Estate agent won’t stop harassing me

[Roxietrees]

I'm in the process of selling my house and buying a new one. There was a month delay at the beginning of the purchase (for complicated reasons) which I told the seller's agent about and told him I was happy for him to pass this info on to the seller's. He didn't. Obviously now 3 months in the sellers are furious that the process is going slower than expected but don't know the reason why.

I now get emails multiple times a week from the seller's agent telling me it's my fault it's going so slowly even though my solicitor's are working as fast as they can and I'm retuning every document I get the same day. I've had a survey done and there are multiple problems with the house but I had to wait for my solicitors to get planning permission docs etc back from
the sellers (for which they have none) before I know which kind of contractors to send round for quotes for potential negotiations on price. The seller's agent emails me late in the evenings threatening that they are going to pull out and telling me I don't have time now for negotiations for money off. I've told him I don't want anymore emails from him and all this should be going through both solicitors but he won't stop. He's rude and putting so much pressure on me it's driving me mad. Is there anything I can do? Or is this “normal” behaviour?

This.

You are completely taking the piss.
First, you weren't ready to start the process, when you offered. You say you apologised, but that doesn't make it any better. You have delayed the whole process.
Then
It’s a bit dated but I’m happy with that, however there are some things that I think I deserve money off for eg. The balcony railing is falling off and half the windows don’t open
All of this was apparent when you looked round, and you would have made your offer allowing for the fact it needs work to bring it up to the condition you would like. None of that is something you can then re-negotiate the price afterwards.

Then, I know EAs get a bad press - sometimes deservedly so, but I have to say that the last two times I've moved, plus the more recent house buying by 2 of my dc, and 2 dns it is the EAs who have hauled the sales through. Solicitors in all cases have been notoriously slow and inefficient and everyone in each of the sales was very glad that the EAs were putting the legwork in.
What you are calling "harassing" I would be calling "doing their job with a customer who has caused unnecessary delays and who is trying to wriggle out of the offer they made".

Tell him that he no longer has permission to contact you and to direct comments to solicitor. Are you able to contact sellers directly and show them what their agent is doing?
set up automatic forwarding to a folder that isn’t your main inbox so you don’t get bothered by notifications late at night.

does he want a negative review?

does he want to start the process again with a new buyer as that will take longer.

Didn't the original price agreed reflect the condition of the property?

I don't see why you are talking to the seller's agent at all now, surely it's in the hands of the solicitor's. But it sounds like you are now being difficult, wanting quotes to support a price reduction having already kept your sellers waiting because of your personal problems. The problems you are quoting hardly seem worth getting estimates for, you could ask for a tiny amount off for them. but you may lose this house you really want apparently. You or a handy man could fix the windows for next to nothing. How much can it cost to replace the balcony railings? Are they wood or steel, you could look up the price for something similar online and estimate installation yourself.

You knew about these things when you viewed the house, if you wanted money off for them you should have asked then, not drop it in as a last minute negotiation trying to force the seller into reducing the price or lose the sale at a late stage.

What was the comment about planning permission? Is there planning permission for an extension or something, you should be able to get copies directly from the planning department.

If the valuation came back ok then they are unlikely to reduce the price based on the minor things from the survey. The valuation reflects the condition of the house.

You 'deserve' money off? I wouldn't use that word to the EA or the seller if I was you. It sounds very entitled. May not be intended that way, but that's how it comes across.
They seem to be relatively small things you're mentioning too- and things you would have seen when you viewed, before you made the offer- or maybe not? Did they only come out in the survey? How long have you had the survey?

The agent is very reasonably trying to progress the transaction. If I was the seller and you were faffing around with delays and then musing on a price reduction, I'd be putting the property back on the market.

I mean tbh I suspect you have registered it's a buyers market so think that because your in a chain they wont relist the house and you will be able to pull a stunt with getting money off

To be honest regardless of why the delay happened and if the EA told them, I wouldn't care tbh I would be annoyed as it looks like you're trying to drag them into a position of weakness.

Looking at facts - it's august now and slow but come September it won't be. I wouldn't mess about with the price unless you're happy to walk away.

I wouldn't play chicken with the sellers, if I was them tbh I would probably relist. I suspect that's why they have given you a warning shot.

I think she means the estate agent harassing her is the owner/boss of the estate agents, so no body higher to escalate a complaint

It is the job of the estate agent to keep things moving.
We are on week 7 of a purchase and week 8 of a sale and both agents are chasing for an exchange date.

Last time we bought and sold, our buyer's solicitor caused countless stupid delays and the whole process took almost 7 months to completion.

Our seller's EA was chasing me via email multiple times a week but was also calling me, sometimes daily, to ask what our buyer was doing. They constantly implied that our seller was on the verge of pulling out, blamed us for the delay, and would occasionally throw a random date at us to try and force us to complete before the rest of the chain was ready. I just stopped answering in the end as it felt like it was borderline harassment.

What yours is doing sounds within the realms of normal to be honest, but you're not obliged to reply to their emails. They have to keep things moving and gather all the information they can though.

This is outrageous- forward all emails to your solicitor copying agent in / saying another rude email from the agent. Don’t reply to any of them, stay strong - they are bluff about pulling out x

A similar thing happened to us. The buyers couldn’t wait to get into our house and they were friends with the estate agent selling the house we were buying, so the agent harassed us endlessly. They said our solicitor was holding things up and that we needed to call them constantly to get things moving. Everyone was doing everything correctly but the estate agent was just impatient. It’s awful when you are going through it since house buying is so stressful anyway. Estate agents are salesman at the end of the day and get paid when the sale goes through. Some are good and some are greedy and aggressive. Are they a member of a professional body? Can you tell him you are keeping a record of his behaviour and will report him? Or failing that start being rude back. This is a huge purchase for you and he needs to back off. He has no right to bully you into rushing a massive financial decision. If there’s something major wrong with the house and you pay too much for it then you could end up stuck in a home that you can’t sell and can’t afford to repair. I am so angry on your behalf that he told you there’s no time to negotiate. Stand your ground and tell him to get lost. Three months is not a long time.