Auctioneer refusing to pass on my bid until I can show proof of funds

[fernrock]

I am in the process of bidding for a house.
My bid is €10,000 below the advertised price, but, the auctioneer said, that he will not sell for less than 20,000 above the advertised price.
and, also, he will not put my offer to the seller until I provide proof of mortage approval.

I have now provided proof of mortage approval for an amount approx. 80% of the asking price and ,have sufficient funds to cover €20,000 above the asking price, I obviously do not wish to show my hand at this stage.

The auctionees is still refusing to pass on my bid until , I give him proof of:

(1) how much extra funds I have and,
(2) where the extra funds are coming from.

While I agree a solicitor is entitled to ask this question in case another person may have a claim on part of the property.
My question is : is the auctionees entitled to ask for this information.

(Incidently the property is on the market for approx 4 weeks and, I am only the second bidder, the first bidder being €15000 below the asking price.)

 

[Pinoy adventure]

I guess the proof of where the balance of the cash is coming from is too comply with the AML rules.
I think it's common practice too show proof of funds too weed out those who are not ready too move quickly.
However you could always get your solicitor too write a letter stating you have the full amount of funds clear and ready too go

 

[Thirsty]

IANAL

I understand that the AML compliance requirement is with the Solicitor(s) handling the conveyance.

A letter from your Solicitor as suggested above, confirming you are in a position to proceed with a purchase price of €x is the best bet.

Once upon a time, estate agents would get information from mortgage brokers as to how much a prospective purchaser was approved for and then they knew how far they could go to push up the sale price.

Not suggesting this is happening here, but you are right to keep your cards close to your chest for now.

 

[Banquo]

IANAL

I understand that the AML compliance requirement is with the Solicitor(s) handling the conveyance.

A letter from your Solicitor as suggested above, confirming you are in a position to proceed with a purchase price of €x is the best bet.

Once upon a time, estate agents would get information from mortgage brokers as to how much a prospective purchaser was approved for and then they knew how far they could go to push up the sale price.

Not suggesting this is happening here, but you are right to keep your cards close to your chest for now.

That would be illegal if it could be proved

 

[Thirsty]

That would be illegal if it could be proved

The letter from the solicitor?

Oh you mean the mortage details.

Is Foxtons the estate agent London deserves? | Andy Beckett

The long read: Even in the cut-throat world of the capital’s property market, Foxtons is notoriously aggressive – and successful. Is that why so many people are secretly glad when it turns up on their street?

www.theguardian.com

Its a long article.

In 2006 BBC made an undercover documentary on Foxtons & thats exactly what happened. If one agent was doing it, I'd put good money on it that others were as well.

 

[peemac]

move on an find another house. This attitude of some estate agents just stinks. What's the harm of passing on an offer?. Only if its accepted should there be a requirement to show funds to go sale agreed


If I were selling a house, I'd be damn sure to tell the agent to pass on every offer.

Send a polite letter to the seller (you have their address) and inform them that their agent has refused to entertain a genuine offer.

 

[Leo]

This and other previous threads address this also.

 

[peteb]

When we bought last year, everything we bid on any estate agent wanted to see AIP from the bank before they would accept our offer formally.....to the point that the first one we saw that we actually wanted, we hadn't got AIP and had to put the hustle on the bank. They never asked about the balance of funds though.

 

[PGF2016]

As above get your solicitor to write a letter saying you have the funds to support your bid.

 

[dereko1969]

I find this weird. We gave a copy of our AIP to the Estate Agent but with the amount we were approved for redacted. There's no way we would have shown how much we were approved for. The EA was happy enough. I suppose with delays in banks they might be more interested in the date of the AIP especially with so many people impacted by COVID and potentially on PUP, but still.

 

[Egg104]

I've been asked to do this. Just get your solicitor to write email attesting that you have sufficient funds. Solicitor can confirm that you provided evidence (bank statements) to them. No, never show your hand to EAs.

 

[Setanta12]

Could you post something to the occupant/owner highlighting this ...? (Might be a bad idea)