UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I am new to this site and was wondering if someone could give me some advice.  I was given 24hrs to make a cash offer on a repossessed property.  Two minutes prior to their deadline, I made an offer in excess of the asking price.  Unfortunately, they rang me back 30 minutes later to say that my offer had been declined but would contact me in the future should the sale fall through.  However, an hour later when I browsed their website, I noted that they had updated it with the following, "We act on behalf of the mortgagees in possession and are in receipt of an offer of £49995, subject to contract for this property. Anyone wishing to place a higher offer must do so by" surprise, surprise the deadline time that I had made. What I don't understand is that my offer was £51,500. 

The manner of the Estate Agents has been quite bizarre.  Firstly, when I rang a week ago to enquire about the property they informed me that it had been sold.  When I went on to query this, they informed me that I had a week to make an offer.  Then they changed the goalposts and said I had less than 24hrs to make an offer. 

I thought that as soon as somone made an acceptable offer, this was listed in a local paper or on the Estate Agents website, stating that anyone wanting to make a higher offer should do so within 7 or 14 days. 

Should I expect a letter from the estate agent confirming that my offer has been declined? Does any of this sound suspicious or is this ethical.

Would appreciate any advice!

Rule number 1: Always suspect the estate agents have a hidden agenda

I have had similar. I rang and made an offer. The guy laughed at me down the phone, he was extremely rude and implied I was dreaming if I thought I could get it at that price. A short while later it sold for less than my offer. I was angry but had not realised that he is obliged to put forward every offer he recieves. I had not demanded he submit my offer regardless of his opinion because I was too busy swallowing his mockery.
First off, find out if they did this. After that you should ask why your offer was rejected. This is where you have no leg to stand on as they can tell you any old crap and you are none the wiser. They are unregulated bastards.-go figure! The classic response is 'the vendor is obliged to take the offer they deem to be the most concrete and not the highest'

I did, on one purchase, get told that I need not worry about any subsequent offers snatching it out from me as they would accidentally be lost or not meet the repossessors requirements as the agent just wanted it off their books and I was a 'dead cert' cash buyer. I think they were on a set fee for the sale so dragging it out to gain money for the vendor made no financial sense to the agent.

As an ex-estate agent, dealing with repossessed property is difficult to adhere to the "rules" that the asset manager/lender/receiver sets.

but in truth, we use to get paid from the vendor and normally take a back hander from an investor to "lose" any higher bids.

sounds like this is what happened in your 2 situations.

(I know work for an investment agency, we charge fees to the buyer but at least we are open to people about it!)

Recovery is generally used to refer to a financial institution to take an object that was either used as collateral or rented at a transaction.Repossession is usually carried out in accordance with a purchase agreement or credit agreement, in which the consumer agrees that the seller may repossess the object if the signatories are past the grace period.

Recovery is generally used to refer to a financial institution to take an object that was either used as collateral or rented at a transaction.Repossession is a legal process that occurs when the lender obtains a court order to take possession of a property because of nonpayment of the mortgage.

If the property is a repossession then, the estate agent has instructions to sell it quickly and therefore cheaply which means their commission would be less than for a similar one at market value. Even though your home has been repossessed and you have been evicted you will still have to maintain the mortgage repayments until the lender finds a buyer for the house and the sale goes through.