Estate Agents not letting us put in an offer?

[Abcdefghijklmnoo]

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.

Nonsense, she needs to keep going.

Unless the EA has written instructions for no offers, highly unlikely, there’s all to play for.

Persistence is exactly how I got my current house.

If you're really serious about the house, I'd try the next door neighbours! And a letter to the address sent via post. Not ideal but you've nothing to lose. It does sound dodgy to me.

I'd also put in an offer without viewing. In writing. In case you do get hold of sellers independently and EA have been withholding.

We don’t know that the vendor has asked for no more viewings.

From another post by @BeeHive909 :
"She’s determined to be right and keep hounding them. What she doesn’t realise is that by hounding them she’s got rid of her chance of ever getting that house if it was available because they’ll ignore her now."

Yes, @Abcdefghijklmnoo has been told no, but the explanation doesn't feel right to them. It's not hounding to call back for more information; isn't that part of what Estate Agents do?

As several posters have said, it's possible that the EA is making shady back deals with a developer or holding back on offers to keep the price down for a friend. It does happen.

So no more of the "hounding", please.

Our home was advertised on a Monday am, three viewings later that day, three offers by Tuesday am. We accepted the higher offer, but 10 days later they withdrew. In the meantime we had an offer letter put through our door from one of the first viewers asking if they could be considered if the first one pulled out. As that happened we accepted the second purchaser (solicitor said it was only a name change so no increased fee) and all went ahead at the original agreed price.

More likely that a developer has got in there first and ‘snatching’ the home from a family…

A friend of mine had her mother's deceased estate on the market for over a year before the solicitor who was also power of attorney woukd accept an offer. This was a house on large plot in Surrey. It maybe the estate agent is in cahoots with a property developer. Unless it says Sstc or at least under offer then I csnt think.of a reason you can't view. You could use the Internet to find the owner of the house or a link.to them. I don't particularly trust estate agents !

Under the estate agents act 1979 estate agents must put forward all offers no matter what until contract have legally exchanged. You could send the agents a letter with your offer explaining this is subject to a satisfactory viewing and stating that you are aware all offers must be put forward to the vendors.
It could be that the vendors would like the current folk who have offered to have the house and are happy to wait it out - as this sounds like an inherited property they may have no urgency. Perhaps they know the people or just felt that having agreed a sale they don't want to go back on their word so be prepared for a no.

Because we wanted our house to go to someone who was a first time buyer or someone moving up the property line so to speak. No interest in selling to a developer (normally cash buyers) and if someone had enough cash to buy it outright they were very unlikely to be this type of buyer.

In the past the only chain I've had fall down was a cash buyer who broke the chain.

I know many won't agree, but my point here is it's entirely up to the seller who they sell to.

We had a few offers, we did not take the highest offer.

If someone knocked on my door to ask about the house next door because they thought an EA was lying to them, what I would pass on - if I even knew the executors - is “you might want to avoid these stalkers, I certainly would prefer not to live next door to them”

They’re closed today (why they are closed on a Saturday, I have no idea!).

It’s not on the EA to advise the OP on law or other matters. The OP is not their client.

They are not obstructing her making an offer. They are - IMO - following vendor instructions to allow no further viewings now an offer has been accepted.

PS you still haven’t answered the liar question.

When we recently accepted an offer , the agent cancelled other viewings that had been arranged.
But they also should mark the house as Under Offer or Sold STC. Perhaps this is an error.

This happened to the house we bought it never showed SSTC until like the week before we moved. It was technically SSTC months before. Some Estate agents just don't seem to update SSTC in a timely manner.

Definitely put a note through the door. There was a famous case locally to us where an EA had an insider deal with a buyer who put in a fairly low offer on a house they really wanted; the EA kept putting off other potential buyers who may have offered more, because of the insider deal. It was a big scandal and put a lot of people off using that EA even though the guy responsible was fired.

They may not be changing the online info as I assume RM records if a property goes under offer and then the offer falls away. Sounds like this isn’t the firmest of offers but nonetheless is the one the vendors are currently pursuing.

I believe they have to pass on every offer made. Odd to do it without viewing but you can try.

How was it discovered?

Sounds like they're getting a bung from a mate/developer 🙄

Our estate agent told us of further offers made, after we had accepted a lower offer. I thought they had to be open about everything.

I suggest that you knock on the neighbours doors as the owners might have left contact details in case their was a problem with the house or even as an emergency contact when an elderly relative lived there. Failing that try a note in an envelope through the door- but that could be intercepted by the agent.

Just read above. I did wonder.

This is dodgy because it happened BEFORE an offer was accepted. In this post OP is refused a viewing on a house where an offer was accepted weeks ago. This is quite common. I know that estate agents are lying bastards but in this post there is nothing that I haven’t seen before in my own experience. I was refused viewings because houses were under offer, the ad for the house I bought was still on rightmove until completion. It all happens in legitimate transactions. Estate agents are only obliged to pass on offers (if anyone dares to make an offer without a viewing), not that someone wants to view a house that is already under offer

What ‘exclusivity period’?
The house is listed for sale, why do you think the house is not for sale?

What’s the thought behind excluding cash buyers?