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AIBU?

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Original poster

EA not telling us about offers coming in!

135 replies

Sellsellseller · 06/02/2023 15:30

We are selling a house. Turns out the estate agent has not put two offers to us by someone who wants to buy our house. One offer was over the asking price. The reason seems to be because the buyer won’t go with the estate agents mortgage and solicitors (to help them hit more sales targets).

The reason I know this is because the buyer has popped a note through my door also with a print out of an email the estate agent sent them basically saying she can’t guarantee the property to the buyer unless she goes with their in-house services.

We have a contract with the estate agent, does them not putting offers forward to us void the contract?

AIBU to pull the contract and sell to her privately or will I end up still having to pay agency fees if that doesn’t make the contract void?

OP posts:
Original poster
Sellsellseller · 06/02/2023 15:32

Based in England.

OP posts:
Sealover123 · 06/02/2023 15:33

I thought agents have a fiduciary duty to present any and all offers to the sellers.

SofiaSoFar · 06/02/2023 15:34

EAs have a n obligation to inform sellers of all offers in writing.

They can't choose not to do that for any reason.

Wilkolampshade · 06/02/2023 15:35

Yeah, that's not OK. I'd be sacking them off tbh.

midgetastic · 06/02/2023 15:36

Legal requirement to pass on all offers up to point of exchange

Very dodgy

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 06/02/2023 15:36

Think the AE is legally obliged to pass on offers. Shocked to hear there's an EA tarnishing the good reputation of EAs everywhere.

CopperMaran · 06/02/2023 15:37

Assuming you’ve got a solicitor in place to handle the sale, I would be on the phone to them today and send them a copy of the terms and conditions with your agent.

SofiaSoFar · 06/02/2023 15:37

The legislation is somewhere in here: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1991/861/note/made

or here: www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1991/1032/made

LewisCapaldisCamelToe · 06/02/2023 15:38

That's shocking and also worrying as we are currently on the market (with no offers in over six months either)

LookItsMeAgain · 06/02/2023 15:40

My advice would be for you to go to your solicitor with this information to find out if there would be any way you could break whatever contract you have with the EA as they're not doing what you're paying them to do for you, without incurring further financial penalties.
Then I'd take the property off the open market (if you're happy to sell to this couple) and deal directly with them, solicitor to solicitor.

That's what I would try.

KTheGrey · 06/02/2023 15:41

You signed a contract with them. Find and check it. You are only tied to an EA for a finite amount of time, but they will probably be entitled to something if you sell to anybody found in that time.

Unless this is mentioned specifically in their contract, their behaviour seems very dodgy, and you could negotiate for 50% of their bill on the grounds that they may have advertised your property but then they didn't pass on offers.

However, decent estate agents do checks on whether buyers are proceedable, so you might want to ask some questions about that before you agree to sell to them. Do they have a deposit, are they in a chain, are they planning to instruct a really cheap chain store type solicitor who will drive everyone to the edge of a nervous breakdown? They are things you need to know.

UsingChangeofName · 06/02/2023 15:42

YANBU at all.
That is shocking.
Is there a way of complaining to an Estate Agents' Professional Body - an ombudsman or something ?

You should be really grateful to the folk who have alerted you to it.
I wonder how many other offers there have been ?

midgetastic · 06/02/2023 15:42

Even if they say in the contract - it's illegal

FeinCuroxiVooz · 06/02/2023 15:42

you can try to tell them they are in breach of contract and you are sacking them, but be prepared that you might find you are obliged to pay them their commission anyway. I would write to them saying that their breach of their duty to you is unacceptable, and that you believe there should be no obligation on you to pay any fees given that they have failed so spectacularly to keep their side of the contract, but that they are welcome to start a public and damaging fight over the issue so that everyone can hear more about their dishonesty if they want to disagree. hopefully they will choose to "waive the fee as a goodwill gesture" on the condition that you agree to not moan about it in public.

the agents don't need to do anything really now anyway if you want to accept the offer, you can just instruct solicitors and move forwards.

neslop · 06/02/2023 15:45

www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/estate-agents

"Estate agents must treat buyers fairly. They must show any offers promptly and in writing to the person selling the house.

Estate agents are also legally obliged to pass on any other offers for the property right up to when contracts are exchanged.

Complain about an estate agent
You must complain to the estate agent first and give them a fair chance to sort out your complaint. If they do not, you can complain to one of the following schemes:

The Property Ombudsman
Property Redress Scheme

Ask the estate agent which scheme they belong to."

FarmGirl78 · 06/02/2023 15:48

If you sell to them directly without involving the Estate Agent you might be liable for their fees anyway. However I know there was a previous test case in court where the Agent had to have been deemed "to introduce the sale" not just introduce the buyer. By not passing on the offer I can't see how the agent has done either of introducing the buyer OR the sale.

Either way the EA is clearly breaching their side of the contract. Ask them whether they would now consider it null and void (they'd be hard pushed to say no!), and that you wish to proceed with the buyers without their company's involvement. And that as they've broken their regulatory laws you assume they won't be seeking a fee?

Arsewipes.

neslop · 06/02/2023 15:50

As long as you have solid evidence of them withholding offers i would tell them the contact is cancelled due to them vreaking their statutory duties, and would threaten to report them to the Property Ombudsman if they don't agree to this.
Tbh they should be reported in any case.

Original poster
Sellsellseller · 06/02/2023 16:04

Thank you for the advice. This is a well known estate agents too!

I don’t want to waste time pressing on without them if I have to pay them a fee anyway.

The person who wants to buy is perfect, chain free, already has a mortgage in principle (not with the estate agent though).
How would I prove the buyers put an offer in though? I know that they have, but how do I prove they did to the EA.
Also the EA told me about their first offer over the phone and we rejected it, there was nothing in writing of the estate agent putting the offer forward to us, should there have been instead of just a phone call?
It’s the buyers second offer (asking price) and third offer (above asking price) that they haven’t put forward to us and these were made last week. We have had loads of interest and the EA seem confident that lots of offers will come through (probably because they already have and just haven’t told us yet to see who they can get to go with their services too)

But how can I prove? Is it not worth the hassle? Would I be better just trying to re negotiate the fee instead?

OP posts:
CharChar91 · 06/02/2023 16:06

I would write to or email the EA's attaching a copy of the letter you received asking them to explain themselves to get their side of the story first. It does seem incredibly dodgy but could there be more to it? At least you'll have their version of events and I'd then seek advice from a solicitor.

Original poster
Sellsellseller · 06/02/2023 16:07

All I have is a letter from the lady and also the fact I know the estate agent hasn’t told me about the second and third offer and a few text messages exchanged between the two of us including an email about how the EA can’t guarantee the property to her without her using in house services.

Basically they know she wants my home and bullying her to go with their mortgage guy instead but she said no and had a feeling they wasn’t putting her offers through so dropped a note through my door and it’s true as they didn’t tell me about her other offers

OP posts:
Original poster
Sellsellseller · 06/02/2023 16:27

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 06/02/2023 15:36

Think the AE is legally obliged to pass on offers. Shocked to hear there's an EA tarnishing the good reputation of EAs everywhere.

Haha! The good reputation! Spat my coffee out laughing at that one. You’ve made me smile : )

OP posts:
ShimmeringShirts · 06/02/2023 16:29

The person who claims your EA didn’t tell you their offer would have proof of the offers they submitted, that’s all you need. I’d not take a strangers word at it, it could cause no end of issues for the EA if they were acting like that.

Intrepidescape · 06/02/2023 16:37

I would put in writing to the EA asking if there had been any further offers. Then put in writing that you had been contacted and ask for his/her response in writing as to why they have failed to inform you of not one but two offers by the same person who is keen to proceed.

Abitofalark · 06/02/2023 17:00

No one here can really say about the legality or otherwise of what the estate agent has done. We haven't seen the correspondence, don't know the contract and don't know if there's any proof of offers.

An important thing when dealing with estate agents is to pay close attention to the wording of documents or correspondence. For example, saying you can't guarantee something may be simply a statement of fact. It's probably a carefully chosen form of words, for a reason. As are the words in the contract. Be wary of assuming the first interpretation that comes to mind is correct or jumping in with statements or accusations, especially written ones. Take advice from your solicitor.

Matildatoldsuchdreadfullies · 06/02/2023 17:06

When I was selling last year, an offer was made by someone who hadn’t seen the flat. The EA took it upon themselves to tell them that they wouldn’t put forward an offer until they’d actually seen the property. I have no idea what the logic was behind this. Fortunately, they still wanted the flat after they saw it.

When the flat was sold, the EA asked me if I’d give them a 5* rating. I said, politely, not a chance. Strangely, the customer service questionnaire never arrived in my inbox.