House going sale agreed while others still bidding?

MelF

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Weird one, just learned that a place I'd been offering on went sale agreed literally hours after my most recent bid. Espec weird given it was on the market for months pre-Covid. Would the agent have been obligated to come back to me or any other bidders before going sale agreed? Agent aware I'm a cash buyer, no chain and says she 'assumed' I was out, but I'd asked her to keep me informed of any activity and she didn't bother to let even me know it was agreed until I saw it on the listing.
V miffed but I've no comeback at this stage. Wondering is this kind of thing kosher since agent obviously didn't get the best price for the seller?
 
There could be all kinds of reasons why.

You may get some conspiracy responses on here - agent selling to a friend etc.,etc., contact the vendor directly (don't - vendors don't like that)......

Best to just forget about it and move on.

mf
 
OK, but wondering does agent have an obligation to put forward all offers to the buyer until contracts are signed? Not gazumping here as I was actively offering and not just swooping in at the last minute. Any mistakes/assumptions are on agents part not mine. Not so easy to forget when you're already so far down the line and was prepared to bid higher in any case.
 
There could be all kinds of reasons why.

You may get some conspiracy responses on here - agent selling to a friend etc.,etc., contact the vendor directly (don't - vendors don't like that)......

Best to just forget about it and move on.

mf

Damn I had a good one about crooked estate agents being in league with Russian gangsters!

After recently being involved in the joys of moving house, I can safely say that if I let everything that happened get to me, I would either be in prison or in a straight jacket. My solicitor gave me very good advice near the start. If I am not happy, walk away. Don't go looking for a fight. I walked away from about 5 properties even though I felt hard done more than once.
 
Exact same thing happened to us, cash buyers, no chain.....had unfortunately dealt with the auctioneer before so was prepared for dodgy dealings, very annoying
 
So someone offered a few bob more than you. The vendor said they would accept. Agent says sale agreed. Too much bother to find your number and call you back.

Wondering is this kind of thing kosher since agent obviously didn't get the best price for the seller?

If the agent provides a poor service to their client that is none of your affair, even if you feel you are the loser by it.

contact the vendor directly (don't - vendors don't like that)......

I know if I were the vendor in his case i would appreciate being contacted. Though I wouldn't bother unless you were still eager to buy at a higher price.
 
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It's time we started lobbying for the Swedish system:


This one was taken pretty much at random just as there's bids on it currently.

If you click where it says "View bids" you can see exactly what the last bid was and can choose to go higher, it's a bit like eBay.

The management fees and running costs are clearly laid out; and the actual purchase, once agreed, takes weeks not months.

It can't be that hard for us to implement a similar system here.
 
a place I'd been offering on went sale agreed literally hours after my most recent bid.

Can you clarify exactly what happened and when?

What was the asking price?
So you phoned the estate agent and said "I will bid €200k"

How did he respond?
 
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V miffed but I've no comeback at this stage
If you make a further bid now the agent is legally obliged to pass it on to the seller.

It's then up to the seller whether to accept or reject your revised bid.

The fact that a property is "sale agreed" is meaningless from a legal perspective.
 
Can you clarify exactly what happened and when?

What was the asking price?
So you phoned the estate agent and said "I will bid €200k"

How did he respond?
As above, I made an offer end of one day, agent said she’d revert to another active bidder but never came back to me either way and was sale agreed with other bidder next day, even though I was prepared to go higher. When I queried she said she assumed I was out apparently b/c I’d expressed some frustration, and when I upped my bid again she said it was ‘too late.‘ Tempted to contact the seller but doubt it’d do any good at this point since agent has apparently decided it’s a done deal!
 
If you make a further bid now the agent is legally obliged to pass it on to the seller.

It's then up to the seller whether to accept or reject your revised bid.

The fact that a property is "sale agreed" is meaningless from a legal perspective.

Is there an actual legal obligation though? Think a moral one certainly but ...
 
Yes i think if you were to make another offer the EA legal must pass this onto vendor.

If the EA then indicates that your increased offer isnt accepted by vendor id try and understand exactly why. Depending onbthat id consider contacting vendor, what ya got to lose
 
I made an offer end of one day, agent said she’d revert to another active bidder but never came back to me either way and was sale agreed with other bidder next day,

Tough one. If the agent got the impression that you were a messer, then she would have been right to recommend the other person's offer.

Or the other person might have made an knock out bid. "I will bid €210k - either take it or leave it"

Or the agent may have sold it to a friend.

Knock on the door and tell the vendor what happened.

Brendan
 
I’d already made multiple straight cash offers and brought an architect to a second viewing, definitely not a messer! It went sale agreed at same offer as my last, which is why I’m so cheesed off.
 
Yes i think if you were to make another offer the EA legal must pass this onto vendor.

If the EA then indicates that your increased offer isnt accepted by vendor id try and understand exactly why. Depending onbthat id consider contacting vendor, what ya got to lose

I'm not aware of any law compelling agent to pass on all offers to vendor.

Is the whole point of hiring an agent not that they deal with the offers and secure the best deal for you. Dealing with the offers includes ignoring the messers (in their opinion) and going with the offer most likely to complete in the vendors timescale & at a level amenable to the vendor (in their opinion).

Anyways, I found myself in this exact scenario many years ago. I knocked on vendors door - no answer - I stuck a note in the door. Never heard back from them. I moved on. I'd do the same again if the situation arose again.
 
Might be a case where they want to sell to family or friend or charity at market value. But have to put it on market to find real market value.

I've no idea if this happens, but I've read this suggested before as a possible explanation for this type of thing.
 
I’d already made multiple straight cash offers and brought an architect to a second viewing,

Then knock on the door and inform the vendor directly.

But if you had made multiple offers and so had the other party, they might have wanted certainty.

Brendan
 
Why don't you just ring the agent and ask them what is happening?. And if you want the property and can afford a higher bid then the one on the table then make it. Anything else is just guesswork
 
Why don't you just ring the agent and ask them what is happening?. And if you want the property and can afford a higher bid then the one on the table then make it. Anything else is just guesswork
Already did that and agent wouldn’t accept! Not Looking for reasons, just want to know if this kind of shenanigans of an agent deciding on to leave an active bidder out is kosher and if I’ve any comeback. Buyer unaware of any of this as agent won’t reopen offers.
 
I'm not aware of any law compelling agent to pass on all offers to vendor.

I don't think there is a law to that effect either. But I do think there is an obligation to that effect in the Code of Conduct:

"2.4: Duty to Client

Property Services Providers should at all times
  • Act in the best interest of their clients and with integrity and fairness to others.
  • Promptly and without undue delay inform clients, or their representatives, of any offer made on the property covered by the agreement or letter of engagement. https://www.dng.ie/codeOfPractice
If you believe this has been breached and you feel so strongly about it you could make a complaint to the PSRA - http://www.psr.ie/ . I suspect it would be a diffficult one to prove and likely to be a drawn out affair.

For myself, I would either drop a note to the vendor, as has been suggested in above posts, or walk away and forget about it. For the future it would be best to make all offers in writing or confirm by follow-up email at the earliest opportunity.

I should add that there is no duty on the vendor to accept, or even consider, your offer. Also an EA can advise the vendor of the relative merits of an offer, eg, in their opinion, who is most likely to follow through, who is most ready to complete, who seems difficult to deal with, etc, etc.
 
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