AIBU to feel uneasy about our estate agent not taking the house off the market?

[sweetestpotato]

We recently had our offer accepted on a house in a best-and-final bidding situation. The house is substantial and survey and conveyancing fees will be expensive. We were told by the estate agent that all viewings would stop, but the property would remain on Rightmove and Zoopla until after the survey has been done, as per the vendor’s request. They reassured us no further viewings would take place.

We’ve sent all the necessary documentation—proof of funds and our decision in principle (DIP)—and we emailed the estate agent on Friday asking if they could mark the property as “sold subject to contract” (SSTC) to reflect the commitment from both sides. We also offered for them to speak to our mortgage broker, who confirmed we're serious about proceeding. However, we’ve received no response from the estate agent since then. It was also us that had to chase the estate agent after we got the call that our offer was accepted in order to move things along. The estate agent has a sister company that they push for conveyancing and surveys and they have been in touch and pushy despite the inaction/silence from the estate agent.

While I understand the vendor might want some security, we’re about to spend thousands on a surveyor and solicitors, and without some assurance on their end, it feels a bit risky. AIBU to feel uneasy and want them to take the house off the market (or at least mark it SSTC) now that we've provided everything?
Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Would love some advice on how to handle this!

I wouldn't be happy with this either. Can you get a friend to ring and pretend they want to view it?

I assume that you made your offer subject to the house being removed from the market? If you didn't then you probably don't have the ability to force it...

Equally - assuming England / Wales - you have no security over a house until you have exchanged, so any survey and instruction of conveyancing is always at your risk.

Your options now are:

• speak to the owner and ask them to have the house removed from the property
• threaten to pull out unless the property is removed from the market
• crack on because the further you get down the process the stronger a candidate you are for the seller anyway in that they do want to sell and the closer you are to being able to complete that transaction the more likely they are to want to sell to you...

We're a seller and oddly the agent currently dealing with the property uses this system but its definitely not from us. We certainly wouldn't have gone with them had we known.

Not sure how you could deal with sorry but just wanted to say it may not be the seller.

The seller is an (apparently lovely) old lady that wants to downsize. We haven’t had a chance to meet her but apparently she wants to meet us. The dates we have given have apparently not been suitable yet though…

Unfortunately we didn’t put the offer in with the condition that it would be taken off the market. This is because it went to best and final and we didn’t want to weaken our position.

We just feel really vulnerable now and not sure whether to pay the thousands for the surveyor or to threaten to withdraw. Feels very unfair from the EA as we have done everything we can to show our strong position and eagerness to proceed at the seller’s pace.

I don’t think it’s from the seller either. But I don’t have the contact details of the seller to speak to them and I don’t want to be inappropriate and bypass the estate agent.

I haven’t thought of that… Seems sneaky but perhaps a good idea.

Agree with above - no I’d not be happy with that and I’d recruit a friend to try and arrange a viewing later this week (but ultimately not actually go view it)

Might just be that they have not bothered to update their listings yet

The house I live in was still being listed after we had moved in. Where I live agents use old listings as a proxy form of advertising.

It's easy to overthink things as a buyer due to FOMO

I can see both sides with this one. We sold a couple of years ago and firstly had a buyer who was very committed, promptly submitted proof of funds and agreement in principle to estate agent, went ahead with checks, had a full survey done, then changed their mind and pulled out. Even the estate agent was confused and said they hadn't seen it coming and had tried to reason with them asking if something was wrong to see if it could be fixed - apparently they had just decided they didn't want to buy a house anymore. Our solicitor confirmed they were quite far into the process and would have spent quite a lot on conveyancing fees, checks, survey, etc.

Although our house was marked as SSTC during all of this, and we said not to accept or arrange any more viewings while we believed we had sold. I would be wanting to know if it's the owner or estate agent insisting on keeping it up as 'for sale'.

I remember getting sent to view a property by an EA, people were moving in as we drove up, they were slightly amused!

Section 9e of the Property Ombudsman's code of practice states that once a property has had an offer accepted on it, the agent must take the vendor's instruction as to whether the property is to be removed from the market. Of course, that depends on whether a) they've actually done this and b) what the vendor's instructions were if they have:

https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/codes-of-practice/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf

In your shoes I'd be tempted to pop round (after all, it's not like you don't know where the house is...) and say you can't get hold of the EA but wanted to check everything was OK because the house is on the market and you're getting a bit worried.

I've been at the other side of this and after a buyer pulled out on me at the last minute, next time I left it on the market until exchange. I wouldn't have done viewings or accepted another offer unless my buyer was really dragging their feet or messing me around.

It's a two way street on what buyers and sellers are paying out. When my buyer pulled out, I lost money on the survey and legal fees for the house I was buying which I ultimately couldn't go ahead with.

The whole buying and selling process is a nightmare given that no-one is committed until exchange which can end up being the same day as completion and both parties are shelling out money.

We were told by the estate agent that all viewings would stop, but the property would remain on Rightmove and Zoopla until after the survey has been done, as per the vendor’s request

You need to comply with this. This is what you agreed to when your offer was accepted. Adding a SSTC means it is no longer featured in the main search on Rightmove / Zoopla, unless people search for SSTC.

Your position is weak, they can easily recommence viewings if they're not happy with you.

If you don't want the house appearing in the portals whilst you spending a lot of money on a survey, choose another house.

They have made their position clear.

You can't really tell the estate agent to do anything - they're employed by the vendor and it's the vendors choice. She seems to want it to stay listed which is her right.

It is clear. It’s also unreasonable in my opinion. We have shown a great deal of commitment but the seller/EA is showing none in return.

The way the EA have made it sound, the seller is an old lady who has left pretty much everything to the EA. She picked us in the best and final because of our position, circumstances and offer over asking. She apparently wants to meet us and asked the EA if we were nice etc.

None of this adds up with the way things have been handled after our offer was accepted. The EA’s conveyancer and surveyor have also been very pushy and this whole “won’t take it off until survey is done” feels like they are pushing us into using their surveyor.

I guess we will just make our position clear too and if they would rather not meet us in the middle and show commitment from their side then we will pull out as this does not bode well for the rest of the process

I never said otherwise but it obviously puts us in a vulnerable position where we could lose thousands. A show of commitment from her side to ensure things go smoothly doesn’t feel like a lot to ask, especially after this house has already gone to best and final. If the seller doesn’t care about this then perhaps it’s best we withdrew our offer.

It is a nightmare, I agree!

We have done our best to be as transparent and easy to work with as possible. It doesn’t feel like it’s the same on their part though.

The seller has already bought her next house and is in the process of moving her belongings. Given this, I don’t understand why they are being like this.

I would contact the estate agent to say that you will not go ahead unless the listing is marked 'UNDER OFFER' on Rightmove.
Hopefully they will relay this to the vendor, but if not, you could write to her saying the same thing.

That's a good idea.

I wouldn't kick off conveyancing on a house unless if was taken off the market.

I'd suggest marking it 'under offer'

Update: just got the call - we have been gazumped.

Awful feeling, I’m devastated. I feel like an idiot for getting my hopes up.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Oh that’s rubbish, I’m so sorry! Thank goodness you hadn’t spent out on the searches etc.

House buying process in England and Wales is awful, isn’t it? No security for either party and so much money at stake.

We're in the same situation with the house we are (hopefully) buying. I asked two friends to ring up and try and get a booking. They were both declined, yet the house remains on Rightmove. It's odd isn't it.

That's very unlikely to be an old lady driving that more likely to be the agent

Sorry this has happened to you it must be awful.

I think expecting someone to update by mid-morning on Monday is a bit hopeful. If nothing say by Wednesday or Thursday, fair enough.

Sorry to hear about the gazumping.