To think things like this give estate agents bad name

[MarmiteMania]

After months looking dh and I found house of our dreams. Another family had made low offer which was rejected. We got into a Dutch auction situation with them so we were about to leave it when the agent informed us that the vendor (who lives abroad) would be holding a sealed bid and the higher offer would 'win' the house.

We one the bid. Spent a small fortune on survey, searches and solicitors, ready to exchange, only to be told that the vendor would be exchanging with the other party as they had considerably upped their offer.

Aibu to think that any reputable agent would simply have said to the other party after the sealed bid "The house is now under offer, we'll contact you if it falls through"? What sticks is he let us spend all that money without telling us we weren't getting the house. We only heard from our solicitor at the last moment. Thank you for letting me have this rant.

Lost not list!

That is crazy and shocking behaviour by the vendor.

Seeing he knew that 2 people were paying out on things for the sale of his property, is there no way you can take it further? I would want to on principle, let alone for the money spent.

Shocking but perfectly legal, that's what's wrong. As he lives abroad nothing we can do. What hurts more than the money is the loss of the house (unique) and the fact that there seem to be fewer and fewer people with morals.

Agreed about the morals. I don't know how these people sleep at night. I hope you find your perfect house op, and I hope the one you've missed out on turns out to have dry rot.

Thank you Mynameis. I will hold that thought in my mind!

Wasn't your house taken "off the market" when your bid was accepted?

I would have thought that a reputable agent would have to tell the other bidder that the house was now off the market. I've been told properties were off the market in this situation, making it clear I cannot now bid. And clearly since the EA knew there was another bid being progressed, he surely had an obligation to tell you to stop spending money on the transaction? Letting two bids go forward in tandem does not sound right.

The system is all wrong - the EAs don't really care because they get paid regardless.

It goes without saying that thw house was 'taken off the market'- but that means nothing when legaly the vendor can string two parties along until he issues a second contract. This is an EXTREMEMY reputable agent, I only wish I could mention the name here. If I knew the right people I would love to give it some publicity. But I know I have to move on.

Make a formal complaint with your solicitor's input if you can, and then if that doesn't yield anything..

www.tpos.co.uk/make_complaint_sales.htm

This seems to be quite serious. You can make a complaint to the Property Ombudsman. If it is a very reputable Estate Agents then you might even get somewhere.

Thanks Hissy i will show this to my husband. Unfortunately gheir are no rules governing gazumping and I think agents think it's 'part of the game'. Thank you all for your advice.

Not very fair, but is legal. Although for £500k over the asking price is have gone with the other party too!

It is of course fine to pull out before exchange of contracts, but your solicitors should have told you the moment they had an inkling the vendor was dealing with multiple parties. You might have grounds for complaining about your solicitor (I'm sure someone much more qualified can confirm if this is or isn't the case!). In the future you can demand that your solicitors have an undertaking from the vendor's solicitors that they are the sole people they are dealing with. If that changes, they have to tell you at once.

So your solicitor told you when the vendor issued another contract.

So there weren't two sales running.

How would the EA know the other contract had been issued before your solicitor

£500k over asking? What was the asking price?

£500,000 over asking price is mind boggling, sorry OP but I wouldn't have sold to you if that was the case.

Could you have matched the offer?

Do you mind me asking what part of the country you're in?

Thanks for advice Alyosha. Bberry the EA knew the other party were going to be issued with a contract because he negotiated it! And yes, there were two sales running because the other party agreed the increased price, instructed their solicitor had a survey! I call that a sale! And why on earth does it matter what the asking price was?

Ilovemydog we couldn't have matched the offer and anyway they grossly overpaid for the house. We live in n/w London/ Herts area. Prices gone mad here.

I have to say, if someone offered me 50k over asking price I'd probably reconsider, let alone 500k!!!

From a seller point of view there is nothing stopping the buyer from pulling out at the last minute, so you'd have to be crazy to say no to an extra 500k!!!!!

The issue is here that the EA should have advised the OP that there was this crazy stupid offer.

Who wouldn't take and offer of half a million quid over the asking price.

If the EA had advised the OP of this, she could have limited her 'risk' by limiting her expenditure on things until she had confirmation of what was what, or by withdrawing from the sale.

It sounds shady, because it is.

I'd ask when the offer was made and tott up all expenses incurred from that date until the date of exchange and request that the EA reimburse you from the 1% to 2% these guys have made. Tell them to mark it up as costs of vastly over inflated sale.

Did the vendor have your contact details? Could they have told you directly?

If that were me, i'd be on the phone to the OP and explain the situation. If I were the OP, being blown out of the water by half a million, i'd completely understand, and would have appreciated and respected the vendor for telling me/mitigating my loss.

Thanks Hissy you summed it up in saying we should have been advised. Of course vendor wasn't going to turn it down. But it's how they kept us there, spending money and measuring up, only to be told when we legally had to be that another contract was out and that they would not be exchanging with us.

Unfortunately the EA is under no legal obligation to reimburse us for anything and it would cost us more time and money to peruse. I think the well established agents which have a 'good' name behave as badly as the cowboys.

Yes I do agree that they should have let you know... That was the dodgy bit.

Well we could swap to the Scottish system and everyone just puts in their sealed bids in at the same time. So you decide what price the propriety is worth to you.

Recently I looked (I'm in construction) at a property for a client, who put in an offer significantly over the asking price, which had already been offered by another couple,

the property fitted their criteria(business plan) perfectly, so was well worth over paying for,

The place was being sold to fund the owner nursing care, so them getting a third more was essential.

Where I live, most sellers won't accept an offer from anyone in a chain, and cash buyers get priority.

And most properties are sold word of mouth, or go on the village notice board, so we avoid all these problems.

It's perfectly true that the final decision is down to the seller, but let's not forget that if an agent's on a % contract, a higher selling price mean more for them too - it seems a bit disingenuous to suggest this wouldn't count with them, surely?

"...The system is utterly screwed. I honestly do not understand how it hasn't been reformed..."

Call me cynical Neverendingnappies, but I'd hazard a guess that Foxtons being Tory donors (IIRC) has something to do with the industry not being regulated

Sorry Hissy in reply to your last post, no the vendor lived abroad, but even so I would too have at least sent us an email.

And I am totally sure that "backhanders" are rife with regards to agents. Yes, even the 'reputable ones'.