Ignored by estate agent

[lalalalalala2024]

We viewed a beautiful house on Monday evening at 6pm. The person who showed us round was the sister of the estate agent ( independent) and said any questions you would need to contact her sister.
The next day I asked two questions the sister could not answer and that we would like to put an offer in the property. She did not reply to my email and the next day I rang her and sent another message explaining that we would like to put an offer in.

We have still not heard from the estate agent and have seen that it is now SOLD stc.

I’m upset with the lack of communication, it would have been nice for her to say it’s now been sold.
I can’t complain as she is an independent estate agent but can see she has Google reviews which I’m reluctant to complain on.

Just wanted to vent as we’ve been house viewing for a while.

I’d contact the vendor directly and tell them all of this.

Of course you can complain or leave a negative review, whether she is independent or not.

I doubt the vendors would be interested, they have sold their house and they probably don't care who to.

How frustrating. Do you have a house which is on the market but not sold? Just thinking if the other buyer was in a more proceedable position, it could make more sense to go with them. It's rude of the EA not to reply to you though and I imagine it's put you off dealing with them again. Given the number of sales which fall through before completion, I wouldn't want to put off any potential buyer.

This house has fell through twice due to the chain collapsing.
We are first time buyers so in a good position.

We will continue looking, it just wasn’t meant to be. I don’t even want to complain incase the sale doesn’t go through 😅

In that case they're idiots not to find out what your offer is! Hopefully there's an issue with the house which has caused the previous people to pull out and you've had a lucky escape. I hope you find somewhere even better soon

There are some real jerk estate agents out there. I experienced this where a relative wanted to buy but they wouldn't even take good offer to owners. Found out on Google reviews that she only like to sell to investors from our of town so they could get rental management fees as income. Didnt want to sell to owner occupier. Also other reviews from rental Tennants proved to be really awful as well, treating renters terribly.

I think they’d be very interested to know! OP might be willing to make a higher offer than the current one, or be in a better position to proceed.

Were you in a position to make a strong asking price offer or chain free? You could always pop a note through the door.

Similar happened to me. I told the agents my offer (which i understand the estate agents have to pass on to the seller) and said I would keep the offer on the table if the sale fell through. Two months later it did and the agent rang me back and said the vendor would accept the offer. I would push on until you get the offer to them, in case the sale falls through. You never know.

Definitely put a note through the door! Would you offer over the asking price?

I would put an note through the door. Explain that you did make an offer but you are unsure of whether it was passed on and could the sellers keep you in mind if they are going to relist the house.

The agent probably has more than one finger in the chain pie, so if the people who put in an offer are selling theirs through the same estate agent, they get more than one lot of commission.

I'd put a note through the vendor's door and let them know you are very interested and wanted to put in an offer but the agent didn't respond to your messages. Ask them to contact you if the chain falls through.

Under the estate agent act, the agent has to forward all offers received.

I'd persue this with the agent if you genuinely want to offer, especially if its a strong offer and as you're in a good position.
It's really unprofessional of the agent not to have communicated. Your offer might be the better offer for the sellers. I wouldn't complain but would keep it polite but firm with the agent.

I will look into this !

Did the email actually make the offer? Or just say that you wanted to make an offer?

The house is actually on the way to our daughters dance class tonight so I will pop a note through the letterbox.
I don’t believe the vendor is living there at the moment and is also chain free. We could also go to asking price ! I’m wondering if the other people went above asking price to get it off the market. We will never know.

I asked the estate agent two questions as the person walking us around said to email her sister the questions. In the email I also said we would like to make an offer on the property but I have not heard back since.

I will try contacting her again with our offer, we are first time buyers and all the other estate agents has called us the following day for feedback. This one didn’t so I may have been in the wrong by emailing her.

This is why I didn’t want to complain incase the house does come up again or if she gets back in touch.

My experience was South Australia. I don't think she cared about the regulations. I rang on behalf of my relative from another State and she was happy to take my offer which was a lower offer. It seemed she really only wants to sell to interstate investors . Pretty disgusting if you want to buy a home to live in

So you didn’t actually make an offer. Sorry but you’ve made a mistake here and have nothing to complain about. Not your fault - you’re new to this! But there is no point emailing saying you’d like to make an offer with no actual details. You have to actually make the offer! And then the estate agent is obliged to pass it on. Look online for templates as you should include that it is subject to the property being taken off the market and other viewings cancelled.

They were probably waiting for you to actually send the offer.

You can still make an offer OP and the estate agent is obliged to pass the offer on.

Knock on the door, speak to the vendors and ask them if they'd contact you directly if the sale fails to go through. Explain your problem with the estate agent and that you wanted to make an offer, but were ignored.

Legally, an estate agent has to put your offer forward to their vendor. Without knowing what your offer is, yours could have been higher and the vendor and estate agent would earn more money. I would write a letter and post through the door.

Legally they have I put your offer forward. Many years ago I offered on several properties with the same independent estate agent and was apparently rejected each time. I found out later that he had told the (elderly female) owners in each case that there was no interest at all and persuaded them to take much lower offers from his business partner. I reported him to the ombudsman. It came to light because I offered on another bungalow the day it came on the market (pre internet and not advertised at all) and was told it was sold. The elderly widow had told my mother in law she was selling but the agent didn't think she'd get much interest so we went direct to her and she sacked him!