Frizzers Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Morning All, friend of mine who sold his gaff last year when things were still mental has just asked me for some advice. He had several offers at asking and under pressure from th EA who told him it had already gone to sealed bids, accepted one and the sale went eventually through. Then he meets some chap last weekend who said he had also offered on the property and had wanted to put in a higher offer but the EA told him he couldn't. In other words the EA had kept things back. I told him to go and speak to the chap who wanted t put a higher offer in and ask if he'll make a statement confirming this and the chap has said yes. Now take the matter to a solicitor and let him deal with it. Can anyone suggest anything else he should do here? What's the most he can get back from the EA? His commission? I've got a feeling this is enough to put the EA out of business Edited March 29, 2008 by Frizzers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chichi Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Depends if the EA is a member of any organisation that has rules. Would be nice to see them done for it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 reputation is important. threaten to talk to the local newspapers. they will love it... oh hang on.. they will get paid by the estate agent... so maybe that wont work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Sounds like the Ea did him a favour.There's always the bulls****ter that would have paid 000s more but 99/100 wouldn't have.He should be s**king the EAs d**k ,he has probably saved him from losing tens of thousands had the EA messed and lost the genuine buyer. Edited March 29, 2008 by crashmonitor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REP013 Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 EA should be a member of NAEA or possibly RICS. This is illegal IIRC according to the law so can sue for loss of earnings, costs etc. Papers would also be a good bet especially the locals as will help to put EA out of business if word gets around. The EA will also likely be fined too as similar happened to EA in my area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dances with sheeple Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 (edited) Tell your friend to stop being greedy and feel glad that he got out when he did. I hope he didn`t buy another overpriced gaff? Hopefully the EA will go bust that will help your friend get over his grievances with them. Any statement from the guy making the offer will just be dismissed by the EA. They will have no record of any offer, and the agent dealing with it will have "moved on". Edited March 29, 2008 by dances with sheeple Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest X-QUORK Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Report the EA to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Get your friend to have a look at this document (specifically page 13): http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_...eral/oft031.pdf The OFT have the power to close down EAs if they don't play ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dances with sheeple Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Sounds like the Ea did him a favour.There's always the bulls****ter that would have paid 000s more but 99/100 wouldn't have.He should be s**king the EAs d**k ,he has probably saved him from losing tens of thousands had the EA messed and lost the genuine buyer. Good point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frizzers Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Maybe friend being is greedy, but he was also shafted. It is EA's duty to inform of higher offer. Local paper is a good idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frizzers Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 X-Quork. Thanks for that document. I will pass it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestEA - Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Morning All, friend of mine who sold his gaff last year when things were still mental has just asked me for some advice.He had several offers at asking and under pressure from th EA who told him it had already gone to sealed bids, accepted one and the sale went eventually through. Then he meets some chap last weekend who said he had also offered on the property and had wanted to put in a higher offer but the EA told him he couldn't. In other words the EA had kept things back. I told him to go and speak to the chap who wanted t put a higher offer in and ask if he'll make a statement confirming this and the chap has said yes. Now take the matter to a solicitor and let him deal with it. Can anyone suggest anything else he should do here? What's the most he can get back from the EA? His commission? I've got a feeling this is enough to put the EA out of business The EA should not have just automatically gone to sealed bids without first discussing the options with his client the vendor. In the event of multiple offers on the same property at the asking price, you have a duty under the Estate Agency Act 1979 to first research the ability to pay of all the interested parties to include things like how many in the chain, how much deposit , how much cash, how well progressed etc. Once you know the facts on all the potential buyers, you approach your client with these facts and ask him to make an informed decision on which buyer he should proceed with that suits his circumstances best. If he is unable to make a choice and asks you for a recommendation you can suggest the sealed bids route as a possible way forward, but advise the seller that some buyers will be put off completely by this approach. If you instead advise the seller to accept one party over another you should keep detailed records of why you made that recommendation. (which cannot be on the grounds of vested financial services self interest BTW) If the seller instructs the EA to conduct a sealed bids procedure then the EA can legitimately turn away any further offers if they are after the deadline set for the submission of the sealed bids, because if he did not then the whole point of the sealed bid procedure (which is effectively to choose which buyer to proceed with using an objective and transparent rationale of highest bid) would be pointless. In the many sealed bids sales I have dealt with over the years, the successful bidder is granted a stated time (typically 28 days) of exclusivity in order to exchange before the seller reserves the right to consider other offers and conduct another round of sealed bids if the progress of the sale to the successful bidder is too slow. In your example the EA should have advised the potential guzumper that the sealed bids deadline had passed, but that the situation will be reviewed after the period of exclusivity that was agreed and that should he still be interested after that time he would be most welcome to put in a offer then. It depends very much on how long after the sealed bids the approach was made and whether any exclusivity was granted to the successful bidder and whether the approach was made during that time or after. If the client in fact instructed the sealed bids procedure then the EA is partially protected here, although it would still have been better to document the offer and pass it on to his client. The legal requirement upon the EA to pass on all offers in writing to the seller within 48 hours can only disregarded if the agent has the written authority of the client to decline any offers below a specified figure or by the invoking of a sealed bids procedure with a period of exclusivity as described above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frizzers Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 Thanks, EA. A brilliant reply. I have cut and pasted this on to friend. It would appear that there were three offers at full asking; vendor asked EA to put it to sealed bids; EA said it had already gone to sealed bids (hmmm) - no written proof of this though or of EA having said it; so based on this info vendor accepted one offer on EA's advice. But purchaser who missed out said they offered full asking straight away. EA then told purchaser that another offer had been accepted. Purchaser wanted to put in a higher offer. EA said you can't as other offer had been accepted. They were not I don't think told about sealed bids. This all happened in less than a day. EA wanted to go with other buyer as their place was under offer. Failed purchaser had not yet put their place on market. That seems to be the agenda - a quicker sale for the EA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HonestEA - Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 EA wanted to go with other buyer as their place was under offer. Failed purchaser had not yet put their place on market. That seems to be the agenda - a quicker sale for the EA. Well that changes everything. You would only go to sealed bids if the multiple offers were all from buyers in a position to proceed. In the case that one offer is from someone who has not even put their house on the market, you would still need to put the offer to the vendor but you are perfectly justified in recommending the proceedable offer for acceptance. If the seller decides to go along with a higher offer from someone who has yet to even place his house on the market then that is his perrogative, but he has to accept the risks associated with effectively putting his destiny in someone elses hands which is frankly not good advice in any market. In fact if the estate agent had been acting purely in his self interest, he would have advised taking the non proceedable offer and insisting that the house that needs to be sold should also be placed on his books to create a chain of 2 sales which is obviously double the commission. No official regulatory body will penalise the estate agent for recommending the proceedable offer as the dependant offer is worthless until the 2nd property is under offer to a complete chain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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