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Original poster

estate agent got our offer wrong

108 replies

abouquetofsharpenedpencils · 20/08/2021 22:35

Hello,
Please can anyone advise? I am a first-time buyer.
We viewed a house at £240k last Thursday. Owner is desperate to sell as the previous buyer pulled out at the last minute and he wants to have everything completed by the 30 September in order to avoid the stamp duty.
We loved it, put a formal offer forward of £238k on the Saturday.
We emailed this to the estate agent on Saturday very clearly stating £238k and our reasons for being a bit lower (20 year-old boiler).
Received an email from the estate agent 2 days later saying that our offer had been accepted.
Over the moon. Have since started the whole process of instructing solicitors, mortgages etc.
Today the estate agent tells me somewhere along the line there has been a mix-up and the owner never actually received our offer of £238 k and has sold it to us for 240k. He also said the owner will not consider anything under £240k.
He then said that after putting in my offer of £238k, I apparently rang back later and verbally increased it to £240k. I absolutely did not do this. We are borrowing maximum on the mortgage and are using every penny we can scrape together. Why would I do that if my offer had already been accepted??
It just doesn't make sense. I am feeling uncomfortable now and very stressed. If this is just a genuine mistake then ok, everyone makes mistakes, but why didn't the owner get our offer? I thought they were supposed to send our formal offer letter to them.
And the bit about saying I rang back and verbally increased it is just absolute rubbish. They have asked me if I can just pay the £240k but I am feeling really unhappy about the whole thing. It is their mistake after all, I have evidence in the form of emails stating the offer and amount and their email back saying it has been accepted.
I have no experience in this area and confrontation makes me feel physically ill. Can I contact the seller and discuss the matter with him? Or this is a big no-no? I would really like to know what they have said to him.
Apologies this has turned out so long. Thanks for reading to the end Sad

OP posts:
Boombadoom · 21/08/2021 09:25

Something similar happened to me - when I sold my house, we accepted an offer 1k below asking. We get closer to completion to be told that the offer included us leaving our 3k Aga! This was never told to us and we would never have agreed.

We told the agent this and in the end we agreed a price of £800, the purchasers paid £400 and the agents paid the remainder. They brought cash round just before exchange.

This is for the agents to sort out.

bonfireheart · 21/08/2021 09:27

OP, I had red flags about my EA that I ignored and when it came to offers they really showed their true colours, with figures jumping all over the place and Mr being pushed to accept stupid offers from buyers who weren't serious at all. Luckily I was in no hurry to move so got rid of them. I would go via your solicitor or write a letter to homeowner and post it through their door.

MadeForThis · 21/08/2021 09:30

Give the EA until 5pm Monday to fix it. Put a letter through the sellers door if they do not resolve the issue.

user1471538283 · 21/08/2021 10:18

I'd tell the EA straight what your offer is, take it or leave it. It is their mistake so they can fix it.

HyggeTygge · 21/08/2021 10:21

Ask them to confirm in writing that they gave false information to you (that the offer of 238k was accepted) and to the seller (that you offered 240k), then you will go from there.

Don't give in op.

bonfireheart · 21/08/2021 11:41

You sent them email with offer, they confirmed in writing that this offer was fine. How do they explain that?

TempNameChangexx · 21/08/2021 12:00

@abouquetofsharpenedpencils

My sister was the vendor so she managed to contact the buyer who confirmed that they hadn't increased their offer and had no idea why the estate agent was saying that they had.
She and the buyer agreed that they would both tell the estate agent that they'd reduced the price (to below the threshold that would trigger the extra commission) to take into account some minor repairs that the buyer would need to do.

SunshineCake · 21/08/2021 12:05

This is awful. And estate agents wonder why they aren't trusted.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 21/08/2021 13:08

It’s good that you flagged that the memorandum of sale was wrong, too.

I’d be leaning on the EA to fix this, it’s their cock up.

I’d be REALLY nervous about paying anything to anyone on a September deadline, though. We had our offer accepted in mid July and bought the previous buyers searches, which were back and complete, and we’re still doing enquiries… we’re hoping to get it done by the end of September, but nobody seems very confident, legally speaking. Our solicitor did agree they could do it initially! They offered a no-fee insurance if the chain fails and it’s not our fault, so we’ve taken that, but we’d lose the money for the searches & survey etc.

Best of luck. If the seller is in a real rush; they’d take £2k less…

And I’d look into why the last buyer pulled out. Our buildings survey made it apparent to us, despite the realistic sounding reason we were told!

Original poster
abouquetofsharpenedpencils · 21/08/2021 21:23

Thanks so much everyone, you have given me some really great advice. This is my plan:

Type out an email to the solicitor and forward the email chain. Ask for them to contact the seller's solicitor and explain.

Then write out a list of points of what I'm going to say on Monday to the Director of the EA when he calls (I need to do this as I just get so anxious my mind goes blank which is never particularly helpful in these situations!) I will emphasise how the error is on their part, not mine and up to them to fix it.

I will also have a letter ready to drop off to the seller's house (not far).

I like the idea of the Mon 5pm deadline to sort it out @MadeForThis and requesting everything that they put their mistake in writing.

It has really opened my eyes about estate agents!!!

OP posts:
Original poster
abouquetofsharpenedpencils · 21/08/2021 21:26

Does anyone know, if we do end up losing this house, will I still have to pay fees to solicitors and mortgage brokers? If so, all? or a part? even though none of this is my fault. I am not sure how it works.

I haven't returned the solicitors documents to sign yet as I wanted to get this resolved. The searches have recommenced from what I understand.

The mortgage application docs I have signed and returned.

OP posts:
cookingisoverrated · 21/08/2021 21:38

He then said that after putting in my offer of £238k, I apparently rang back later and verbally increased it to £240k. I absolutely did not do this.

This is shocking on their part, and shows the EA is frantically trying to cover his arse at work. I'd make it clear they will be covering the extra £2k out of their own fees/bank account or you will be taking this further with the government agencies that regulate estate agencies.

Duchess379 · 21/08/2021 21:41

Estate Agents - just as bad as the tax office, in my eyes. It's their fuck up, you have the offer in writing. Stick to your guns. It's £238k or nothing. Does the seller want to lose you as a buyer? I shouldn't think so..

whichwayfornow · 21/08/2021 21:43

Absolutely do not give in on this. They have completely messed up in the communication between you and the seller and are now trying to lie and bully you (probably knowing that you are a slightly anxious FTB) into paying more than you offered. Disgraceful behaviour and totally unprofessional.

I would email them and forward your original offer. Confirm again that this is the price that you offered in writing and the one that they confirmed was accepted. You will not be paying any more and if they do not take fully responsibility for resolving this issue with their client you will be pulling out and complaining to their regulator.

I wouldn't bother with phone calls. There is no record of what is said and they seem to have a habit of making things up. Don't write to the seller. It is the EA's responsibility to communicate with them and broker a deal. Put the responsibility firmly back in their court.

whichwayfornow · 21/08/2021 21:44

And if the seller really wants to complete his/her onward purchase by 30th September they have absolutely no chance of doing this if they re-market the property so it seems more likely that will accept a £2K reduction.

MauveMagnolia · 21/08/2021 21:57

@LemonSwan

Its the estate agents fuck up. Its their problem.

They can take the 2k out of their sales fees.

Say no its 238k as originally stated. Please confirm or not.

They won’t be getting £2k of fees

Our boiler is 26 years okd and has just had a full health check and no issues at all

MauveMagnolia · 21/08/2021 22:00

If previous searches have been done and a survey you can buy them - saves time and money

Ginger1982 · 21/08/2021 22:05

Do not let them get away with the lie you phoned back. Ask then to prove this.

Mummyoflittledragon · 21/08/2021 22:10

Did you receive an acceptance letter from the Estate Agent? Or a rejection letter? They normally send one for each and every offer - at least in my experience. They’ll more than likely come via email.

Something dodgy going on here.

Eralos · 21/08/2021 22:16

You can pull out without any costs, your solicitor costs will be carried over to the next property that you purchase. Just say 238 or pull out.

SamVimes6 · 21/08/2021 22:28

Also, not sure how seller will complete by September. That seems impossible

@Yafilthyanimal it can be done.

I sold my house, no upward chain (moving to my now husband) no downward chain (first time buyers) contracts exchanged, keys handed over, removal vans arriving after only 20 days.

MauveMagnolia · 21/08/2021 22:39

@SamVimes6

Also, not sure how seller will complete by September. That seems impossible

@Yafilthyanimal it can be done.

I sold my house, no upward chain (moving to my now husband) no downward chain (first time buyers) contracts exchanged, keys handed over, removal vans arriving after only 20 days.

My last 2 houses were 3 weeks but not during cv19- was your experience recent ?

Did my Dds last year and took 13 weeks and no way to speed it up

SpeakingFranglais · 21/08/2021 23:27

DD offered on her house 21st March, still not completed.

CallmeHendricks · 22/08/2021 09:23

I think you need to use stronger language than "I'm not happy about this." They will be interpreting this as you being about to cave.
Re: completing by the end of September, it may be possible if some of the paperwork has been done already. When we sold my dad's house, a precious buyer pulled out halfway along and the new buyer was able to use it all. We completed three weeks to the day we accepted their offer.

QueenStromba · 22/08/2021 12:51

@MauveMagnolia

If previous searches have been done and a survey you can buy them - saves time and money
Never buy someone else's survey - you've got no comeback with the surveyor if they missed something if someone else commissioned the survey.