Estate agent lying

[TheAmusedTealHare]

Hi,

I’ve been interested in a property for a few years now. I’m not going to say where it is but everything else is the same.

1 year ago the estate agent came to me and said it was coming on to the market at £1.5m. Was I interested. I did the maths and my thought was that it wasn’t worth anymore than £800,000. I put in an offer of £800,000. It was rejected. As I expected.

since then it has come down in price and now it is on the market as advertised as offers over £900,000. I went back to the estate agent and they told me that even though it was advertised as offers over £900,000 the seller wouldn’t accept anything under £1.3m.

is that legal to advertise “offers over £900,000” but not accept anything under £1.3m?

It’s up to the sellers what they accept.

not the estate agent.

the estate agent usually advise on price but it’s the seller’s decision as to what guideline to give.

it’s not like it’s a fixed price. It’s an invitation to begin negotiations.

Yes, perfectly legal.

Why do you think this might be illegal?

Where's the lie?

Of course it’s not illegal
Lots (but not all) estate agents lie

List prices are indicative.

How on earth is it illegal? What law has it broken?

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to market it at that price but it’s not really a lie.
But estate agents lie all the time. They are scum

Thanks guys. The reason I thought it might be illegal is because it’s misleading about the property’s price.

I was under the impression that the price indications must accurately reflect the sellers intentions.

10% up or down would be a reasonable offer and acceptable. This is way beyond that.

Well it gets people interested saying offers over as you know yourself.

This is quite useful -
Under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs), estate agents must not give a misleading impression about a property’s price or the seller’s expectations.

The Property Ombudsman and National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) both state that price indications must accurately reflect the seller’s intentions.

It sounds like the price it's listed for is what the sellers have been advised to put it on for, but the £1.3 is what they've said they'll accept. I wonder if it's a divorce sale.

When my SIL was getting divorced they put their house up for sale at the price advised by the agents, but her ex turned every offer down as he wanted 80k more. She then used this as evidence in court to get a sale order. She had no choice but to go down that route.

Thanks for the useful info. 👍

Fine try to sue the agent then
But it still will not affect what the vendor does

Would it be worth sending them a letter setting out your interest with your maximum offer? They can always ignore it but at least you know the offer will have been received. They may have instructed the agents to only hear about “offers over X”.

In my divorce the judge ordered the sale at a certain price as ex was stalling and refused every offer. The agent was instructed to accept first offer at that price and was as frustrated as I was. The house sold within 2 weeks of the court order.

There's a huge difference in the £10k in my case and £400k in yours though. Offer and see where it gets you.

In my divorce the judge ordered the sale at a certain price as ex was stalling and refused every offer. The agent was instructed to accept first offer at that price and was as frustrated as I was. The house sold within 2 weeks of the court order.

That's what happened when SIL got her order as well. Their house went under offer right away as the agent had someone who'd offered £10k over asking price still interested.

Yes, I think that is a good idea.

Thanks for your help

I don’t want to sue anyone. I absolutely appreciate that the seller can accept what they want. My issue is that the price is not realistic to what the seller will actually accept.

The absolute norm in Scotland is the offers over system.

You are right. I don’t have a problem with “offers over”. I have a problem when the sellers won’t accept any offers that aren’t above an unreasonable price compared to the advertised price.

I’m not sure what your concern is really, it isn’t on for £900k, it is on for “offers over” £900k, the sellers have a number in mind yes but we always do.

It’s a sales tactic. List it at the lower end as “offers over” and you’ll get multiple offers who then go higher & higher to “win”.

Could it be being advertised lower because there is more of a market for buyers in that category and the sellers hope that once someone sees it, they will up their asking price?

I believe that EA have to advise sellers of all offers so have you formally offered the amount again?

I have a problem when the sellers won’t accept any offers that aren’t above an unreasonable price compared to the advertised price
But they haven't written this on legal paper have they. Its a standatd saying estate agents use to still encourage higher offers. In the end, no one knows what the sellers might accept in the end...if circumstances changed, in an emergency, after a damning conveyancing report...

I thought it was common knowledge estate agents lie. About everything. To both parties.