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!

That’s rubbish OP - the best and final offer thing is a joke if it’s not actually best and final.

On a side note, I bought recently and the EAs wouldn’t update to SSTC until I’d appointed a conveyancer - I had one ready lined up so this wasn’t an issue and I had them appointed within 24 hours - as there was a chain already in play. Have a few ready to ring around and get the wheels in motion rapidly when you next make an offer. Also the homebuyers insurance was about £50 but gave the peace of mind in case the sale fell through.

Good luck on your house hunt.

No this is what we didn't do. I had a surveyor who had sent a quote and a date they would be available from and told the EA that but on Friday I emailed to explain that I didn't want to pay the couple thousand pounds until the property was listed as SSTC or under offer. The lack of communication from the EA following the initial call to congratulate us had me feeling uneasy and so I needed some show of comitment before invested heavily financially.

In hindsight I am glad I didn't or I would have just lost a couple grand with nothing to show for it. I don't think any of this was because I didn't do things quickly enough. In the end, someone with more money decided they didn't want to lose out and that's that. My only gripe is that it feels we were kept in the dark until the last minute but the EA denies this.

Oh wow, I didn't even know about homebuyers insurance. Was there an excess on yours? That sounds like a good idea going forwards.

Thank you for your kind words.

It's so if house sale falls through (35% do), the agent has a list of buyers that are interested.
When selling I had to really push my agent to mark it sold and later to remove it.
It's annoying though

I guess the 'best and final' thing wasn't that at all then. Your 'best' (and the one the vendor chose as best) wasn't actually the 'final' offer, if someone else's later offer was then accepted over yours.

I know technically no-one's done anything WRONG, but the best and final clearly wasn't done with the right intention (on their part, not yours).

At least you hadn't spent the money. And if you can't go any higher then it's all a bit irrelevant anyway - the other party could have put their now-higher offer in at B&F stage and you'd have been out of the running. It's just that you're now 2 weeks down the line.

I think if I was a seller, who wanted to keep my property on the portals despite knowing my potential buyers had paid for a survey, and then I accepted a higher offer from a other party down the line (which I would only do if I had lost confidence in the buyers), I think it's only fair to offer to buy the survey report and reimburse the original buyers those costs.

We had exactly this scenario happen a few years ago. After asking around locally it seems this particular agent has form for this behaviour. Using best and final to get an offer on the table but making every excuse under the sun as to why they haven't taken the property off the market and delaying paperwork from their end.

As a result I will never touch this agent again. Not even if they were selling Buckingham palace for a pound.

I spoke to all the other agents in the area who were very sympathetic and were aware we were proceedable. They prioritised us to view properties as soon as they had them on their books and we ended up with a house in a much nicer location.

I know… i never want to have anything to do with this EA again. Unfortunately we are only looking in a small area and so are bound to have to interact with them again if we want to move.

If only everyone was as thoughtful and caring as you.

I did this with my first purchase and the estate agent told them there was an offer of x amount and they needed to beat that if they wanted to buy it. I was furious. Luckily I was a cash buyer and first time buyer so no chain so if they had another offer I guess I was the best choice

Is this allowed? The EA keeps telling me its illegal for them to share other people's offers.

I honestly think it would have been less likely that you'd be gazumped if you'd sorted your conveyancer. 2 weeks after offer accepted and still not sent your conveyancer details to the EA, they're going to think you're not interested and keeping your options open/viewing other properties. As the seller I'd have said I'd be starting viewings again if you hadn't sent solicitors details within a week of offer accepted. You may still have been gazumped but it really is the norm for you to select a conveyancer very quickly and they normally won't take if off the market until they have those details and have sent the memo of sale. I've just sold my house so at the beginning of this process now and our buyers took 5 days to select a conveyancer and we were all getting concerned they weren't serious.

Sorry if I've misunderstood what you did during the last two weeks but it reads like you haven't done anything to progress other than ask them to mark it as sold. My estate agent said they keep the house on the market until the mortgage offer has been sent, otherwise you're missing out vital marketing time if your buyers pull out or have issues with funds.

We lost our first buyer after 4 weeks and stupidly I'd taken the house off the market thinking it would all go through. We didn't lose the money on the conveyancer though as they put our file on hold until we found our current buyers.

I feel like I’ve explained what we did in the past two weeks and that we did not mess around at any point and in fact felt it was the EA that was holding things up. Did you read the thread?

When we got the congratulations call from the EA, they told us that the seller found moving stressful and she wanted to slow down and that she wasn’t looking to exchange until late January. The EA said she would send us an email with all the documentation they wanted.

It took a week and lots of emails and calls from us until we got that email. In that time we had already prepared all the documents and sought out a surveyor and were in a position to proceed with our solicitor.

Once we sent all our documentation we the waited days to hear anything. That’s when we followed up with the email about it not being taken off the market yet.

We heard from the EA’s conveyancer and solicitor in the past few days despite them saying they would be in touch as soon as possible after the offer was accepted. And by this time we had already sorted our own independent ones.

We were very much the ones acting despite the EA blanking us.

They’re not obliged to tell you the amount, only that it is higher or lower.

Sometimes it's the agent, when selling our first home we had first time buyers offer our asking price after the first week of viewings. No messing about they wanted the house. We accepted as had found a house we liked and could put an offer on it. A few days later the agent called and said someone had offered us 2000 more but they hadn't yet had their mortgage in principle/checked funds deposits etc. We declined and said we wanted to proceed with first time buyers. They went behind our backs!!! and told the first time buyers a better offer had been made and do they want to up their offer - they pulled out correctly because of being annoyed! I was so annoyed all for the sake of the agent getting £20 more commission! We wanted to just pull the sale from the agent completely but didn't want to lose our new house, so decided to move forward.

These buyers were a pain as they were not true first time buyers as we were reassured by the agent, their money was tied up in a property that had to be sold in the end but wasn't officially on the chain/in a company. And they were a pain in the arse thinking they could make demands to then complete by a certain date (only a week after the solicitors had received the mortgage approval etc, because they couldn't get approved until proof of deposit!) or they would pull out. The solicitors on both sides agreed it was too short notice.

This is because they wanted the house in time for their wedding so guests could stay there, they even said we should move into rented to accommodate them. We told them where to go and that had they not taken so long getting sorted in the first place then we may have been able to do that date! But now we can't as rightly so the house we were moving into also needed notice to book removals etc.

I complained to the agent manager and left a bad review about them not following our instructions! Was so disappointed and angry on behalf of the first time buyers too.

My parents were. Had offer accepted but house not taken off Rightmove.

In the end I rang up pretending to want to view it and they said it was still available and when did I want to see it. At that point my parents rang up and said they didn’t trust the agent and so they pulled out. No way we’re they going to fork out on a survey etc. when there were still other viewings.

My DD is in the position where she has offered on a house and the EA has told her the original buyer has pulled their finger out and is proceeding after all! Very frustrating.

Not sure if anyone will see this but as a further update…

The estate agent has been trying to ring me to discuss the house again. I can only assume the other buyer who gazumped us has now pulled out. I’m a bit lost with what to do…

Speak to them if you still love the house and this time state that you will resubmit your offer on the proviso that once it is accepted the house is taken off the market. I think this is only fair after they have messed you around.

Always offer subject to the house being removed from the market

As above, but I would also request a meeting with the seller, as she also wanted it. I think she may be unaware of the games the EA is playing so if you meet you can be in the same page and hopefully a smoother path forward.

Thanks all that’s good advice. I think I will need homebuyers insurance if I go ahead this time as I have no trust in the EA/seller now. What’s to stop them screwing me over again if another better offer comes through?

Would it be unreasonable to ask the seller to cover the homebuyers insurance? My partner is telling me we need to offer lower now because mortgage rates are creeping up but I’m too scared to do that as I wouldn’t want to lose it again.

My other fear is that the previous seller has dropped out because of a bad survey that showed worrying things. But I think it’s probably unlikely given that it’s only been a short period of time since their offer was accepted (so unlikely to have arranged a survey so quickly) and the timing of this call right after the new budget makes me think it’s more related to the second home stamp duty rise for the gazumpers.

Saying all this, I should probably wait until I have a conversation with the EA tomorrow. I can’t think of any other reason they would call about the house but don’t want to get my hopes up again.

I should also add that the house has been off the market for the past week. They took it off the market so quickly after we got gazumped which upset me.

So it’s still off the market now. If they do re-offer it to us, I would assume it remain off the market but I will of course check with them about this.

That’s a really good point. I’m desperate to meet the seller. I really think it would help as I have an awful feeling that it’s been the EA who has been pulling the strings all along. When we first heard about this house, we were told the seller just wanted it to go for a fair price to a family who would love the home like she did.

So when it all became about money and gazumping I was really disheartened and surprised.

I think pushing to speak to the seller so early on is odd. If the seller was my mil for example she would be nervous you were going to get difficult or overstep boundaries . She wants her solicitors and estate agent to be in the middle so she doesn't have that stress or unknown.

I would consider your offer price again. See if your mortgage rate is unchanged or not and if it's the same proceed at the same level. The whole chain system does require a bit of faith unfortunately and it's impossible for both sides to protect their cash flows 💯. I hope it works out for you.