Lied to by estate agent! Advice please!

[Pereie]

We viewed a house at the beginning of June.

Really loved it but got cold feet about moving due to the current situation. Roll on the stamp duty cap and we changed our minds and decided to go for it.

I went into the estate agency to ask about the property and a possible second viewing, but was told it was under offer. Oh well. That was two weeks ago, the property is still on line and not marked as under offer or sold. So we got a friend to enquire about the property- they were offered a viewing

Now I'm just shocked and confused as to why not one but two of the agents we spoke to lied to us.

It might be because we are not under offer atm and don't see us as serious buyers, which is fine whatever, but don't lie.

I'm so angry and not quite sure what to do next. We really want to see the house again the cement our feelings and propose an offer - but we are being told it's off the market.

Help!

When you say you “changed your minds”, how far into the process were you? Because unless your redecision was instantaneous, I can absolutely see why the agent or seller just isn’t prepared to accept your offer again now. If you want to be taken in any way seriously you need to set out why you changed your minds in the first place and why you’re more committed now, but quite honestly if I were the seller, I’d tell you to go take a hike too, flighty buyers aren’t worth having.

Don’t make accusations or insist on letting everyone know how angry you are at being lied to, because this really is of your own making. Call the agent and say you understand the most recent offer fell through as friends of yours were offered a viewing and that you’d like a second chance. But don’t be surprised if they then say they won’t put you forward to the sellers / the sellers have instructed them not to proceed with you because of your previous actions.

To be honest you don't sound like reliable buyers - people either want/need to move and love a house or they don't - pandemics don't come
Into it unless you genuinely thought you'd lose your jobs and therefore financially couldn't afford the move.

Then you've also had your friends ring up and also waste the estate agents time 🤷‍♀️

How far along were you? If you make an offer then pull out some agents will think you’re not serious buyers and won’t want to waste time.

Re-reading, it actually isn’t clear whether you previously made an offer and then pulled out or just viewed and then decided not to offer. If the former, previous posts apply. If the latter, the most likely explanation is that it was under offer but those new buyers weren’t able to proceed for some reason and the agents told you the truth: at the moment, some sellers are opting to keep their property on the market until their buyer has their mortgage approved because of the uncertainty in the mortgage market.

What the others have said. If you put in an offer and pulled out, the vendors have probably instructed the EA to refuse any more dealings with you. As to why the EA lied, it’s probably them sugarcoating the truth. It is off the market - to you.

Not having an offer on your own property will really go against you though. You aren’t proceedable.

The OP didn't say anywhere that they put an offer on in June before you all jump down their neck!

Have you phoned to ask again since your friend did? Perhaps it could be that the property was under offer two weeks ago but that offer has now been pulled and it's back to the market.

Sorry just to clarify.

We viewed the property - but did not put in an offer as we decided to hold off. The reduction in stamp duty was the push we needed to make a move on it. When I went back to the agents to get the ball rolling they told me it was sold.

We have a mortgage in principal and our house has just gone on the market with an open day planned this weekend. We live in a street where houses tend to sell very quickly so we are confident it won't be a problem selling.

If we go under offer after the weekend how do I proceed with the house we want but have been told is sold?

Also, the property hasn't been marked as under offer or sstc in the last two weeks so I can only assume it never was.

Both myself and my husband spoke to the agents about that property (3 times) that week so they know we are interested. We also told them to keep us updated if the sale falls through

@ComtesseDeSpair

Our previous actions?

All we did was view a property and go back a few weeks later and ask to view again to get the ball rolling but were told it was sold? When it's not.

You are not in a position to move forward as you are not sold yourself. If you go under offer then go back to the estate agents, if the property is still available, and say you want a 2nd viewing and are now under offer.

If you are a serious buyer they will not turn you away, however it does seem like you may have been a bit flaky so the EA is putting you off because they dont want to be messed about.

The other aspect to consider is the sellers and whether they will allow viewings if you are not under offer currently. When i have sold in the past i will not entertain anyone who is not currently underoffer and its the EA's job to do due diligence to make sure you are genuine.

Wait until your property goes under offer. Only then do you have a tool to bargin with. Until they you are probably seen as a Tyre kicker (time waster) unfortunately.

Maybe it was under offer, but it fell through on the day your friend phoned.
Perhaps they haven’t contacted you because as others have said your house isn’t yet on the market, so your aren’t currently proceedable.
It may we’ll be that your house goes under offer really quickly, but until it does you are not proceedable.
It seems like the market is a bit mad in some places, maybe you are in one of those places and the estate agents know there is a lot of interest in the house so will probably go under offer very quickly, maybe before you get your house on the market at the weekend.
Many properties don’t get marked as under offer for ages, especially on sites like rightmove.
I’d be honest and ring them up again and ask if it’s sold or not rather than being sneaky and getting friends to ring.
You know if you put in an offer the estate agent should put if forward to the seller, but it may be that you are just too late for this house, but I’d give it one more try.... good luck.

Hmm call me cynical but I find estate agents only work for themselves so there must have been something else at play - a friend interested or they are trying to get them to drop a price or sometimes if they are just about to go out of contract on the deal they have offered the vendor and they want to wait till a higher rate applies or some such.

If it is on with other agents just move to them. sounds really dodgy - you will know local agents and which ones have the best reps

Apologies - it initially appeared from your OP that you’d previously made and then retracted an offer, which would explain why the agents weren’t prepared to entertain you, but you’ve clarified that wasn’t the case.

I really think it’s more likely the property was under offer, but that the sellers wanted it to remain on the market until their buyers had a mortgage offer, and it has since fallen out though.

If yours goes under offer this weekend, contact the agents again and tell them that and request a second viewing. As previous poster says, at the moment they won’t be viewing you as worth keeping in the loop because you aren’t proceedable if you’re still on the market. Once that changes, so should their attitude to you. Agents have a bad reputation and get a lot of stick for seemingly shitty behaviour but ultimately they’re gatekeepers for their clients who won’t want all and sundry tramping round their homes (particularly right now) when they aren’t actually in a prostitution to buy.

Lol. Position, not prostitution

Maybe it did have an offer on it at the time, but it was withdrawn?

Random update.

I took my son to the playground this evening and actually bumped into the vendor. I asked if their house was under offer and explained that we had been trying to arrange a second viewing. I let him know our position in the market.

He was absolutely furious with the estate agents and told me he felt like they were being messed around by them. He didn't go into why.

So yeah. The property hasn't been under offer. Both me and my husband were told by two separate agents that it was sold.

I have no idea why they would do this.

I arranged to go view his house on Saturday directly with the vendor.

Bonkers.

A similar situation happened with a property we were involved in, and it turned out one of the estate agents was trying to buy it.

OP, apologies for my earlier snippy answer. I read it as you’d made an offer and then got cold feet and pulled out. Your update sounds promising. I hope your viewing goes well (and the agents get dropped!)

do you have it in writing from the estate agents that its sold? as id be tempted to deal direct with the vendor and cut out the middle man. id juts be worried that the estate agents will demand their fee as they introduced you to them.

@AgentProvocateur no worries, thank you for the apology.

@memememe unfortunately not! I went in, in person on the Monday and was told in the office.
My husband then followed up on the Wednesday over the phone to confirm that the "offer" was definitely accepted. I then received a phone call from the agent a few days later to see what other areas we may be interested in and again he confirmed the one we were interested in was definitely unavailable. All verbal unfortunately.

The vendor tried to call their agents in the park while I was there so I'm sure he has got some questions for them. If we can avoid that agency that what we will be doing.

@Lumene - no way! How did you grind out it was one of the estate agents trying to buy?!

We suspect it might be something like that going on here too because it just doesn't make sense.

Basically the house was sold to a third party/developer, who then sold it on through the estate agent while the owners were living there.

They lined up loads of viewings Then the person from the agency changed, and mysteriously the viewings all fell through except for one from another estate agent from the same branch.

They ended up successfully buying it. The developer was far from ethical in their dealings with the original owner, so they just let them get on with it.