Are they allowed to do this??

[Anonymousperson]

Had an offer accepted on a property we wanted.

Agreed it was taken off the open market.

Paid £890 for survey.

That came back with some issues, agreed vendor would rectify.

Agent rang us yesterday to tell us a higher offer had been made. (Despite being taken off Rightmove etc)

We said we wouldn't be increasing our offer and it, as far as we are aware, was left that it was still 'ours'.

Seems there was no higher offer given it is now back on RM (ADDED TODAY )& we haven't even been told we had been rejected since being accepted!!!

Are the very well known estate agents allowed to do this???

It isn't the estate agent but the seller who has instructed them to put it back on the market. Ring the EA and ask them what is going on. Screenshot what you have seen first.

Until you have exchanged contracts neither party is committed to the deal. But, trustworthy sellers don't do this kind of thing.

Until you have exchanged contracts neither party is committed to the deal. But, trustworthy sellers don't do this kind of thing.

^This

Bit of a dickish move, but nothing is for sure until exchange.

For fun, make a slightly lower offer.

Each time they fuck around, offer slightly less.

Who knows, you still might get it.

But don't stop looking, now you know they are dickheads.

I too was gazumped recently. Nothing to do with the agent but a private buyer who apparently knocked on their door (with no for sale sign), up a private drive, offered them more than asking price (totally unheard of here) after it being on the market for over 2 years with at least 5 abortive sales... A very unsavoury practice that has left me on pins for our new purchase.

Unfortunately yes they are. V bad form. Not EA fault, all seller.

The seller has obviously decided to mess you about, probably because of the survey results and them having to sort it out, which is more than fair of you to ask of them.

I'd find out what was going on (possibly been a mistake?) And then think about telling them where to go. I wouldn't trust them not to pull all sorts of crap after this. It's not the EAs fault although I would have thought they would have let you know.

I don't agree that the EA isn't at fault.

He would know 100% whether a higher offer had been received and was almost certainly in collusion with the seller.

Connells did that to us a few years ago, didn't let us know either.

'In collusion with the seller' - the EA is the seller's agent and is doing what the seller has requested. Easy to blame the EA. Unless there has been some misunderstanding between seller and agent, it is the seller who is the one to blame.