Estate Agents not letting us put in an offer?

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Hi all. We have no experience with dealing with estate agents so I was hoping someone would be able to advise on the below!

We really want to put in an offer on a property. It’s listed on Rightmove (and has been for 5 weeks), and is a £900,000 house on a street full of £2m+ properties. The area is full of elderly people in average properties that are then typically snapped up by developers and resold for insane amounts.

I initially rang hoping to view the property after it has been on the market for 2 weeks. I was told that there are to be no more viewings as the seller has accepted an offer in principle, but was waiting for them to sell their own house. End of call.

I rang back a week later and asked about the house again as it was still on RightMove. I was told that it was still on Right Move as it hadn’t sold as the seller was waiting for the buyers own house to sell. I asked if I could view as I may want to put an offer in too and was told no as the buyer had accepted the sellers offer (then surely it should be taken off of Right Move?).

A couple of weeks on and the house is still available to view. I rang off of another number and was told the same story again.

Can anyone shed any light onto this? Surely if the sellers are waiting on the buyers to sell, then they may still be interested in receiving new (potentially higher) offers? I can’t help but think something dodgy is going on by the estate agents as the house is such a bargain in a very desirable area.

You’ve just asked a poster how they got you are pushy and entitled from your posts by asking a question that the answer is yes, you are being pushy 🤦‍♀️ you’ve rang several times after being told no… that is pushy and yes you are being entitled thinking the estate agent owes you anything

To all those saying if you put in a written offer the EA needs to forward it, this is not the case if the seller has asked that no further offers are forwarded to them. We did this after we’d decided who to sell to, so this is wrong information.

If you’re the sole beneficiaries you could get away with that. But if there are others you’re legally required to get the best price and act in the best interest of all beneficiaries.

A bird in the hand is exactly the argument in favour of a cash offer. An accepted offer contingent on house sale + chain is very much a bird in the bush.

People don’t take the properties off Rightmove because it damages the marketing if they’re taken off and have to be put back on again. We were advised not to remove hours from Rightmove but to stop all viewings when we sold our until it progressed to a certain level.

It’s completely up to the buyer what viewings they accept and don’t. If they don’t want to accept anymore viewings that’s their decision

As per the EA Act 1979 they must pass on any offer. If they don’t want any more offers, they take it off the market. It’s not rocket science. It’s law.

seems weird they haven’t taken off /sstc

offering higher I think is gazumping an wrong an maybe why estate agent said no

not sure of the legal stance if they have to tell a seller of a higher offer

but guess you could put a note through door with your details. No harm

You can always find out who the owner of the property is by searching the Land Registry. Then send a letter saying you are interested in buying it. Worst they can say is no

It is “off the market” in the sense that the EA handling the sale is telling those enquiring that it is not available to view and that an offer has been accepted.

Or is there a specific provision in the 1979 act that pertains to rightmove?

So? She still can make an offer if she's that keen. In English/Welsh law, it can be withdrawn at any time before contracts are exchanged.

That’s an option if the EAs continue to be obstructive.

The current offer is conditional on so many things including their own house sale that it’s a moot point. The seller can do what they like, entertain any offers, until exchange.

I am afraid that I have personal experience of this also where I live in Oxford. We tried to look at a house about 15 years ago now and were told that it was not available and that an offer had been accepted .There was some confusion in the estate agents office though and it was the owner who confirmed that it was sold and did not allow us to arrange a viewing .
Also in our case we were told that the house had been sold to a single parent with a disabled child and the owners family were happy to be helping them and were not looking for other buyers or a higher price .
In time it became clear that this was untrue .
The house was actually bought by a local builder who specialises in buying relatively unfashionable houses on big plots and knocking them down to squeeze in 2 or 3 identical modern houses . They have taken over whole roads piecemeal where I live .
They definitely got someone else to pose as the buyer and the owner of the estate agency was aware of the scheme and the deceit .

? It’s on the market ‘for sale’.

Not complicated.

OP - does the EA have its own website / outlet - is the house marketed there as well?

and HMRC if IHT is due

It is absolutely not law that a property has to come off the market if sold subject to contract and it can remain on the market until the contract is complete.
It’s best practice for estate agents to update details to SSTC and can be considered misleading otherwise.

The EA is under no obligation to put any further offer to the vendor once an existing offer has been accepted. The OP is not their client, the vendor is, and the vendor has instructed the EA that there will be no more viewings. We were in a similar position a few years ago. A viewer badly wanted the house and was in the process of reviewing a couple of offers on their own property. We knew they were serious because they offered very near the asking price so we agreed to stop viewings and accept the offer in principle until they had negotiated their own sale. It was only a couple of weeks later that they accepted an offer and the sale went ahead.

Making an offer on a house you haven’t viewed is idiotic and as a vendor l wouldn’t accept it - the likelihood that they will change their minds when they do view is much higher, and then I’ve lost a buyer who was willing to proceed. And if I’m committed to paying the EA fees for introducing me to the buyer whose offer l have accepted, why would l accept an offer from a prospective buyer who has circumvented the sale process and approached me directly because they weren’t prepared to accept my instruction to the EA ? That’s all kinds of entitled and an indication of a difficult buyer who wants their own way over everything as the sale progresses.

It’s law they need To pass on any offer received.

I didn’t say otherwise. You implied in your post that it was also law that it had to come off the market. I was responding to that.

They’d have to put it in writing and tbh it’s really rare.

🤷‍♀️🙄