To think this is very bad of the estate agents

[LancashireButterPie]

DH and I are looking to downsize.
We have seen the perfect cottage, not far from our DDs family (handy for childcare as it's currently taking us 40 mins each way).
We rang up to view it and the estate agent refused to let us as she said "An offer has been made and I'm sure it will be accepted".
DH and I wouldn't be making an offer, we would happily pay full asking price. Also we are lucky to have enough in savings to purchase, without selling our own home first although we obviously would at some point.
I feel for the vendors as much as ourselves, would it be unreasonable to push a note through their letterbox informing them what's going on?
It's been two weeks since the estate agent last rebuffed us and the house is still on the market.

So you’re saying it could also have been a potentially high offer, over asking.

Have not read the whole thread in detail but I saw a documentary recently where someone went undercover in a real estate agency in the UK. It turned out that EAs were not putting offers through to vendors if the buyers were cash buyers or had their own bank as they were prioritising buyers who were using their in house finance as they get a cut of this.

I had a friend who pretended to need finance until the last minute when the deal was in progress and then did the old switcheroony and revealed her mound of cash. Was too late for the EA to pull them out by then.

Here's the documentary I mention above from Panorama - it is called "Undercover Estate Agent": www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fygs

If the vendors are living at the property then a note is definitely the way to go. If they aren’t then you may be able to find a name via Planning documents (they’re supposed to be anonymised but often aren’t fully) or via paying for the info from the Land Registry.

It may be dodgy, it may not be. When it is, word gets round about the EA eventually. We got refused a viewing on a prime property that’d just gone on the market where we were looking to move to, turned out the EA was selling the buyers property. So wasn’t interested in anyone relocating from elsewhere even when a cash buyer! Came out after the sale and the EA has moved on elsewhere.

Similarly we recently offered for a place in the town where we live which - unusually - had gone on the market with one of the nearby city EAs that doesn’t do much business over here. Definitely something odd going on there as conflicting messages from the junior and senior staff members throughout. I finally got through to the person in charge and explained our position. They made it clear that we’d only get a look in if they sold our house which was going but not quite (at that point) on the market with the local EAs. “In cases like this the sellers would likely require you to arrange to have us value and market your property,,,” Would they heck! They wanted the commission from the sale knowing our property would sell easily.

I closed them down straight away as we were well into the process with the local agents who’d already spent time and money on preparing particulars. I was appalled but probably should’ve played along for a week or so given how the timing of things worked out and how quickly our place went!

A few reasons, and I suspect somebody has already suggested this one, but they may well be the agent for the prospective buyer as well, and have two houses on the line that they are prioritising their commission on.

Hmmm. OP I don’t share your faith in EAs. 😬
I was selling my East End London flat about twenty years ago. The estate agent held onto my flat for ages. Said there was no interest. I got a friend to make an enquiry and she was told that the flat was already under offer. Then, when I raised a query as to why my friend had been told it was under offer, I was told that I had just got offer, (Wow. What a surprise) though, sadly it was quite a bit lower than the price it was on for. And, (to cut a long story short) it turned out that the prospective buyer was the owner of the estate agency, who had wanted to buy the flat to add to his property portfolio.🫩
Naturally, I withdrew it from the market but my point is that (some) estate agents’ are notoriously shady.

EAs are shits. They don't have anyone's interest at heart and I suspect sometimes play a shady game. This happened to me. I had money ready to go and offered the full purchase price but EA wouldn't pass it on to the seller. I wish I thought to put a note through the door, but I only found out after the new people bought it that the EA had been playing a dirty game. The seller lost out on thousands of pounds.

Yes definitely dodgy

we had a similar situation but luckily it was overcome

there are so many dodgy dealings going on I think, they also prefer people on their books rather than if you are selling with a different agent

Yes definitely

@godmum56 that would likely have been ok (ie no need to free up funds from your sale).

Hi OP, I would agree with others and put a note through the door. Since watching that BBC Panorama about the shocking practices EA employ (all to maximise their own profits and commissions) it really opened my eyes to what they are about, illegal and appalling. They want to sell you their mortgage products, they don’t make money on cash buyers, worth watching the program:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fygs

Something similar happened my parents years ago! Low and behold the estate agent hadn't given them any of the extra offers and convinced them to sell to the only interested buyer at a lower price. It later transpired it was his brother!

Some EAS are definitely corrupt, like Cubitt and west for example. They may have some alteria motive for selling to a certain someone, or some personal gain maybe?

How do you know the sale isn't progressing? They might just be slow at taking the online listing down

We’ve been time before that we can’t view until our house is on the market or preferably under offer. I can’t understand why and it’s so frustrating but hey ho!

Anyway I wonder if that’s more their point. You are not in a position to proceed and so regardless of what you theoretically would pay, the other buyer who has offered is actually ready to proceed so they’re the favourable option

They should update the status on rightmove then.

Unfortunately it happens more than you realise . Happened to us too but I said to the estate agent I was going to go round and tell the vendors they were blocking us from viewing. We got the viewing and paid the asking price . Estate agents weren’t happy . I gather it’s all very corrupt . In our case it had been ‘promised’ to the estate agents nephew.

As a genuine cash buyer OP is in a position to proceed. What makes you think she isn't?

This usually happens when a friend (builder/developer) of the estate agent has said that they want it.

It happened to me years ago.

In my experience the only people Estate Agents work for are themselves. Bought and sold 6 times since the 80’s . Do not trust any of them. Check everything you are told .

Don’t they make money on the client’s sale though?

If an offer is made and accepted the board should read Sold STC. If it doesn't then no agreement of any type exists. Even if it does it is not set in stone. Glad you have put the note through, good luck