Auctioneer wrongdoing?

Loking at a house for the last 6 months. Made a verbal agreement with auctioneer that I would buy when my own house is sold.

Suddenly, Auctioneer rings on Friday afternoon and says he has a cash buyer in front of him, and I have 3 hours to come back with a counter cash bid or house is gone. I was not in a position to counter cash bid, so I did not come back.

Three months later I noticed that the house is not sold when driving past. Rang the Auctioneer who told me the house is indeed gone.

I did not believe this. I know the seller, so I rang him. seller said he took his house off the market because he was not getting enough from the cash buyer, too far off the asking price. He said the auctioneer made a deal that the cash buyer would rent it for a year then pay his original bid price for the house.

I feel hard done by, because the Auctioneer never came back to me to tell me the cash buyer was not a cash buyer after all and the sale did not go through.

I was willing to give the seller his asking price. I could have had my own house sold by now and could have bought this house for the full asking price.
what seems very strange is that when I rang the seller directly, he was very interested.

Have I got a case to force the auctioneer to accept a bid from me?

All seems very strange.

kkmaan said:

Have I got a case to force the auctioneer to accept a bid from me?

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Nope. But the seller should be asking some VERY tough questions of his auctioneer!

The story you are being told is very odd.

Why would a cash buyer agree to rent it for a year and then pay the higher price? How would the solicitor do up this contract? Would it be binding on both parties?

It would not surprise me if the house comes back on the market.

Auctioneers tend to ignore bids which are contingent on the buyer selling their own house.

What you need to do is to sell your house first and then you will become a cash buyer. There is a small risk though that house prices will spike while you are looking for a house, but it's a risk worth taking.

When you go sale agreed on your own home, you can then put in proper offers on other houses.

Brendan Burgess said:

The story you are being told is very odd.

Why would a cash buyer agree to rent it for a year and then pay the higher price? How would the solicitor do up this contract? Would it be binding on both parties?

It would not surprise me if the house comes back on the market.

Auctioneers tend to ignore bids which are contingent on the buyer selling their own house.

What you need to do is to sell your house first and then you will become a cash buyer. There is a small risk though that house prices will spike while you are looking for a house, but it's a risk worth taking.

When you go sale agreed on your own home, you can then put in proper offers on other houses.

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I agree, very odd. When I spoke with the seller, he seemed interested to do business. When I spoke with the auctioneer, he said a deal was done and the house is off the market.

kkmaan said:

I know the seller, so I rang him. seller said he took his house off the market
Have I got a case to force the auctioneer to accept a bid from me?

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Why bother with this auctioneer,go directly to the property owner and make him an offer,the house is off the market therefore the auctioneer isn't even involved anymore.

Just wondering, does this happen very often ie where the auctioneer is bypassed?

All the time.

All the auctioneer does is find a buyer who is in a position to buy and agrees a price, after that all dealings are between the buyers and sellers solicitors.

If the seller is not contracted to this auctioneer, and you have the cash and can agree a price, then there is no need for this auctioneer.

However you will not be in a position to sign the purchase contract until you have your current property sold and any finance required in place and as such the seller’s solicitor would advise not to get involved in such an arrangement.