend to ask to view the house.

Please.

I will pay you good money

[PenguinBear]

I agree, ask your friend to book a viewing!!!