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.

This. I know someone who sold a house to a family they really liked and wanted them to have it. The vendor accepted a lower offer from them because of this and turned down all other offers. I gather the house in this case is empty so the vendor be selling a relative's house, not in need of the money immediately so are happy to wait.

OP you sound very pushy. The vendor has no obligation to accept other offers. Just leave a note of interest with the EA and wait to see if anything changes.

If I was the seller and had said i didn't want any more offers at the moment I wouldn't be inclined to sell to anyone who had tracked me down like that, it looks like stalking

Until you said you'd contacted the EA within a few days of the house going on the market, I wondered if they were lying to you because they were no longer instructed but had offers on the table being considered. That happened to us when we bought our current house. It was showing on RM with two agents. We did a drive by on a Sunday and stopped into agent 1 who happened to be open. Bloke there gave us the sale particulars.

We phoned the next day to get a viewing and they said they'd get back to us. Then we never heard from them so chased later in the day to be told that "no the seller doesn't want any more viewings, we've just had a cash asking price offer" . We almost gave up at that point but I'd fallen in love with the place and we were desperate to move because of shitty neighbours. DH tried Agent 2 on a whim, and within an hour we had a viewing that evening. It transpired that Agent 1's instruction period had ended over the weekend, but there were two under-asking-price offers on the table through them that were still being considered by the vendor. Agent 1 clearly didn't want a rival offer through Agent 2 so they outright lied to us to put us off. Instead of doing what they should have done - tell the vendor and/or refer us to EA2.

We offered asking, and to clinch the deal told the vendor what EA1 had done. Oddly enough, she didn't want them to have her commission after that so we bagged the house.

Short version: EAs are lying tosspots so it's worth trying to contact the vendor directly.

There will be a reason for this. Properties aren’t underpriced for fun. Quite often it’s when they’re not suitable for mortgages, due to current condition or construction, but as you’re a cash buyer this wouldn’t be relevant.

No idea why they won’t accept a viewing or offer from you - but plenty of agents/sellers will consider offers if the chain is not complete, unless the seller has reasons for wanting to sell to one particular person.

If it’s a probate property, I would be thinking that they are selling the property at an undervalue for probate/IHT purposes and are perhaps getting the rest of the value of the property from the buyer another way, via a payment not through solicitors. This is of course very underhand (and tax evasion) but I’ve seen it attempted in other ways during my time working in conveyancing.

The easy way around this is to put your offer in writing, in a sealed envelope and address it to the owner. Post it through the door & mark it private & confidential. Empty homes have to be inspected regularly - more so in winter - for the insurance to remain valid. Leave them your contact details.

It's still showing because it hasn't actually been sold yet so people can still log their interest if the sale doesn't go through. The Estate agents has taken OPs details . They should leave it at that

So to add, the property may well be actually selling for £2million, but only £900,000 passing through the contract and solicitors. Doing it this way would save on IHT ((if probate property), stamp duty for the buyer, and estate agency selling fees for the seller.

The flip side to “assume the EA is a lying tosspot” is “piss the vendors off because the EA is respecting their wishes and you are ignoring those wishes, so won’t be on the list if the current sale falls through”

Apparently...

'In the UK, estate agents are legally required to pass on all offers for a property to the seller promptly and in writing. They must continue to do this until contracts have been formally exchanged. Failing to do so violates the Property Ombudsman Code of Practice and can result in disciplinary action against the agent.'

Yay! And if, in three months time when the exclusivity period with the agency ends, they might decide to accept her offer!

Or she could just look for a house that’s actually available, now.

If you read the link it says this

The only exception is if the seller has formally requested not to be notified of certain offers; such as, if they are below a specified amount.

I have a friend (partner of a friend actually) who, many years ago now bought a house worth at least £90k for £70k after being notified of it by an estate agent who was a friend of his, who then blocked any other offers. He was very chuffed with himself. House was probate and sellers were unaware of the area and took the estate agent's valuation in good faith.

The whole thing was a total scam and that sounds very like what is going on here.

If it’s a bargain, EAs will often leave properties like this on the site so they can try and cross promote other properties. I’ve enquired about several similar properties on and often get the same, ‘Sorry it’s SSTC but if you give me your details, I’ll email you some others’. It’s a marketing technique.

House is massively undervalued in an area known for being snapped up by developers.

If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck .........

Go to the house and knock on the neighbours door. Explain you’ve tried to view the house/want to offer on it but you feel the estate agents aren’t being super helpful. Ask if they know the neighbours/family and could leave your details for them to contact you. You’ve clearly got nothing to lose!

Exactly...

you are hoping to gazump the existing buyer, the seller obviously doesn't want that. Fair play to them.

It's VERY common to leave a house on rightmove even when it's under offer - or near exchange sometimes. It doesn't mean there's anything dodgy on there.
It's even worst with rentals - none of the properties advertised for rental on rightmove are available, they're already gone by the time they make it to the website, and then they stay there for weeks.

If I put an offer in without viewing, is the EA obliged to pass onto the seller?
any reasonable seller will just ignore you, you are obviously not a serious buyer anyway.

Even if the house comes back on the market, I would never accept you as a buyer, you sound like a nightmare.

Are you a rival developer OP?

Of course they are!!! Hence the entitlement

Thanks
this is exactly what I was going to point out

The EA must pass on the offer

In that case there will probably be loads of people interested in it. Cash buyers, developers, ordinary buyers. Maybe the EA has no fears that if the current sale falls through, they won’t be able to sell it.

It sounds like it snapped up within days and it would be again. Perhaps they get a couple of calls a day about a house that is in a desirable area that is underpriced.

Agree @ChipDaleRescueRangers we’ve had this happen to us on a probate property.