Estate agent won't put our offer forward

[PattyCow]

We have found a house we love. We made a full price offer last week. The house was scheduled for an open house this weekend which went ahead. The agent hasn't put our offer forward and won't tell us when he will. I think he's hoping to start a bidding war. Is there any recourse? Feeling very stuck and frustrated!

I believe he is obliged to put your offer forward. He can of course advise his clients to wait until after the open house before considering it. If he has a manager I’d go over his head.

Can you put a note through the letter box and make the offer direct to the vendors?

I thought he was legally obliged to put all offers forward.

Yes to both of the PP's suggestions.
Go over his head to head/regional office, and try to contact the vendor.
I would be livid if I was trying to sell and the estate agent had refused to advance an offer to me.

The vendors have died and it's being sold as part of an estate. I wonder if that's why he's playing silly games. Are they really legally obliged to put it forward? It seems ludicrous to be proceedable and have to fight to get your offer out forward.

Looksee:

www.gov.uk/buy-sell-your-home/estate-agents

Yes, he is obliged to put your offer forward.

If I remember correctly if it's sold as
Part of an estate or probate they need to try achieve the max price for it and therefore need to go ahead with open day etc
If private seller it's different they have an obligation to put it forward

And I also seem to think that even after an offer is made and accepted, the ad needs to stay up until contracts are exchanged. That's only w probate and dead owners.

they are still obliged to put offer forward to the estate's executor ,the executor may then decide not to consider offers until after a viewing day, sometimes if multiple heirs it can take a time to discuss whether an offer is the best or whether to wait longer

I’ve just sold a house that was subject to probate and it was no different to selling any other house. One lot of viewers made an offer and I accepted. We certainly didn’t need an open day or to wait for other offers.

In England and Wales though the estate agent acts for the seller he has a legal duty to act fairly to buyers by putting all offers through to the sellers right up until the exchange of contracts this applies whether it is a probate sale or whatever
A seller can decide to instruct their solicitor and hence the estate agent to turn down all offers after an acceptance has been made but they must still tell the seller it has been received in writing
A seller can stop marketing the property at any point in fact they can use an estate agent that only advertises privately ( many celebrities do this to prevent people looking at house even online or getting fans doing viewings) they can refuse further viewings etc you do not have to keep ads up or signs outside a property in fact you don't need to display a sign at all but most agents want to

I think a previous poster has confused probate and repossessed houses. Probate sales are no different to general sales, but repossessions have the rules around advertising the accepted bid etc.

I think a previous poster has confused probate and repossessed houses.

Correct.

In my experience an agent plays games like this because they have a ''preferred buyer'' who is interested in the property (i.e. a friend, relative or other associate, who may just happen to have a ready supply of plain brown envelopes)

He has to report your offer to the vendor, and it should ideally be done within 24 hours, unless they have told him they do not want to hear about offers that are less than a certain amount, which wouldn’t really apply here.
He should also acknowledge your offer in writing.
Is it a national agent?
jemihap agents have to declare if there is a personal interest and the fines for not doing so are large. What you are suggesting ie taking bribes for a sale isn’t really worth their while.

TheCrowFromBelow - You must live in a nice world where agents (or anyone else for that matter) are always without fail entirely open, honest, transparent and maintain the highest moral and ethical standards and never bend the rules for any reason.

not really but you sound quite paranoid

Not paranoid at all, I know of 3 examples where agents have lied, turned down offers, failed to put offers forward or claimed a property was already ''under offer'' when it wasn't... in each case specifically because they had a ''preferred buyer'' lined up for the property.

Just why they were favouring these ''preferred buyers'' is anyone's guess.

My dd bought a probate house, and there wasn't an open day for that, either. And in fact the daughter of the person who'd died, accepted a slightly lower offer from dd, rather than a bit more from a buy to let investor, since she preferred a FTB to have what had been a happy family home.,
That did restore some of my faith in non-mercenary human nature!

As for 'paranoid', I once met someone who boasted openly of his 'arrangements' i.e. brown envelopes, with local estate agents, who'd ensure he acquired properties relatively cheaply. Presumably they could do that only by failing to pass on other offers, or pretending that there had been no other interest.
Of course it happens!

Plus I have direct personal experience of an offer being turned down on what seemed very odd grounds at the time. It was only a few months later, when I saw the actual sold price (way below my offer!) that I realised what the entirely plausible and outwardly very pleasant estate agent had been up to.

A major fiddle, in other words.

We certainly didn’t need an open day or to wait for other offers

However, there is a legal obligation on the part of the executors of the estate that the best possible price is achieved on behalf of the beneficiaries.

However, there is a legal obligation on the part of the executors of the estate that the best possible price is achieved on behalf of the beneficiaries.

Well as I was both sole executor and sole beneficiary I achieved the best possible price for me. 😄. As executors, yes, you have to do what you reasonably can but that doesn’t mean you have to hang on for ever and a day in case a better offer comes along.

We had exactly the same thing on our forever home. We offered 150k less than asking price.

Estate agent said the offer was too low. He didn’t tell the vendors.

I knocked on their door and said can we chat about our offer and where you would meet in the middle. What offer was the response on the doorstep.

Anyway we ended up dealing with them direct and paying 100k below asking. I think they caved and paid the commission to the estate agent in the end even though I though they could get breech of contract.

Knock on the door.

Knock on the door
I don't think it's likely anyone will answer!