Other offers when buying a house - what can agents say/not say?

ZaraBlue · 2023-05-19T09:45:44+00:00

My partner and I are from abroad and it works very differently. Can agents make up other offers? Can they exaggerate the other offer price? Basically I have tried to do a bit of research online but I am still confused and curious on others experiences with this. Many thanks!

good96 · 19/05/2023 10:53

No they can’t - they can say that there is a significant level of interest in the property and any interested parties should consider submitting offers as soon as possible.

OldTinHat · 19/05/2023 11:32

^^ this!

Original poster

ZaraBlue · 19/05/2023 12:34

Thank you @good96 and @OldTinHat !

And if there is an official offer on the table are they allowed to say?

For context we put an offer in below asking and we've just been told there is another offer already which is above asking. But our no chain is appealing so we've been asked if we can go a bit closer and then the sellers will decide.

Is this just a strategy they can use so we increase our offer?!

OP posts:

BlueMongoose · 21/05/2023 11:37

Agents also have to pass on all offers, they are not allowed to sit on one and not pass it to the vendor.

BlueMongoose · 21/05/2023 11:39

ZaraBlue · 19/05/2023 12:34

Thank you @good96 and @OldTinHat !

And if there is an official offer on the table are they allowed to say?

For context we put an offer in below asking and we've just been told there is another offer already which is above asking. But our no chain is appealing so we've been asked if we can go a bit closer and then the sellers will decide.

Is this just a strategy they can use so we increase our offer?!

That sounds standard. They just aren't supposed to tell you specifically what the other offers are.

Lemonybubbles · 21/05/2023 11:42

For all that the law says they must pass on all offers, and they are not allowed to make up other offers, I have had experience where the law has not been followed in relation to these two things. And I won’t be the only one.

Karmatime · 21/05/2023 11:47

That is standard in my experience. However I wouldn’t let the mention of an above asking price offer sway me into offering more than my maximum budget for the property. Also being chain free is a huge plus for sellers these days as so many transactions seem to be falling through.

KievLoverTwo · 21/05/2023 11:49

Karmatime · 21/05/2023 11:47

That is standard in my experience. However I wouldn’t let the mention of an above asking price offer sway me into offering more than my maximum budget for the property. Also being chain free is a huge plus for sellers these days as so many transactions seem to be falling through.

41% of mortgage offers went through to completion in the last 12 months.

OP should use this to their advantage and stand firm, especially if their finances are bullet proof.

JamMakingWannaBe · 21/05/2023 11:50

Are houses selling for over-asking in your area?
How much do you want the house?
Can you afford to pay the asking price?

Expo23 · 21/05/2023 11:55

My agents did this to me. I went in under offer, no chain. They said someone else had gone in on offer and asked if I'd meet the offer. I felt like they were trying to get a bit more money out of me so I said no, I'm in no rush, give them the house I can find something else. Within a couple of hours I had the house. It could have gone the other way too I suppose. I just had a feeling it wouldn't and the house had been on the market 8 months. I had visited the street a few times and spoken with the neighbours so I knew the previous owners were already in their new house (had to relocate) so were paying a mortgage and rent at that point so I took the risk.

Marmiteymuffin · 21/05/2023 12:00

ZaraBlue · 19/05/2023 12:34

Thank you @good96 and @OldTinHat !

And if there is an official offer on the table are they allowed to say?

For context we put an offer in below asking and we've just been told there is another offer already which is above asking. But our no chain is appealing so we've been asked if we can go a bit closer and then the sellers will decide.

Is this just a strategy they can use so we increase our offer?!

I still don't understand whether agents can do this. When we placed an offer last year, they made us go to best and final straight away as we were apparently competing with another buyer, but we were 'better buyers'. Anyway we went up, our offer was accepted. The sale of our house fell through almost immediately , and I really would have expected the vendor to dump us and go to the other buyers. But they stuck with us and we are still trying to buy the house another year later. And that's another very long story!! Anyway I strongly suspect there was no competing buyer at the time we placed the offer.

BungalowBuyer · 21/05/2023 12:10

We did exactly that, I had an offer on the table from a buyer in a chain, a FTB viewed two days later and made a lower offer and I asked if they could increase their offer, they offered slightly less than the first offer but I accepted as they were in a better position to proceed.

Original poster

ZaraBlue · 21/05/2023 14:16

Thank you so much everyone. Really interesting and helpful.

Turns out the other buyer/offer was legitimate and it was accepted. We know they offered at least 12-15% over asking which we could not have matched. The only way we know this is because the agent said they paid above the original off-market price and told us what that was (we did not know it was originally priced higher until now, surprised we weren't told).

Beautifully refurbished family home, excellent location. It was a dream house that ticked all boxes for practicalities of young kids. However they still certainly overpaid for the area, even the agent said, but good for them!! Other houses in the area are not selling for over, mostly under. But to be fair we haven't seen anything this good either.

Anyway a really good learning experience! Disappointed but who knows if it's meant to be our home their chain might fall through!

OP posts: