Identity of other bidder?

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Spoke to friend who made a final bid on a property and it was accepted. During the bidding process the EA agreed to provide name and number of the other person bidding against her. The booking deposit was paid but the EA is not willing to disclose the identity of the other bidder until the contracts have been signed. Is she now entitled to pull out of the purchase and what is common practice in this situation? Thanks
 
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Under GDPR regulations there is no way that the Estate Agent can disclose the identity of a bidder to any other party without their express written permission. I have no idea why they agreed to do this in the first place.
 
Agreed, and even before GDPR, I would be making a serious complaint if an estate agent gave my details to another bidder.

its never common practice to share this information

Why would she pull out of the purchase ? She can if she wants to, up until the contract is signed with no reason but if she wants to buy the house, why would she walk away for that reason

if she is going to insist on that with her next house purchase, she'll be looking for a long ti,e......
 
Totally conflustered by such a thought process!

Did she want to call the under bidder to see if they existed?
 
In all innocence, I honestly believed that this was a new way for EA's to do business with some transparency. Personally I have seen an EA allow a potential bidder look at a 'genuine bid' on his mobile.
 
LS400 said:
Totally conflustered by such a thought process!

Did she want to call the under bidder to see if they existed?
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Yes. She had her heart set on the house. At the time I suppose it might have been somewhat consoling that someone else was as doggedly willing to pursuit her dream home...
 
Okay I can name a million reasons why doing this would be very wrong, in terms of privacy etc. But it does beg the legitimate question - is there any way to operate a system that would eliminate "ghost" bidders, i.e. a dodgy auctioneer telling you that someone is bidding against you to drive up the price, even if there isn't?
 
I assume that it's not a great idea at this stage to revert back to an earlier bid that she made.
 
Agents are obliged to maintain records of all offers on a property, however, only the Property Services Regulatory Authority may view and confirm these details due to privacy issues.

If you feel there has been any misrepresentation during the bidding process you can request that they [broken link removed]. Sanctions range from fines, the agent losing their licence or even prison time for more serious statutory offences.
 
Leo said:
Agents are obliged to maintain records of all offers on a property, however, only the Property Services Regulatory Authority may view and confirm these details due to privacy issues.
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"The Property Services Regulatory Authority is delighted to announce the roll out of their Continuous Professional Development programme."

Good luck with that. I'm also delighted for them.
 
Logo said:
Spoke to friend who made a final bid on a property and it was accepted. During the bidding process the EA agreed to provide name and number of the other person bidding against her.
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Logo said:
but the EA is not willing to disclose the identity of the other bidder until the contracts have been signed.
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Sorry, I just don't believe this story. I think that your friend must have misunderstood something.

It is a fact of bidding on a house that you don't really know if there are phantom bidders or not. If she is happy with the price she has paid and if she likes the house, then she should return the signed contracts.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
It is a fact of bidding on a house that you don't really know if there are phantom bidders or not. If she is happy with the price she has paid and if she likes the house, then she should return the signed contracts.
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100% agree. I did advise that the value of the house is only what it's worth to her. On the other hand, I can also see how she would be sucked in by the estate agent's promo.
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Sorry, I just don't believe this story. I think that your friend must have misunderstood something.
Brendan
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Believe it or not but it is a fact. I was there at the time and it seemed to offer some consolation. We talked about it later.
 
Leo said:
Weeks actually. What's your point?
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My point is that if someone is interested in a property that happens to be on sale then it's easier for an estate agent to work their magic - nothing underhand - which is why I posed the question in the first place. BTW good luck in your quest for a property Leo!
 
Thanks. From my dealings with quite a few of them in recent months, I don't think many of them are up to doing much in the way of work, let alone magic! :D

The complaints procedure outlined about was brought in specifically to address the issue, or perceived issue of phantom bids. I have no experience of how well it might work in practice, and haven't heard the outcome of any complaints, so perhaps it's not widely used or effective.

For your friend, they can pull out of the sale and get their deposit back at any point up to signing contracts. They have no entitlement to the identities of any other bidders. Some agents provide an app or site where the vendors can see details of bids entered, but even that will mask the identities of those behind the bids.
 
When I was house hunting (approx 3 years ago), the day after viewing a few houses I would receive a call telling me there was a cash bid in for ~€5k below asking. This happened twice (different estate agents). My brother looked at a different property but with one of the same estate agents and he also got this call.

It felt dodgy at the time and my interest ended in those houses.
 
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