Action against Estate Agent possible?

[kingston12]

Earlier this year, we made an offer on a house that we wanted to buy. As has become normal in this market, the offer was a sealed bid, sent by email.

We were called by the agent the next day to be told that a higher offer had been received, and I thought no more of it until I noticed today on the Land Registry figures that the house was actually sold for significantly less than we offered.

I realise that they are at liberty to sell to who they choose, and unfortunately I only have evidence of the offer being made, not the reason for it not being accepted.

I will write to the ombudsman and the head office of the agent, but I guess there is nothing that can really be done about this?

[kingston12]

Thanks for the replies. I will write to them to find the reasons and see if it had anything to do with the survey.

It is possible that the eventual buyers were in a better position than us, but we did have in excess of 50% cash deposit and the rest was on a mortgage that was already agreed in principle. I appreciate that 100% cash is better than that, but there was a very large difference between the offers.

[kingston12]

blueg33 said:

I have just sold a property through an agent using sealed bids. We did not take the highest offer as other offers were in a better financial position.

A sealed bid tender is not binding on any party, only a Formal Tender is binding and then the terms have to be clearly communicated and contracts issued to each bidder. When the tender is accepted the contracts are exchanged.

You also need to account for the fact that many things can cause a negotiation and price change after terms have been agreed.

The agent has done nothing wrong at all IMO, Don't see any legal or moral obligation to buyers whose offer was refused.

Thanks for the reply. I agree, but the only thing that made me a bit suspicious was that I was specifically told there had been a higher offer (not a better offer).

[kingston12]

I have had an update from the agent.

Apparently, it was a case of a naive vendor.

The original offer was slightly higher than ours, but the buyer obviously managed to get wind of the vendor's financial situation and used that knowledge to force them to accept a £70k gazunder on the day of exchange.

Oh well...

[kingston12]

blueg33 said:

fido said:

Roo said:

What a low life thing to do.

You believe that story .. 'sealed bids' and the vendor just sucked up a 70k hit a day before exchange?
I'd wager that someone is about to upgrade their Audi A3 1.6 cloth trim to a 2.0 TFSI with leather trim & Bose.

Edited by fido on Thursday 31st July 11:41

Happens all of the time. Especially if vendor doesn't want to start the process again. The property I have just sold by sealed bid tender sold at £250k, if the buyer chips me on the day of exchange I may complain, but I only need £200k for it and the time to start again will cost me more

In my experience, estate agents are no more fraudulent than any other profession.

That is what the agent said went on here - the vendor would rather take £70k less now than the full amount a bit later.

The thing that is strange about it is that the market is very competitive and there were several other buyers lined up to pay the full amount.

We'd made it clear we were in a position to move very quickly, but it still would have a been a few weeks additional delay.

If I put myself in the vendor's position, there is just no way I'd take that much of a hit, but I guess everyone is different.

I will drop a note to the vendor as that seems the right thing to do. It will only take a couple of minutes and might be beneficial for them.

[kingston12]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Indeed. Of course, he told me that he advised the vendor to re-market, but the loss is much less for him than it is for him.

When I have sold places in the past, I have always insisted on a sliding commission scale, so they get paid, say, 1.5% if they get what I really want, but only 1% if they get less. That is a bit more motivating because the difference can be a bit more significant.

The annoying thing is that in this case, the vendor could have just put up a homemade 'For Sale' board and still got more than they ended up with!