Are EA's required to keep official log of bids?

A

Alli

Registered User
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Hi,

About to make an offer on a house. Have been warned by people who have used the Estate Agent to be careful, as this agency are 'known to create fake bids'. Just wondering is there a way to know if what the EA tells me is real? Like are they required to keep a log book of bids etc like in the UK? (Well in Northern Ireland this was the case when I bought there many years ago).

Thanks,

Alli
 
Open to correction - but I believe there is no law obliging an estate agent to keep a log of bids.

Their individual professional\regulatory bodies may of course have rules about it.
 
I would have thought from a house keeping point of view they would have to keep a log/note of bids but whether such notes have to be made available for inspection etc. is another question.
 
Remember that the EA is working for the seller, and it is their job to get the maximum price for the seller. That's what they are there to do.
 
There is a voluntary code of practice set up by the National Property Services Regulatory Authority - npsra.ie but this body has no statutory basis (yet) because the government are too slow or just to incompetent to get it set up .

A quote from this code of practice says

"
In sales, other than by auction, Property Services Providers shall maintain a record of all offers made for property, including the identity of the person/representative making the offer, the level of the offer and any conditions attached.
Conditional acceptance of such offers shall be recorded by Property Services Providers, but in a format that does not create a Memorandum of Understanding for the purpose of the Statute of Frauds.
Records of offers shall be retained for a period of at least six years from the date of their creation and shall be made available for inspection by the Disciplinary Board."
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So really - estate agents should be doing it but the truth is that most of them probably aren't.

www.*****************.com
 
Best advice here is to keep a detailed log of everything you do with the agent.

And register with a number of agents too, it keeps you less vulnerable in the long run...
 
Its common practice to do it, It shouldn't alter your approach to buying a house though. you should concentrate on your budget and try and stick to it.
 
You can call their bluff and ruin them, might stop them in the future.

When they say oh there is an offer 5% below asking, say you can only offer 7% below but oh well. When they get back and say they will accept you know they were lying. Leave it a few weeks then mail the seller saying that the estate agent isn't passing on offers and you were goign to offer 7% below but had found another place.
 
Buddyg said:
You can call their bluff and ruin them, might stop them in the future.

When they say oh there is an offer 5% below asking, say you can only offer 7% below but oh well. When they get back and say they will accept you know they were lying. Leave it a few weeks then mail the seller saying that the estate agent isn't passing on offers and you were goign to offer 7% below but had found another place.
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Whats that about? When you're a vendor and you're employing an EA, you want best price. EA acts for vendor - not for purchaser. In todays market with purchasers so thin on the ground, the EA will not lose a purchaser .

And as a purchaser you don't contact the vendor when they have an EA - the vendor has appointed the EA to act.

mf
 
Thanks...seems like there is none then...

I'm going to ask anyway. I'll say to the agent we want to make an offer but I'll come into his office to do so, and then we can discuss the other offer and conditions attached etc.

If he says he can't show me............I'm not sure what the next step will be...maybe say I'm not going to make an offer?

But then I lose and he just doesn't care.

Don't know about other parts of the country but it seems Dublin 15 agents are making a good living as houses selling fast where we are looking. And you have to ring agents a few times to get appointments for bookings.

And contrary to belief on EA's We have met a really decent one alone the way. wish it was him we were trying to buy off.

Alli.
 
Buddyg said:
You can call their bluff and ruin them, might stop them in the future.

When they say oh there is an offer 5% below asking, say you can only offer 7% below but oh well. When they get back and say they will accept you know they were lying. Leave it a few weeks then mail the seller saying that the estate agent isn't passing on offers and you were goign to offer 7% below but had found another place.
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That's caled getting a little ahead of yourself, it's not agame of cat and mouse it really is just up to purchasers to use cop on and not simply presume the worst case scenario.
 
Alli said:
Thanks...seems like there is none then...

I'm going to ask anyway. I'll say to the agent we want to make an offer but I'll come into his office to do so, and then we can discuss the other offer and conditions attached etc.

If he says he can't show me............I'm not sure what the next step will be...maybe say I'm not going to make an offer?

But then I lose and he just doesn't care.

Don't know about other parts of the country but it seems Dublin 15 agents are making a good living as houses selling fast where we are looking. And you have to ring agents a few times to get appointments for bookings.

And contrary to belief on EA's We have met a really decent one alone the way. wish it was him we were trying to buy off.

Alli.
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If he is an IAVI member he has to keep wriiten record of bids, and client responses. He has to keep them on file for 7 years.
 
MrMan said:
If he is an IAVI member he has to keep wriiten record of bids, and client responses. He has to keep them on file for 7 years.
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But am I right in saying the EA doesn't have to show potential buyers the list of bids if he/she has kept one?

Could you use FOI request if uncooperative? Then again, that can be a slow process & bit extreme unless very interested in that house & you're convinced EA is lying about other bids made.
 
TheJackal said:
But am I right in saying the EA doesn't have to show potential buyers the list of bids if he/she has kept one?

Could you use FOI request if uncooperative? Then again, that can be a slow process & bit extreme unless very interested in that house & you're convinced EA is lying about other bids made.
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The EA, if a member of the IAVI, must keep a log of all bids. However, this is purely for auditing purposes and is not available to the public. If I were a bidder I wouldn't like other bidders to see my bidding history.

I suppose the EA could photocopy the bids, blacken out the names/numbers of the other bidders and then show you but that'd only be a list of prices. Could still be fictional.
 
TheJackal said:
But am I right in saying the EA doesn't have to show potential buyers the list of bids if he/she has kept one?

Could you use FOI request if uncooperative? Then again, that can be a slow process & bit extreme unless very interested in that house & you're convinced EA is lying about other bids made.
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He doesn't and shouldn't really as most people want their privacy protected. It shouldn't matter though if people just stick to their guns regarding the price that they are comfortable in paying.
 
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