Would you gazump?

[Whattodowhattodo246]

Morning all. I saw a property last week in a desirable catchment area. The house came on the market at the beginning of May, was on sale for a week and sold. It then reappeared for sale last week as the sale fell through (buyer had more money to spend on a house than he had thought). I viewed the house on the Tuesday and planned a 2nd viewing for the Saturday (next time the agent could fit us in as my husband couldn’t make the 1st viewing due to him working away). I then saw online on the Wednesday that the house had sold. I called the agent who confirmed that it had sold but did not mention if I could put a counter offer in and I did not ask; the agent merely said they would contact me if the sale fell through.

I was speaking to a friend who suggested I call up the agent tomorrow and ask to put forward an offer (asking price or higher) and see what the owner says.

I have just sold my property to a first time buyer and keen to get moving ASAP. The house I would like to buy does not have a chain.

if you were the owner of the other house, would you consider a counter offer despite already accepting an offer?

I bought my first (my current) home which was a new build so didn’t go through the whole counter offer situation.

The agent has to pass the offer on. They sound dodgy.

Note through door, 100%.

The agent sounds dodgy, they legally have to put all offers to them.

The agent sounds strange.

Yep, that’s what I think. Maybe the agent knows the buyer.

I'd always thought it was morally wrong...until we did it. We put in an offer, the vendor wanted two weeks before taking it off the market and a competing offer came in an hour before the deadline and was accepted. We put it a higher offer the next day and that was also accepted.

I'm not particularly proud of it but it was our dream house. The estate agent is legally required to put offers forward to the vendor.

It's not unknown for estate agents to take a payment from a buyer to guarantee them a house. The estate agent may have ulterior motive for pushing the other bidder.

Or the seller might need a quick sale and be willing to accept the first offer of the right price.

You'll never know.

We just completed on a house that DH hadn’t seen. We’ve viewed lots of similar ones (and had an offer on an identical house 7 doors down fall through). So he felt he knew what he was getting.

By any chance, did they try to sell you services such as their broker or conveyancer but you already had those in place?

Because those give the agent kickbacks. One agent I know lists theirs online; £180 and £220.

It is literally illegal for them not to put an offer forward. But if someone else is using their services… it’s very hard to anyone to prove.

Time to put a note through their door, as others have said. Mention your appointment was booked and confirmed.

Definitely note through door if they are still living in the house. I’d suspect dodgy business on the part of the agent too. No need for a telling off, it’s a very standard business type situation, which this ultimately is

Put your offer in writing and tell the agent you expect it to be passed on to the vendor.

And put a note through the door.

This smells of agent preferring the other buyer for some reason (maybe other buyer is also selling through them?) - but they not acting in seller’s best interests by turning away other offers.

Those saying that the agent seems to prefer the other buyer; this is what I thought. I stressed our situation and that I was prepared to offer above asking price, but the agent just gave a blanket “no”. Unfortunately no one lives in the property as the owner died (vendor is NOK who is selling, it’s gone through probate etc), so I don’t think any note would be seen before things had progressed further with the other buyer.

It’s just bizarre as yes, I would be gutted if I was gazumped (and totally understand those who are happy that my offer was not passed on to the vendor), but surely it would be in the agent’s best interest as they get more money out of it.

The only thing the agent agreed to do was to let me know if the sale fell through but, in the agent’s words, he “would not pass across (my) offer because (he) knows that the vendor would not want to jump ship after accepting the other offer”. I won’t be using that agent when looking at other property going forward.

Oh well, c’est la vie and all that!

Submit the offer to the head of the estate agency.

The house has already sold though.

If someone bought something from a shop and was about to walk out the door you wouldn't swoop in and say to the seller "hang on, I want that! I'll give you more for it!"

Gazumping is shitty behaviour.

It may be shitty but it’s not illegal. Not passing on all offers is illegal.

It's not a proper offer though - the house has sold, a price has been agreed, the agent has done their job.

The house hasn’t sold. An offer has been accepted after some dubious behaviour by the agent. The owner is deceased and the next of kin don’t know there was further interest. It’s the agent at fault here.

If an offer has been accepted then the agent isn't required to pass on further offers. A price has been agreed and the process is moving forward.

Yes, the agent is acting illegally.

You're right actually, they do need to pass on offers (just looked this up) - however, OP didn't actually make an offer, they just asked if they could and were told no.

It sounds like the estate agent was fairly sure that the sellers wouldn't agree with it - the sellers might have already said no gazumping.

@Bringbackthebeaver Good point! Yes, if they'd actually insisted on making an offer or emailed it/put it in writing, that would be a different matter.

I viewed the house on the Tuesday and planned a 2nd viewing for the Saturday (next time the agent could fit us in as my husband couldn’t make the 1st viewing due to him working away).

The agent arranged a second visit but sold the house less than 24 hours after doing so. They knew there was further strong interest.

Put the boot on the other foot - if this was your relative’s house would you use this agent?

I did say to the agent that I was making an offer (above the asking price - I’ve no idea what the other offer was / what their current situation is) but I was told a flat no by the agent.

I’m going to speak to DH and see if he could call them up and speak with the manager, as someone suggested. I felt like a naughty schoolgirl being reprimanded by the agent - he knew I was interested, that I was making a formal offer (we have mortgage in principle), my house is listed as sold (sstc) online and that we have first time buyers. He was a very difficult agent to deal with.

@Whattodowhattodo246 After the phone call, if you really want to offer, I would follow up with an email of all the details of your offer, sent directly to the manager, bypassing the original agent, copying any partner/owner of the company, explaining what you've already been told and that you know it's a legal requirement to pass on the offer.
Morally, gazumping isn't nice but the dreadful system in England for house sales leads to it. So I'm not making any judgement here, just saying what is the best course of action for your offer to get in front of the vendor.

Thank you @mumgodloveher - that is good advice.

I’m going to speak to DH and see if he could call them up and speak with the manager, as someone suggested.

I'd do this because legally they're required to present offers to the vendor and I can't imagine the manager would support breaking the rules.

That said, my agent didn't tell me about a higher offer. I found out as the buyers put a note through my door and shared the emails they'd sent to the agent. The offer was around £40k higher. The original buyers ended up being such a nightmare that I swapped buyers at the eleventh hour.