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Original poster

Annoyed at estate agent and my offer situation

39 replies

Fmlgirl · 12/05/2018 15:29

Hi there,

I was wondering if one of you lovely ladies could give me some advice.

We made an offer on a flat that was accepted that I now feel like retracting:

I asked the estate agent to take the flat off the market, appointed a solicitor and offered to instruct the survey. The estate agent then asked us to come into the branch today to "qualify our offer" and speak to their mortgage advisors which we knew was going to be a sales pitch all along since we already have an agreement in principle with a bank. They said that in order to take the flat off the market we would need to see this guy, bring our API and show our proof of funds (most from a gifted deposit from my mum in law).

We brought in our API, a stamped (from the bank) copy of my mum in laws ISA book, bank statements, payslips, ID from us and our mum.

When they saw my mum-in-laws ISA book copy they said that they didn't like that her name was on one side and the funds were on the other side of the page, both sides were stamped by Nationwide though . They said that on the basis of this they couldn't take the flat off the market and need a proper statement.

They also now said that usually you'd have to book in a survey to have the place taken off the market which I offered last week but never heard back from the estate agent about this.

The gifted deposit is a red herring really, as we have savings ourselves and our AIP is for 100k more than the flat is worth. I
Also told them that we could easily pay for a deposit out of our own savings.

I feel annoyed that they made me come into branch on a pretense, saw that we are very proceedable buyers but still won't take the flat off the market.

I also noiticed while we were there that when they were talking on the phone to other interested buyers they said things like "the property has an offer but I'm going to ask the vendor", probably about viewings.

The whole communication process with the agent was very bad, the viewings were abysmal too and the guy just couldn't be bothered.

Would you just retract your offer? I do like the property a lot.

OP posts:
Bubbles121 · 12/05/2018 16:13

Was it Connells? As every interaction I've had with them has been exactly like this. I would make it clear to them that your offer is fully dependent on the flat being taken off the market with immediate effect, and that it's on the table for 48 hours only. But if you love the flat and can't bear to lose it then you need to consider that as my strategy may well see you walking away and not getting it...

Els1e · 12/05/2018 18:28

As bubbles says plus I would put a note through the door to the seller to make sure they are aware of EA lack of action

Kamma89 · 12/05/2018 23:46

We had similar when recently looking. Refused to see any EA recommended advisors & gave them 24 hours to accept offer on our terms or we'd look elsewhere (Not rudely, just firmly). Offer was accepted later that day. I got the distinct impression most EA think FTB are ignorant pushovers.

We're in London though, market pretty much dead & agents getting a bit desperate... might be harder if market near you hasn't started to slow down yet.

Dragongirl10 · 12/05/2018 23:54

Op tell the agent in writing formally, your offer is subject to the flat being taken off the market or will be withdrawn in 24 hours.

Helloflamingogo · 12/05/2018 23:57

Wow that’s so bad! When I bought any interaction was with my solicitor or the bank and it was really straight forward.

IamMoana · 13/05/2018 00:04

We have literally just been through the same thing with Connells. Asking price offer put in, but as we have our own broker they want us to meet with their mortgage advisor to check our affordability. And if we don't go the vendor will think what do we have to hide & is more likely to accept an offer from a buyer going through them. They're going to try and make us switch aren't they. I find them so, so aggressive. But don't want to lose our dream house. It didn't sit right with me at all.

NeverTwerkNaked · 13/05/2018 00:23

Ha! Thank interesting to see Connells pop up. Their estate agent essentially said that if we wanted our offer accepted we should sell our house through them and get a mortgage through them Angry

op ... it sounds like you have the budget to walk away and look for another place? I wouldn’t agree to being messed around much unless it was a house that somehow ticked every box and some!

StarbucksSmarterSister · 13/05/2018 00:34

. Their estate agent essentially said that if we wanted our offer accepted we should sell our house through them and get a mortgage through them

When I was looking for my first flat, I found what I thought was a great place. The EA (Douglas Allen) told me they recommended another offer instead of mine (although I offered more) because the other buyer had their mortgage through their broker and I had refused to as I already had a mortgage in place. I was really upset but ended up with a much nicer flat in the end.

Tell the EA to get lost. You will find something else.

Jamiem80 · 13/05/2018 00:36

Some agents just have an agenda we had one laugh at an offer and told us to forget about the property if that was the best we could do. The property went up ad sold stc a week later and apparently sold for £10k less than we offered.

MrsPeterParker · 13/05/2018 07:22

The EA has been playing this mortgage advisor game with us a lot. I went through all the things they asked me to do but I still didn't get the house I offered on. I think most vendors are kept in the dark and they lose out on good offers due to EA's agendas.

NeverTwerkNaked · 13/05/2018 08:48

@StarbucksSmarterSister I forgot to put in my post that we decided just not to offer on that house because we were so appalled at the pressure. We’ve found a different, lovely, house and had no pressure at all from the selling EAs

Reaa · 13/05/2018 09:05

We offered, got told offer would not be excepted but if we increased the offer to asking price, we would.

Offered asking price and due to sellers personal reasons, our offer was delayed in getting to the seller.

In the two days our offer was delayed, the EA had managed to fit in a second viewing for someone else and had been offered a higher offer.

Was told by the EA if we could not better the offer, the seller was accepting the higher one, we declined.

Two weeks later EA calls asking for our financial details, which I questioned seeing as the house we wanted was unavailable, the EA just wanted them for their records (our bank statements, proof of deposit)

I declined that too and eight months later the house is still on the market and is neither, under offer nor sold.

Original poster
Fmlgirl · 13/05/2018 09:06

Thanks for your all your replies! We are in SE London and it's not Connells but Robinson Jackso. They also have a bad reputation but seem to be getting a lot of good houses.

I would definitely walk away if it wasn't for the house ticking all the boxes and after having looked for 2+ months we just haven't seen anywhere near as good. I also think it's a popular house but judging by how the market currently is, I don't know how popular.

I went out last night and totally forgot about all this stress and drama. I just don't think it's worth it and not even logical: they want your offer to be substantiated by which point you will already be close to having a mortgage in place yet they want you to see their mortgage broker, use their solicitor etc to obviously cash in on referral fees. I left the EA's office to angry and frustrated yesterday.

OP posts:
amymel2016 · 13/05/2018 09:08

Was it Connells? Exactly the same thing happened with us, our solicitor had to send them a letter in the end telling them to back off. They had told us that the vendors wouldn't sell to us unless we used Connells mortgage broker, we went to see the vendors and they said they'd not even spoken to Connells! Even if they had my dream house I wouldn't go near them with a barge pole!

amymel2016 · 13/05/2018 09:09

Sorry, cross post!

Furano · 13/05/2018 09:09

@StarbucksSmarterSister Douglass Allen super pressured me into using their mortgage broker and used very high pressure sales tactics - then shared information between the broker and the EA saying I could afford to offer more (it was a do-er-upper I couldn’t have offered more and done the work).

Anyway I didn’t get the house (it sold for what was my best and final offer I saw on land registry later) and not getting that house was a lucky escape I think!

pilates · 13/05/2018 09:18

Wow you have been treated appallingly by the Estate Agents. I would ask for the name of the Manager and put a complaint in writing.

Saz1995 · 13/05/2018 09:30

Robinson Jackson are awful! My partner worked for them. I hope you get it sorted x

JT05 · 13/05/2018 10:28

We had a similar experience with Cornell’s. We made an offer on a house, we were downsizing and had cash for the full amount. They wouldn’t put our offer through till we had seen their mortgage broker.
After I spent 10 minutes, in branch, talking very slowly and clearly about what cash buying meant, the manager agreed to put the offer through immediately. ( I was on my way back to the property to make my offer to the vendor in person)
We still had to pop in to show the funding, but that was to be expected.

JT05 · 13/05/2018 10:29

Connells*

MNHQ
RivkaMumsnet · 13/05/2018 10:35

We had this happen with several EAs (including two named on this thread already).

I agree with what previous posters have said. Make it clear that your offer is conditional on them taking the flat off the market. When we twigged what was going on with estate agents, we started declining their offers of chats with their in-house mortgage brokers etc...

Best of luck with it all!

OrchidInTheSun · 13/05/2018 10:41

It is not the EA's decision whether or not to take a property off the market, it's the vendor's. I really think it should be illegal for EAs to have mortgage brokers in house - the pressure they put on FTBs is awful

MovingThisYearHopefully · 13/05/2018 16:11

Pop a note in the vendors door explaining what their EA has been doing & leave your number. Thats your best bet. Good luck!

NotARegularPenguin · 13/05/2018 16:29

But have you actually proved you have the funds to them? If I was selling a house I would expect the estate agents to ensure the buyers were proceedsble before I’d take it off.

There’s an issue with the isa book they don’t like. You say you have enough savings without that isa. Did you show them the statement for your savings account?

If so they’re being stupid. If not then do what they want you to do.

I wouldn’t walk away from a house I liked if you’ve been looking for ages.

Notmorewashing · 13/05/2018 16:30

I’ve had exactly this situation with another high street branch, I actually ended up shouting at the in house mortgage person. Why do they do this????? I would be mortified if my EA did this to potential buyers !!!! Unless you LOVE the place tell them to stuff it.