Estate agent did not actually forward the offer to the vendor and we lost the property!

[Shuja]

Just need to get some advise as how we take things to the next stage if the estate agent did not actually forward the offer to the vendor and thus, we lost the property. My DH and myself are deeply frustrated due to this - we even given enough time for the estate agent to fix this; but they dont seem to care about this.
Thanks in advance for your valuable information.

In the end, the EA is working for the vendor, not for you. The vendor pays them. If you have informed the vendor about your offer, they can pick it up if they want.

Is the house a ‘do-er upper’ or a development opportunity? I know some EAs round us go straight to developers with certain properties, and it is in their interest because once the property is done up / turned into flats, the EA gets the contract to sell them.

“If you wanted to put your point across I think a letter would have been better than actually turning up at the door - that would really put me off a buyer!”

This!

I don't think you have any proof that the agent has done anything wrong. I also perhaps think you don't have a full understanding of all the aspects of buying and selling a property. For starters an agent can never "guarantee" that a property will be yours. It is entirely up to the vendor who they sell too, and the only point at which the transaction is guaranteed is at exchange of contracts.

We've just bought a new property and were successful after a small bidding war. We subsequently discovered that ours was not actually the highest offer, and that after our offer was accepted, the other party offered even higher again. But the vendor went with us for their own good reasons.

The eventual sales price will tell you nothing, because the vendors may have chosen a lower amount for reasons you will never know.

Turning up on the doorstep could come across as intimidating and I agree with previous posters that the vendors may have said anything to simply get rid of you. In any case, the vendors are now definitely aware of your offer and if they want to accept it now, that will be up to them. There really is little more you can do.

My friends were the lucky buyers of their gorgeous Victorian house back in the late 1990s despite not being the highest bidders, because they reminded the elderly vendors of themselves when they'd bought it in the 1950s - my friends were a twentysomething married couple with a toddler and another baby on the way, as the elderly couple had been when they'd purchased it more than 40y before. This scenario wouldn't apply here because the vendors are separating, but it demonstrates that there are reasons other than money at play sometimes. I think it's unlikely that it's a dodgy EA - if that were the case, I think the vendors would have shown shock/frustration with the EA, and agreed to consider your offer. You probably need to let this go.

Estate agents are notorious.....

Think of it this way. If they can get the vendors to sell their house, they get paid commission. If they can get the vendors to sell their house to someone whose house they are also selling, they can probably get two lot s of commission. If they can fix it so there's a whole chain of people selling with them and buying from them, they're in clover. And they are allowed to do this, unlike, say, your solicitor, who would be struck off if he was acting for related parties in this sort of manner.

Having read your update, I'm suspecting that they have just got the vendor to go with an offer from another one of their clients, by telling them they are in a better position than you or some such.....

If the vendors don’t pull out of the agreed sale with the other party, to sell to you, what‘s the point of following this up? What if the EA actually has proof that he informed the vendors of your offer? He might have recommended the other buyers though - for whatever reason. That’s part of his job though and nothing you can influence in any way. Of course, the vendors wouldn’t tell you the real reason, if you drop by their house. I find that a bit out-of-line, btw - a letter or short note would have informed them, too.

We finally got the call from the vendor. Our offer is the highest by 10k. They decided to go with us now. It was EA’s mistake, but we did not bother going to the bottom of it. We now got the property , Thanks to you all

Wow 10k is a lot. So was it an EA friend they had originally accepted an offer from?

Oh I be worried I'd over offered now - but there's a lot to be said for getting the dream house - good luck!