Regulation of buying/bidding process of house sales in Ireland

Relax brah · 15-06-2023 07:36PM #1

Hi folks,

I had been involved in a bidding process on a property for a number of weeks. It transpired that I was bidding against myself - in short, the only estate agent had “sale agreed” to another couple and in part he had been given their house to sell on the market as part of the process.

This couple are good friends of ours but hadn’t mentioned anything as they didn’t want to ‘jinx’ buying their dream home (whilst trying to sell their current house.) They had shown us emails confirming the house was sale agreed two weeks prior to us putting a bid.

My partner is from the UK, not only she is devastated but like myself, she is shocked/angry and appalled that this could happen. Apparently in the UK there is some form of regulation/process that bidders/EA’s have to follow.

At what point is this country going to wake up and implement the same? We are exhausted, heartbroken and angry that this has happened. There is no one we can lodge a compliant too either.

Any thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated

NOTE: we have contacted the PRSA three times to no avail. The latest was “this is part of an investigation process to which we will review.”

C3PO · 15-06-2023 08:12PM

I’m sorry I don’t understand your post? If you were bidding against yourself then you bought the house as the only bidder?

MrsBean · 15-06-2023 08:48PM

I'm also not quite following. Do you mean the couple you know had already gone sale agreed on the property that you were interested in, or are you trying to buy their current house?

arctictree · 15-06-2023 08:53PM

I'd be pissed off if I was the owner of the house you were bidding on. Basically the EA got higher bids which he is going to ignore if he gets a sale on the other property.

And my advice to you would be to doorstep the house and inform them of the amount you have bid. Even if its just a letter in the postbox.

the.red.baron · 15-06-2023 08:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120719931#Comment_120719931

They had already gone sale agreed though

Bad form to back out

So not sure was estate agent leaving others in hook as backup

DubCount · 15-06-2023 09:05PM

Maybe there are some rogue estate agents out there. Mostly, talk of fake bids etc. are just disappointment about having to pay more for a property or getting outbid etc.. The system is not perfect, but it mostly works fine. Most agents are straight and honest and sometimes sellers want quick sales or prefer cash buyers etc.

OP, there will be other houses.

Personally I would prefer bids to be in writing and to be legally binding to avoid people bidding on multiple properties and to make things more transparent, but the status quo is not so bad.

16-06-2023 07:53AM

“sale agreed” has no legal standing, neither seller nor buyer is committed to complete until the contracts are signed. So there is nothing to stop a seller/EA continuing to receive offers up to the day the contracts are signed. The buyers usually still have to do a survey, get valuation for bank, confirm mortgage drawdown, solicitors have to check the property, so still time for the sale to breakdown.

It’s difficult to see a good side to this, but it would allow you to walk away from a purchase and get your full deposit back if you changed your mind.

So while it is disappointing, the property is not sold until the contracts are signed, the seller/EA were/are having to gauge if your friends can sell their home and complete the new purchase in a reasonable time, they may not. So it benefited the seller to keep their options open.

Regulation of buying/bidding process of house sales in Ireland

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