Has this estate agent overstepped the mark?

[Secrethouse]

Evening everyone, thank you for reading. I think I need a little perspective (and to vent), as we're caught up in a house purchase with an incredibly intrusive vendor and estate agent.

We put our offer in and had it accepted 2 weeks ago. It was made clear to us by the agent that we needed to move quickly - the vendor is insisting on 6 weeks from offer accepted to completion (!)

We are chain free, and have said we will do everything in our power to keep to those timings. The agent was happy with this and we have proceeded with mortgages, searches, the usual things.

So far we are 2 weeks in, and we have kept to our word. Our estate agent has been in close contact with me and has had a complete update of everything. Today however she (without asking me), called our mortgage broker and basically made veiled threats about how the vendor can proceed with another interested party if timings are not kept to, and wanted to know the ins and outs of our mortgage, exact timings, etc. I also feel annoyed the agent suggested to our broker that our lender was not the fastest and maybe we should go with another lender who will underwrite a loan faster !!!? Our broker obviously explained her job was to advise us of the best product for us and not the best product for the vendor.

I am annoyed at having been taken out of the equation in terms of communication, and annoyed my broker was hoodwinked (or assumed) that the agent had my permission to call.

Is this not ridiculous behaviour? We are going at break neck speed with everything, and have shown this with our actions. All the vendor and agent are doing is making a stressful situation even worse. My back is up, and I am at a loss to understand what the enormous pressure and rush is all about. The vendors no longer live at the property but do still have a mortgage against it.

As they know every detail of our circumstances would it not be reasonable to expect an explanation for the unnecessary harassing to complete in a very short timeframe.

Hate to break the news but 6 weeks is ridiculously short.

We were FTB and the couple we bought from had already moved out, the property was empty and they didn't have a mortgage on it anymore

They were as keen to sell as we were to buy it and we did it in just under 12 weeks send that's with no problems at all and no survey except the mortgage valuation..

Estate agent does seem rude to have gone that far of natural extreme at such an early stage though!

I suspect that this may be down to the estate agent wanting to push the sale through so he can hit his target on commission. We had something similar when we bought. We were in a very short chain - we were buying from executors, our buyer had previously been renting - and we both agreed there wasn't any massive hurry. But the estate agents took it upon themselves to phone each of us and tell us that the other person was getting really pissed off at the delay and was ready to pull out. Fortunately we were in communication with each other and were able to agree to ignore the idiot, but we made it clear that he had to stop immediately; what really annoyed me that was that if our buyer had really thought we were going back on our word she might well have decided to tell us to get stuffed and would have looked elsewhere.

God I wish I had this problem. I am 5 months in and risk my mortgage offer almost coming up to expiry before I can even get to exchange (the mortgage which I got approved within days of making my offer on the property as I was told I needed to act quickly!) and still can't proceed because of the bastarding chain and others not being ready

Sorry op, your situation also sounds very stressful and the EA massively out of order but at least it will soon be over and with the end result of you in your new home

The estate agent gets paid by the seller, so she's the seller's agent, not yours.

Her job is to get a sale through, not see it drift and never come to fruition. If you want the property, then be glad its your purchase that she's working to push through.

The agent already had this information from me. The thing is OP, the Agent has a number of sales going through with a number if different buyers and part of their job is to verify the information with the professionals involved, not just take the buyers word for everything, which may or may not be true. Can you imagine:

Vendor: Does my buyer need a mortgage?
Estate Agent: Yes I believe so.
V: Who's it with?
EA: I think she said Santander.
V: You think she said? Is the mortgage arranged in principle?
EA: Oh yes, she says is it.
V: She says it is? Has she submitted all the forms?
EA: i'm not sure, but she says she has.
V: And has she paid survey fee?
EA: I'm not sure! I'll ask her, I'm sure she probably has
V: Which type of survey is she having?
EA: Oh I don't know. Possibly just the mortgage valuation.
V: Well, why don't you know? Havent you checked any of this?
EA: Oh no, I don't think I need to. She has a very nice face.
V: TELLYOUWHATWHYDON'TYOUBLOODYDOYOURJOBANDACTUALLYFINDOUTWHETHERMYBUYERCANACTUALLYBUYMYPROPERTYWHATDOYOUTHINKI'MPAYINGYOURCOMMISSON*FOR

(*commission is actually paid for the introduction of the purchaser, but sales progression is considered a large part of the process).

There is no way I'd take my house off the market to someone who wouldn't allow my Estate Agent to follow the progress through official channels, rather than their word for it. It's absolutely standard practice. (Although definitely not threatening that the buyer ought to go through another broker etc). I might accept their offer and take it with a pinch of salt to see if it went through, but if another offer came along which could be monitored I'd probably go with theirs.

It was made clear to us by the agent that we needed to move quickly - the vendor is insisting on 6 weeks from offer accepted to completion Who decided this timescale? How quickly it takes depends on the amount of legal work is needed to ensure that you are buying a sound property and it is impossible to estimate this until draft papers are received.

We are chain free, and have said we will do everything in our power to keep to those timings. The agent was happy with this and we have proceeded with mortgages, searches, the usual things Excellent. You have done everything you can to keep to the timescale. However, should there be a problem with, for example, the Local Authority Search or the title deeds, then it will be between the solicitors and a third party to rectify the problem.

Today however she called our mortgage broker and basically made veiled threats about how the vendor can proceed with another interested party if timings are not kept to, and wanted to know the ins and outs of our mortgage, exact timings Unacceptable, the EA is appointed by the vendor and is keen to hurry things along, but ultimately you have every right to choose a mortgage which is better for you.

Hope you manage to complete within the timeframe, but please remember that the vendor and the EA do not decide when you exchange and complete, no matter how much fuss they make. The EA can do all kinds of stirring, but it still won't make a jot of difference if the solicitors on either side are not ready.

Hmm, we're not in the UK but the last time we sold a UK property we ditched our buyers as I felt they were faffing. We ended up getting a lot more money and completed more quickly then the original buyers would have been able too.

Your issue should be with your mortgage broker, very unprofessional.

Our mortgage broker didn't actually give away any real information, apart from confirming we have our offers in principle and which lenders we are using. The agent already had this information from me.

I don't believe the issue is with the mortgage broker.

Secret, according to DP who has a law degree but not specialised etc it would not be a legal contract because nothing has been exchanged but you dan say my offer is under the condition that you do not accept other offers. I believe it is common.

No it isn't common whimsical and any such agreement isn't worth the paper it's wrote on.

That's what I've said rdoo. It's not a legal contract but it's an agreement between parties and seems to work.

Everyone I've spoken to about buying a house recently has done this. That's where I got the idea

I'm a conveyancer, trust me when I say it's not common. It would be a complete waste of time.

I'd want to know the real reason why the vendors want to complete in such haste. I'd be tempted to get a full structural survey done.