Can a sellers agent deny a proper all legal document offer and not present the offer to the seller
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Can a sellers agent deny a proper all legal document offer and not present the offer to the seller
I provided a good offer. Provided a
copy of my pre approval letter. All
paperwork was signed properly. However I
was denied by the sellers agent to
present it to the sellers.
Asked on January 5, 2018 under Real Estate Law, Michigan
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Generally no, the agent can't do this, but it may not matter unless you can show that some prohibited bias was involved.
1) The agent's role is not not to make decisions for the homeowner, but to pass on offers received (while facilitating any paperwork, etc. as needed). Unless the owner had given the agent instructions to only pass on offers within certain parameters and yours fell outside those paramaters, the agent should have transmitted your offer.
2) However, even if you felt your offer was "good," a homeowner never has to accept any given offer, even at or over asking price ones; therefore, even if passed along, the owner could have rejected it. As a result, there is generally no recourse against the agent for not passing it along (and no way to force the owner to take the offer), since the homeowner's discretion is absolute and you can't prove that the offer would have been accepted.
3) The above said, there is no discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, disability, or family status. If you feel that the reason the agent refused to transmit your offer was one of these reasons, you may have a housing discrimination claim against the agent and should contact the MI Dept. of Civil Rights about filing a complaint.
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