Hi all
I live in Melb and previously placed an offer on a property in Sydney which got rejected.
3 months later the agent sent me an email asking if I was still interested. I was and also offered them my best price. He then asked for my solicitor details and said he's confident the vendor will accept. This occured on a Wednesday and I heard nothing from him since. The following Monday night (4days later) I recieved a letter in the mail saying that the agent have forwarded the particular of sale to my solicitor (on that Wed ) and that I should contact my solicitor to facilitate the conveyancing of this matter.
The next morning (Tuesday) I frantically called up my solicitor about the news and was told that the contract he recieved had a 14 days settlement period plus a condition that transfer certificates must be available at least 14 days before settlement or there'll be a penalty fee
Inclusion boxes on the contract note were left blank which my solicitor said generally RE agents should have ticked but in this case didn't so I called the agent up and also queried the ridiculously short settlement. He then pushed me to go back to the solicitor with the reasoning that all contract matters are to be negociated between the buyer's & seller's solicitors. I also requested a copy of the contract which he said he'd email straight away on the day but didn't and sounded as though he wasn't so keen on the sale. My solicitor wrote up a letter to negociate the terms and sent it to the other solicitor straight way that day.
The next day (Wednesday) I organised for my Prop Manager inspect the prop but was told that the sales agent was on leave that day and that we need to wait until he returns.
Thursday morning, my PM contacted him at 9am and was told that some body else's offer had already been accepted. I was totally unaware. The sales agent didn't bother to advise me until lunch time via a text message with the excuse that the other buyer had offered a much higher price !!!!
I undertand gazumping does occur and if the agent was genuine about the sale and somebody else puts in a higher offer before I sign the contract then that's fair enough but in this case it seems as though it was all a set up to inflate the price from the other buyer. The contract could not have gone ahead with 14 days to complete plus requirement of transfer certs be available at least 14 days prior to settlement.
Also on Tuesday I last spoke with him at 5PM, he was off-work on Wednesday but by Thursday 9AM he advised my PM that I'd been gazumped. Wouldn't he had already known this on late Tuesday and should have told me then instead of waiting until Thursday ?
This cost my solicitor and my self alot of time and stress frantically running around getting the contract sorted out but it was all just a set up made by the agent as a game to get higher offers from other buyers ?
I think it was very unethical, misleading and deceptive of the agent.
Since I'm not from Sydney, can you advise is this the normal business conducts of RE agents ? If not what are the rights of mislead buyers in this case ? can we ask that they cover the cost of solicitor fees for the work done as a result of their deceptive conduct ?
I live in Melb and previously placed an offer on a property in Sydney which got rejected.
3 months later the agent sent me an email asking if I was still interested. I was and also offered them my best price. He then asked for my solicitor details and said he's confident the vendor will accept. This occured on a Wednesday and I heard nothing from him since. The following Monday night (4days later) I recieved a letter in the mail saying that the agent have forwarded the particular of sale to my solicitor (on that Wed ) and that I should contact my solicitor to facilitate the conveyancing of this matter.
The next morning (Tuesday) I frantically called up my solicitor about the news and was told that the contract he recieved had a 14 days settlement period plus a condition that transfer certificates must be available at least 14 days before settlement or there'll be a penalty fee
Inclusion boxes on the contract note were left blank which my solicitor said generally RE agents should have ticked but in this case didn't so I called the agent up and also queried the ridiculously short settlement. He then pushed me to go back to the solicitor with the reasoning that all contract matters are to be negociated between the buyer's & seller's solicitors. I also requested a copy of the contract which he said he'd email straight away on the day but didn't and sounded as though he wasn't so keen on the sale. My solicitor wrote up a letter to negociate the terms and sent it to the other solicitor straight way that day.
The next day (Wednesday) I organised for my Prop Manager inspect the prop but was told that the sales agent was on leave that day and that we need to wait until he returns.
Thursday morning, my PM contacted him at 9am and was told that some body else's offer had already been accepted. I was totally unaware. The sales agent didn't bother to advise me until lunch time via a text message with the excuse that the other buyer had offered a much higher price !!!!
I undertand gazumping does occur and if the agent was genuine about the sale and somebody else puts in a higher offer before I sign the contract then that's fair enough but in this case it seems as though it was all a set up to inflate the price from the other buyer. The contract could not have gone ahead with 14 days to complete plus requirement of transfer certs be available at least 14 days prior to settlement.
Also on Tuesday I last spoke with him at 5PM, he was off-work on Wednesday but by Thursday 9AM he advised my PM that I'd been gazumped. Wouldn't he had already known this on late Tuesday and should have told me then instead of waiting until Thursday ?
This cost my solicitor and my self alot of time and stress frantically running around getting the contract sorted out but it was all just a set up made by the agent as a game to get higher offers from other buyers ?
I think it was very unethical, misleading and deceptive of the agent.
Since I'm not from Sydney, can you advise is this the normal business conducts of RE agents ? If not what are the rights of mislead buyers in this case ? can we ask that they cover the cost of solicitor fees for the work done as a result of their deceptive conduct ?