Do Estate Agents have to submit an offer on property sold subject to contract?

[nyc7]

An estate agent refused to submit my offer on a property which is sold subject to contract. My understanding is that all offers have to be submitted to the vendor until exchange of contracts has taken place. Does anyone have any experience on this ? Thank you.

My understanding is that no they don't and that as a person currently at the last stages of SSTC...... I wouldn't want to be gazumped !

The karma you would get from possible breaking a chain? I wouldn't want that

Why would you do that? Someone’s had their offer accepted in good faith, and you want to bulldoze in?
How do you know your offer (or you’re circumstances) make you a better bet, anyway?

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If the vendor has given the EA instructions not to pass on offers below a certain amount, they don't have to IIRC.

Are you trying to gazump someone Or have you made a much lower offer on this property recently (there has been a thread or two where people have made 'cheeky' offers and been surprised to lose out!).

All offers must be passed on. An owner can give permission to reject below a certain amount but the offer should still be relayed to the owner.

Email the agent with the offer so you have evidence.

If the owner resides in the property drop a note through the door.

It’s not ethical but it is entirely the owners decision. If your offer is, for example, 5% above the current buyers offer then most people would want to know. Even 2k on a 100k house may make a big difference to someone.

What an utterly shitty thing to do.

I don't know but I hope not. My parents have spent ages to find the right property to move local to me. It would have awful consequences if that were to happen to them!

No. The EA has to pass of offers according to recognised guidelines unless the vendor has given particular instructions.

So credit to the vendor they've obviously accepted an offer in good faith and have told the EA they're not interested in receiving any more offers.

According to the Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents

By law, you must tell sellers as soon as is reasonably possible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts
have been exchanged unless the offer is an amount or type which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on

Thank you all for your comments - yes, this is a property I have previously made an offer on - it is being sold by a company via the estate agent and the property is empty. I am very conscious of the ethics of the situation - but at the back of my mind, cannot help but think the vendor and the vendor's client has a right to know there is another offer to be made.

You have no idea what the vendor has instructed the EA to do.

There have been lots of threads about this in the few days. You went in low, the vendor turned the offer down. Someone came in with a better offer and the vendor accepted it. The property has now gone SSTC.

The vendor could have instructed the vendor not to pass any offers on at all having got an offer from a purchaser they're happy with.

The vendor could equally have instructed the EA not to pass on offers from you specifically as they may think your previous offer was too cheeky / think you were playing games / not in as good a position as the other purchaser.

Unless you can categorically say that the EA has not had the vendor's instructions as above, you just have to accept you've lost out and move on.

nyc7 you only think that as it’s you making the offer.
It’s a really really shitty thing to do. We’ve spent nearly £3k getting to exchange.
Register your interest with the agent in case things fall through.

Perhaps the vendor has told the EA that they are not willing to consider any further offers from you? Especially if your first offer was way off what they were looking for? I've done this tbh, someone tried a 'cheeky offer' with conditions attached and I said no and that I didn't want to consider any further offers from them!

But surely most successful offers involve an agreement that the property is "taken off the market" - an understanding that no more offers can be made and therefore none would be passed on. They're kept on Rightmove etc as SSTC as a marketing tool for the agency rather than for the house.