Can an Estate Agent Lie About Offers on Your Property?
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Content Written By: Jessica Buckley - Last Updated: 16/09/2025
- They are required to serve your best interests
- They are bound by legislation and regulations to uphold honest trading practices
- They have been found guilty of lying to sellers and buyers
- They have tricks to make buyers and sellers behave in certain ways
- There are ways to protect yourself from these lies and tricks
- You can choose other sale options if you don’t want to use an estate agent (e.g auction house or cash buyer)
Learn when and how agents may lie when selling your home
As the manager of The Property Buying Company’s (TPBC) selling division, I have spent over 10 years dealing with estate agents around the UK to buy and sell property. This makes me somewhat of an expert when it comes to estate agents and the lawful practices by which they must abide.
People often wonder if estate agents can lie about offers on their property. By this we mean inventing fake offers, misrepresenting the true value of an offer, withholding genuine offers and other such deceitful practices that only benefit the agent and never the seller.
Dishonest behaviour towards sellers or buyers isn’t a nice topic to talk about, but it’s too important to ignore. That’s why I’ve helped put together this guide on whether or not estate agents lie about offers on your property. My 10-plus years of expertise cover all sorts of property elements, from negotiations and valuations to local market analysis and, of course, estate agents. This knowledge is power for you as a buyer or seller, because the last thing you want is to feel misled or lied to when large sums of money or precious assets are involved.
Let’s first look at whether estate agents can lie about offers. Then we’ll look at whether estate agents do lie about offers. As you’ll soon realise reading through this guide, the two statements have very different answers.
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Can estate agents lie about offers?
Estate agents cannot lie about offers. In the UK, if they outright lie about offers on your property, they could be breaking the law or, at the very least, in breach of their professional or regulatory obligations.
Estate agents operate based on a core set of legislation and regulations set out by the UK Government, various enforcement bodies and strict codes of practice. These cover all aspects of buying and selling property, including disclosing information to sellers about offers on their property.
Unfortunately, there are loop holes or statements within this legislation that have, in the past, allowed agents to operate within grey areas. One of these grey areas is potentially lying about offers, such as suggesting other offers exist without giving any actual details or withholding genuine offers from a seller based on fine print in the contract.
So no, agents should not lie about offers and the legislation is becoming more and more airtight in preventing this. However, there have been cases where they have lied without breaking the law. More on that in a bit.
Legislation and regulation for estate agents in the UK
Here’s a breakdown of all the relevant legislation and regulations that estate agents are required to abide by.
Estate Agents Act 1979
The Estate Agents Act 1979 is official UK Legislation that governs how estate agents behave whenever they are selling or acquiring land for a third party. This includes providing clear and honest information about their fees and commission, contractual obligations, deposits, money handling and other such activities.
It basically states that estate agents must act in your best interests and must inform you if there’s a conflict of interest (i.e. they’re representing both the seller and buyer). However, there’s no explicit statement around no lying about offers, but it does not condone false or untrustworthy representation. If agents are found to be dishonest or acting against the legislation consistently, they can be barred from practicing in the UK.
The Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991
The Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991 works in conjunction with the Estate Agents Act 1979. This legislation is a lot more explicit about what an agent can and can’t do when it comes to offers on property. We’ve included a quote below, which essentially says that it’s undesirable practice if an estate agent knowingly withholds an offer or misrepresents an offer in any way to a seller, unless they’ve stated they don’t want to know about specific offers.
The following behaviour is deemed undesirable practice:
The failure by an estate agent to forward to his client promptly and in writing accurate details (other than those of a description which the client has indicated in writing he does not wish to receive) of any offer the estate agent has received from a prospective purchaser in respect of an interest in the land.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs)
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 is fairly straightforward. It prohibits estate agents from misleading buyers and sellers through their commercial practices.
While it deals a lot with marketing and disclosure about property problems and features, it also could be applied to disclosing offers. Not sharing competing offers with a seller could be deemed misleading behaviour.
Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
The CMA is more of an investigatory body, which looks into reports of unfair practices and issues raised about estate agents. It has published guidance online for individuals to review so they know their rights when dealing with people like estate agents.
National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Teams (NTSELAT)
The NTSELAT is an enforcement body that ensures the legislation in the Estate Agents Act (1979) and the Tenant Fees Act (2019) is upheld by estate agents and landlords. It issues warnings to dishonest estate agents who act against these legislations. It also oversees redress schemes that ensure individuals are duly compensated whenever mistreated. It can also issue penalties if it deems this necessary.
The Property Ombudsman (TPO)
The Property Ombudsman sets the gold standard in codes of practice within the property industry. Any estate agent or professional cash house buying company that’s a member of the TPO is required to uphold this gold standard when conducting business within this sector. Checking your chosen estate agent has a TPO membership is a great way to determine whether they are trustworthy.
Propertymark
Propertymark is another regulatory body that agents should be members of. It sets out a code of conduct that members must align with, including complete transparency when dealing with clients. This includes handling money and offers.
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
When an estate agent is valuing your property, they should be an RICS-accredited surveyor or employ the services of someone with an RICS accreditation. The RICS sets the gold standard in property valuations. If you get a valuation that doesn’t align with this standard, your property could be undervalued or overvalued.
If it’s undervalued, you could sell quickly but lose a lot of potential revenue from the sale. If it’s overvalued, it might spend months on the open market, and the price may eventually need to be dropped to attract legitimate buyers. Neither of these is ideal when your livelihood is at risk.
Check if the person valuing your house is accredited by the RICS
The RICS also publishes a UK Residential Real Estate Agency code of conduct. This document clearly lays out what estate agents must do to uphold the highest ethical and professional standards. You should review the latest edition when dealing with estate agents to ensure you are being treated ethically and professionally.
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)
The ASA sets the standards for ethical advertising of property for sale and let. As a seller, you should refer to this to ensure your estate agent isn’t doing anything unethical when marketing your property. This behaviour could lead to angry buyers and legal disputes.
Just wanted to thank these guys for…
"Just wanted to thank these guys for helping me through an incredibly tough time selling my late Dad's house. There are so many companies out there that profess to buying properties directly but in reality they are just like online estate agencies. I wanted to personally thank Amy who I first spoke to. We laughed about spelling our names the same way and I was made to feel comfortable straight away! But truly, everyone was amazing and they really did exactly what they promised from helping me with probate documents and the legal paperwork. Thank you very much The Property Buying Company"
Date of experience: Jul 05, 2024
Do estate agents lie about offers?
Unfortunately, yes estate agents have been known to lie about offers from time to time. Not all estate agents do this. In fact, most of them are honest and hard workers who have your best interests in mind. It’s just unfortunate that a few bad eggs operate in the industry and have been getting away with lying about offers.
Unfortunately, despite these regulatory bodies and requirements, the fact that estate agents aren’t legally required to have a licence or qualifications means they’re not lawfully regulated. This can result in people encountering some bad eggs. At best this means experiencing poor customer service. At worst, this can mean getting scammed and losing money.
In 2023, Property Industry Eye published an article about estate agents illegally withholding offers from sellers. This was off the back of an investigation by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Teams, which found that some estate agents weren’t passing on the highest offers if the buyers weren’t willing to use their services (e.g. surveyor and mortgage broker), which would usually earn the agents additional commission.
The following quote from James Munro, head of the enforcement committee, sums up the issue:
“If you’re thinking of buying a property, and you go in and they say, ‘Would you like to speak to our financial adviser or mortgage adviser?’ And you say, ‘No, I’ll sort all that myself. Here’s my offer for the property’.
Well, that employee, sometimes on the bigger agencies, is on a commission, so if they can get those referral fees they will put that offer forward. But then there may be another offer which is lower, but that person is using all of the connected services, and mysteriously the higher offer just gets lost on the system.”
It’s very hard to detect and stop this behaviour, which was also covered by an article in the Times. What it means for sellers is you may never see the highest offer on the table, losing thousands of pounds because your chosen estate agent would rather earn their commission through ancillary services.
Do estate agents have to tell you about offers?
Absolutely. Estate agents should tell you about all relevant offers on your property. As outlined in the aforementioned legislation and regulations, withholding offers without valid cause is deemed undesirable and unethical behaviour and is liable for punishment by one or multiple governing bodies. This is confirmed by HomeOwners Alliance.
If you have it written into your contract that you don’t want your agent to disclose offers under a certain amount, they may not have to tell you about those specific offers. However, they should be disclosing all other offers.
How an estate agent should behave if there are multiple offers
There are no set guidelines for what an estate agent should do when there are multiple offers on a property. However, as it’s outlined in the legislation, estate agents need to be acting in your best interest. So a trustworthy estate agent should act professionally and follow some, if not all, of the following:
Check the strength of each potential buyer and report the findings to the seller.
Share all relevant offers to the seller promptly and without bias.
Not misrepresent or make up offers.
Not pass on some offers faster than others to the seller (i.e. giving some buyers a head start).
Assess the quality of each offer, not just the price. Sometimes high offers come with more risk of buyers failing to get a mortgage loan approved.
Reveal if they have any conflicts of interest with any of the offers (i.e. they know another agent has put an offer in).
Take instructions from the seller and, if advised, tell the potential buyers of higher offers and negotiate with them to see if they will revise their bids.
Parachute Law actually lists disclosing all offers to the seller as one of the main legal obligations of an estate agent. “Unless the seller has requested not to be notified of certain offers (i.e., any offers below the asking price) then the estate agent must pass all offers made before the exchange of contracts, as soon as is reasonably possible.”
What to do if you think your estate agent is lying about an offer
There are a few things you can do if you think your estate agent is lying to you about offers on your property. We’re going to list these in order of escalation, where the final steps are more applicable if you’ve done the first ones and still don’t think you’re being treated honestly.
| You suspect them of lying about an offer... | |
|---|---|
| 1. Ask for written proof | Quite simply ask for them to share proof of the offer in an email, ideally with a solicitor’s acknowledgement that this offer is genuine. |
| 2. Check your contract | Your agent is required to share all genuine offers with you unless specified in your contract. Check if any small print allows them to withhold an offer. |
| 3. Keep records of all communication | You’ll want records of where you’ve asked for proof or requested they send you offers and they haven’t. These email chains can help later on if you seek legal action. |
| 4. Raise the issue informally | Assume the best and that this has just been a miscommunication or honest mismanagement. Estate agents are busy and honest people most of the time. Approach them or their agency first for a chat with your complaints and proof. |
| You’ve caught them lying to you about offers... | |
|---|---|
| 1. Make a formal complaint | Depending on the agency, you should be able to lodge this through their internal system. You can submit it in writing with all your evidence and how you would like to proceed with compensation or changes. |
| 2. Escalate to TPO | If your formal complaint goes nowhere, get TPO or TPRS involved. They’ll conduct a formal investigation into the agent or agency to determine if they’re guilty of unethical practices. You’ll need all your evidence saved and ready for this. |
| 3. Report agent to NTSELAT | You can also report the agent or agency to the NTSELAT if you think they’ve been trading with unfair practices or broken consumer legislation. |
| 4. Seek legal help | If an agent costs you significant money by withholding or lying about offers on your property, you may want to seek legal advice. A solicitor can advise you on how to claim compensation. |
Ways to prevent a seller accepting other offers
It’s difficult for a buyer to stop you from accepting other offers until the contracts have been exchanged. However, you may find yourself in a situation where you’ve made an agreement (legal or otherwise) with them that prevents you from doing so. This would take the decision out of the real estate agent’s hands.
Even in these situations below, your estate agent could still inform you of additional offers. Though they would be less inclined to if they know you’re locked into selling to one buyer.
1. Lock-Out/In or Exclusivity Agreement
A buyer could request a lock-out or exclusivity agreement when they put in their offer before the contracts are exchanged. If you sign this agreement, you wouldn’t be able to negotiate with other buyers or accept other offers for a set period. However, it doesn’t mean you have to sell to this buyer. You could wait for the agreement to end before entertaining other offers.
As Phil Parkinson, a partner at Taylor Rose puts it: “An exclusivity agreement grants one party sole rights to negotiate or operate within a defined scope, often for a set period ... Exclusivity helps manage risk, foster trust, and provide commercial certainty. Clear drafting is key to enforceability and avoiding disputes.”
2. Lock-in Deposit
A buyer may also provide a deposit with certain obligations or conditions, such as not fielding or accepting offers from other buyers. This deposit is a strong demonstration of their commitment to purchasing your house. If the conditions are presented and agreed upon in writing, they can be legally binding. If not, they can be hard to enforce.
3. Goodwill Contractual Elements
Sometimes a buyer will include certain ‘goodwill’ elements in the contract accompanying their offer. This is often referred to as a conditional offer. These could range from an explicit deadline for the contract exchange or a period of exclusivity as the only buyer. However, this exclusivity doesn’t ever mean you have to sell your house to this buyer.
Can you get out of an estate agent contract?
Have you signed a contract with your estate agent and now suspect them of lying to you about offers on your property? It’s a difficult and unfortunate situation to be in. Fortunately, you’re not necessarily trapped. You should be able to leave your estate agent, depending on the contract you’ve signed.
We have an excellent article on how to get out of an estate agent contract that’s worth reading if you’re worried about this happening or it’s already happened to you. It includes information on the types of contracts estate agents make you sign, why they do this, and how you can eventually get out of a contract.
Before you sign any estate agent contract, you should have a solicitor or experienced property professional review the small print (terms and conditions). This is usually where you’ll find contractual obligations that can prevent you from leaving early or result in you paying a withdrawal fee if you do.
Top Top: Here are the most important questions to ask your estate agent when selling.
How to check if an estate agent is legitimate
If you’re looking for an honest and legitimate estate agent to sell your home, start by reviewing our list of the top 10 best estate agents in the UK. We’ve put this list together by reviewing the agencies’ history, performance and customer reviews, among other things. The article goes into a lot of detail and is worth reading even if you don’t end up going with one of those 10 agencies.
If you don’t have time to read it right now, here’s a checklist you should make when researching an estate agent. This will help you check their legitimacy.
Positive customer testimonials on Google and Trustpilot
Real-world customer stories on their website
Mentioned positively on Reddit or other local forums
Use RICS standards and provide a CMA using Land Registry data when valuing your home
Clearly outline their fees (i.e commission) and whether they charge for extra services or withdrawing your property
Clearly outline contract terms, such as length, termination notice period, cooling off period and deposit protection
Have a modern marketing approach that incorporates online platforms (e.g. Rightmove), professional photos and floorplans, staging and honest property overviews
Treat all offers equally, informing and guiding you on each one
Communicate offers to you within 24-72 hours
Have no conflicts of interest with the sale
Provide a holistic post-sale process staying on top of all paperwork with solicitors
What else do estate agents typically lie about?
Estate agents have been known to lie about certain things to buyers and sellers, which have led to legal disputes and even dismissals of certain agents from the industry. However, most of the time dishonest estate agents don’t lie outright. Instead, they use tricks to manipulate buyers or sellers into behaving a certain way.
These tricks of the trade, as it were, range from hidden tie-ins and lock-in small print in their contracts to creating fake urgency or hitting you with expensive add-ons. Read our article on how to outsmart and avoid estate agent tricks of the trade to better protect yourself.
With that said, there are things agents lie about, which you should be aware of. Here’s what to keep an eye out for:
1. Lying about their experience
Estate agents have been known to lie about their experience and qualifications to secure business.
A dishonest former estate agent, Emma Walker, and her valuations, lettings and property management firm were recently removed from the RICS and found guilty of fraud. The Negotiator reported that Ms Walker was proven guilty on 14 charges, including “misrepresenting her professional experience when joining RICS as an elected associate member, lying about her qualifications, not ensuring surveys were carried out by competent and qualified individuals, issuing a number of cheques that bounced, operating without indemnity insurance, and dishonestly securing a £25,000 loan.”
Ms Walker appealed the conviction but failed to overturn the ruling. She was fined upwards of £28,000 due to her dishonest behaviour.
2. Lying about the value of a property
It’s not uncommon for estate agents to overvalue properties to secure your business as a seller. This is a common tactic to get you on their books, then eventually lower the value down when no buyers appear. It can create confusion, frustration and financial disappointment for buyers.
A former sales negotiator at Purplebricks has recently come out saying the company “intentionally overvalued properties to secure listings, only to later pressure clients into reducing asking prices,” according to TTM. By doing this, the online estate agency was able to secure higher commission for its agents.
3. Lying about selling in-house services
As we’ve already mentioned earlier in this guide, estate agents have been found guilty of favouring buyers who pay for their in-house services (e.g. solicitor or mortgage provider). The commission agents get from selling these services to buyers means they can pocket thousands more pounds from a sale that you, the seller, never sees.
They lie to sellers about favouring these buyers and why they’re recommending them over other offers. They may even withhold or delay higher offers from buyers uninterested in their in-house services. As a result, the seller ends up settling for a lower offer and making less from the sale, while the estate agent pockets more money.
A big estate agency, Connells, has been caught out doing this. According to TTM, one home seller was manipulated into selling her property below market value because a Connells estate agent steered her toward a buyer willing to use the company’s in-house mortgage service.
“She sat on this sofa…and said she was working for me. Obviously, she’s not – she’s working for the company’s ends,” the seller said.
An undercover reporter, Lucy Vallance, also found that the Connells branch in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, had a board in its office highlighting “Hot Buyers” who were willing to use in-house services. These buyers were presented as the priority over other buyers who might be willing to pay more.
“Staff were instructed to limit or stop property viewings for clients not using Connells’ financial products, regardless of potential offer value,” Vallance reported.
4. Illegal price fixing of commission rates
According to the UK Government, in 2019 four estate agents were found guilty for “agreeing to fix and maintain a minimum level of commission fees to be charged for the sale of residential properties over a period of almost 7 years.” This broke competition law and ended up costing sellers thousands of pounds because they weren’t able to shop around.
As a result, three of the agents were fined over £600,000. The fourth agent was granted immunity after assisting with the investigation.
Estate agents cannot and should not fix their commission rates with other agencies in their areas. This is dishonest and unlawful behaviour. You should always shop around for a commission rate that feels right to you. If you suspect agencies in your area of fixing their commission rates, contact TPO or NTSELAT.
5. Lying about a property’s condition
Sometimes estate agents will lie about a property’s condition to buyers in order to secure a sale. You may think this works in your favour as a seller, but it can lead to legal consequences. These can be stressful, time consuming and costly. You may even end up having to take back your property and compensate the buyer.
We saw this exact scenario play out on the national stage recently. In February 2025, the Guardian published a story about a seller of a Notting Hill property being ordered to pay back almost the entirety of the sale of the £32 million mansion. This was due to the buyers discovering a severe moth infestation after moving in.
The high court found that the owner and their estate agent had answered falsely to questions about the property’s condition when selling. The owner also had to pay the buyer £4 million in damages.
“This case underscores the importance of providing accurate and complete details to buyers. Sales agents must ensure all information, especially defects or issues like infestations, is disclosed fully,” writes Propertymark in its case study.
How to better prepare for estate agent tricks
As we mentioned, we have a great article on how to outsmart and avoid estate agent tricks of the trade. You can also use the following methods to better protect yourself and your assets.
Research your area – Get a good idea of the local property market, including house prices and sale times of comparable properties. Knowledge is power.
Get multiple estate agent valuations – Shop around and choose the estate agent you feel is best based on their valuation and other factors.
Never tell them your budget or desired price – They don’t need to know this and shouldn’t be using it to influence their valuation and asking price.
How to sell your house without an estate agent
You don’t need an estate agent to sell your house. If you’re worried about being lied to or spending too much trying to sell your house, you can choose a different route. You could sell through an auction house or save a lot of time and stress by selling to a professional cash buyer.
We’re a professional cash house buying company with over 20 years’ experience in the property industry. We have a team of honest professionals with a combined experience of over 100 years. More importantly, they have your best interests in mind and want to get the best results for you.
In the past 12 months, 48.95% of our enquiries were from customers whose property was on the market with an estate agent. We’ve managed to help a significant amount of them get out of their contract, and agree to sell to us, with 31.05% of our agreed purchases having previously had their property on the market with an estate agent.
That’s a great outcome for many people frustrated with the traditional sale route. Here are some stories where this has happened.
After looking at the local market and…
After looking at the local market and speaking to an estate agent, I decided to take a punt with The Property Buying Company and so far everything has been fantastic. I'm on the final steps now and just dotting the I's and crossing the T's but I can't thank the team enough up until this point, it's been a completely painless process which I'm definitely not used to when selling a house.
Date of experience: December 10th, 2024
We wanted a quick sale
We wanted a quick sale . After months on the sales market we did not received any viewing from our choosing Estate Agents . We decided to have a look on the websites and came across The Property Buying Company we were unsure but made the phone call, the lady we spoke to was a Gemma Robinson whom was very professional and explained the procedures . After that call was made the ball was rolling we had 3 viewing within a month , we agreed on a price and the property sold quite quickly after that. Gemma kept us informed by telephone calls as we are not up to scratch with the modern day internet .
Thank You
Gemma for all your help and we would definitely would recommend The Property Buying Company .
Date of experience: September 8th, 2023
Although we typically offer around 80% market value, we cover all legal and survey fees, so you can sell without spending anything. We can also close your sale in as little as seven days (usually between two and three weeks). On top of this, we are highly rated on Trustpilot and are members of TPO and NAPB, upholding the highest trading and ethical standards.
If you’re tired of dealing with estate agent tricks and lies and want to sell your house quickly for a good price, simply submit your postcode below. Someone from our team will get in touch with you shortly to discuss your options.
Edit Log
16/09/2025 - Content rewritten by Jessica Buckley
16/09/2025 - Content updated in line with Editorial Guidelines (Reviewed by Mathew McCorry)
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