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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:
Stopthebusplease · 10/02/2023 01:29

As an ex estate agent I can't help wondering whether some of this might be down to interpretation. Yes, I know there are still dodgy agents about. However, the agent, while admittedly getting paid for referrals to their 'Financial Advisor', is also providing a service to their client, in as much as they are checking that the buyer does actually have a mortgage offer in place, or, if the buyer says they are a cash purchaser, the financial advisor, can then ask for sight of their bank accounts, etc, before putting forward an offer which might be accepted otherwise, when perhaps the buyer doesn't actually have the money in the bank, but will only have it after selling their property, which may not even be on the market at that point. Of course they want to sell you a mortgage or other financial product, but at the end of the day, buyers who refuse to provide proof that they are actually in a position to proceed, may well turn out not to be.

So before you put any accusations in writing OP, I would be inclined to check with the agent whether they have actually received any offers from these people, as it is possible that the buyers have misunderstood the reasons they've been asked to see the Financial Advisor, and have got the hump, because naturally they want their offer to be first in line for consideration, and they don't see why they should have to have things checked out first, whereas the agent should want to be in a position to firmly recommend acceptance or refusal, knowing all the facts.

Once again I reiterate I am FULLY aware that dodgy dealings DO still go on, so please don't bite my head off, just wanted to put another perspective to you.

StarbucksSmarterSister · 10/02/2023 02:01

Sack them AND report them.

Zonder · 10/02/2023 03:41

Whoa! What did the EA say? Or your solicitor?

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 10/02/2023 03:53

We had an issue with Hunters. They seemed weirdly pushy about us selling to an absolute pain in the arse couple who constantly pulled out, then came back, dropped offers etc.
When we eventually said no and dropped them, put back on the market the eventual buyer told us they'd made a full asking price offer previously and had it rejected by Hunters. We had no idea whatsoever as they'd been pushing the £50K under offer sale with the idiot couple.
Until the day it exchanged, Hunters were trying to persuade us to pull out and go with the other buyer as it was such a risky sale. It was a cash buyer with no property to sell so no idea what they thought was so risky. It completed in a couple of weeks.

We also had a couple of people knock on the door and ask for viewings as they refused to deal with Hunters due to issues they'd had with them.

Intrepidescape · 10/02/2023 04:42

This is shocking!! Is there a real estate board or ombudsman and a financial services ombudsman in your country? You need to report this behaviour!!

Vanillazebra · 10/02/2023 05:53

Contact the RICS and complain

TrianglePlayer · 10/02/2023 06:11

Surely the first thing you do is call, or even better turn up in person at, the Estate agents and ask what the hell is going on? Also tell us who it is!

somuchtolearnabout · 10/02/2023 06:22

It's getting on my nerves that you knew about this since Monday and by Thursday you presumably still hasn't approached the estate agents about it??

Riverbiscuits · 10/02/2023 06:37

I had the same situation from the other end - I was offering but they told us we wouldn’t have the offer notified to the seller because we hadn’t seen their mortgage person. We offered proof of funds/ mortgage in principle but that wasn’t good enough apparently, it had to be a full review by their person. They tried to claim it was due diligence but any idiot could see it was a strong arm cross-sales tactic.

Unfortunately for them we knew the seller so he raised it with them (and accepted our offer) but they continued to be unhelpful all the way until it completed. From what I know from others it’s what they do by routine and I would never use them or buy a house they advertise again.

mrssunshinexxx · 10/02/2023 06:59

Sack the EA and sell to the buyer privately. Saves on fees too

Pipsquiggle · 10/02/2023 07:13

Email them - bright and breezy and ask for a progress update - how many viewings are booked in and have they received any offers.

Get it back in writing on the above.

Then I would probably ring up the manager or their head office (as office manager is probably complicit) and ask what their policy on communicating offers

I would then go ballistic on them and report them to the ombudsman and change EA - dickheads!

NellietheElephantpackedhertrunks · 10/02/2023 07:17

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.

This. Not too aggressive but will tell you the truth.

Original poster
Sellsellseller · 10/02/2023 07:41

Thank you all for your messages, we have known about this since Monday and not said anything yet to the estate agent as we’re getting it checked out with a solicitor and also in the meantime been getting the Ea to send things over in writing as most of it was said over the phone and I need better proof, but now we have two people so surly a stronger case now. We’re gathering evidence at the moment which is why we haven’t complained to the ea. We have a hand written letter from the First Lady and also some texts from the Second Lady now saying the same thing.

ive emailed the solicitor to let them know about the Second Lady and just waiting for them to get back to me which they should do today.

We want to make sure the contract is definitely void first as we don’t want to pay fees twice over

OP posts:
YankeeDad · 10/02/2023 08:38

@Sellsellseller You may actually be able to make this work to your advantage, if you can get the EA contract voided, by choosing one of the two parties who contacted you directly and selling with the support of your solicitor but without any EA at all. The solicitor might charge a bit more if they have to do everything the EA usually does, but the increment should be much less than the EA fees. The main downside to that is that if you know of two offers, there may be others that you do not know about, so it is possible you could get an even better price with the help of a proper EA. But, this one clearly does not deserve your trust.

ginandvomit · 10/02/2023 09:04

@Sellsellseller very pleased you're getting legal advice, I recant believe how low these EA's will go. Please let us know the outcome and best of luck with your sale!

Warrensrabbit · 10/02/2023 10:12

I would send an email to the estate agent setting out that you are disappointed in the lack of interest and offers to date.

get them to confirm in writing that no offers have been made

then go back and say you are concerned because buyer x has contacted you about an offer they have made that wasn’t put forward, and ask who they are regulated by

if you want to take the offer I would and do it privately. They would be hard pressed to argue that they are owed commission when they broke the law by not passing the offer on

my only caveat would be is if the estate agent tells you that they didn’t pass on the offer because the buyer still has a property to sell or some such and isn’t actually putting forwards a proceedable offer

StillWantingADog · 10/02/2023 10:16

my only caveat would be is if the estate agent tells you that they didn’t pass on the offer because the buyer still has a property to sell or some such and isn’t actually putting forwards a proceedable offer

it's a fair point but I believe EAs are legally obliged to put forward any offer, serious or otherwise

Shescominghome · 10/02/2023 10:19

I think this is currently happening to us! Only I'm the buyer. I've offered over asking and the estate agent seems pissed off that we said no to all their mortgage bits and bobs.

I might put a note through the vendors door (only it's 110 miles away so it's not quite as easy!)

The house I'm offering on has been listed since November and reduced twice. Can see why with dickhead EA's like that!

MumOf2workOptions · 10/02/2023 10:23

Sack then off and do a private sale

Merryhobnobs · 10/02/2023 10:25

Your Move tried this with us when we bought our house. Told us the seller would not consider us unless we went to their mortgage advisor. So we went to an appointment with their advisor who went through everything and then we said nope as we already have an offer from our bank that is better. They were a bit put out but then the estate agents did say they would pass on offer. They were awful in lots of ways - as the buyers it worked out for us but the seller had the house on the market for over a year and we got is for 18k under asking price so it cost her but there was a lot of faff.

Warrensrabbit · 10/02/2023 10:53

@StillWantingADog yes they are. But I have seen some shockers round where I am - one of my neighbours got effectively banned from seeing properties by one estate agent because they put in so many offers which were accepted only to get cold feet and pull out. I think we are talking 8 or 9 times with one agent!!

I have another friend who is “currently under offer” and got above asking price but the buyer still needs to sell their home, so they are now waiting a) for this person to get an offer and also whether the offer will actually be sufficient for them to pay what has been offered on their property.

so I can see why an agent might in some circumstances not want to put an offer forward if potentially it might prevent a more proceedable offer being accepted.

English buying and selling of houses is absolutely shocking, estate agents in the main seem damn terrible and many buyers are quite wishy washy too.

billy1966 · 10/02/2023 10:59

You HAVE to create a paper trail by formally contacting them with a request for an explanation.

Contact head office and tell them you are so distressed to learn of this.

Make a big deal about it.

Paper trail is your friend here, lay it all out to them.

Phone calls mean nothing, if they call you, confirm EVERYTHING they say by follow up email.

They will know you are taking it very seriously by doing this.

Contact their regulatory body for the exact procedure to be followed to make a complaint.

Tell them of your intentions to do so.

WhoNeedsSleepNotISaidMyBody · 10/02/2023 11:04

Shescominghome · 10/02/2023 10:19

I think this is currently happening to us! Only I'm the buyer. I've offered over asking and the estate agent seems pissed off that we said no to all their mortgage bits and bobs.

I might put a note through the vendors door (only it's 110 miles away so it's not quite as easy!)

The house I'm offering on has been listed since November and reduced twice. Can see why with dickhead EA's like that!

send a letter?

Shescominghome · 10/02/2023 11:07

DH suggested we drive there tomorrow for a nose around the city anyway. So I'll just drop a note in :)

Cherrysoup · 10/02/2023 11:08

This is disgusting behaviour from the EA!! I would go to her directly and mention malpractice, Ombudsman etc and demand that she accepts whichever offer you prefer on your behalf asap or you will sue.

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