Lack of transparency in house buying process between buyer, agent, and seller

I was in a similar situation a week or two ago.

You have to ask yourself why your offer has not already been accepted. Usually it will be either:

• Your offer is not high enough
• There are higher offers from less desirable buyers than yourself

He could come back to me and say someone else has put in X amount above asking price and whether i would like to increase my offer.

In this case I would imagine you are the more desirable buyer (cash buyer, first time buyer etc.) but your offer is not quite what the vendor is wanting.

How do i know whether the agent is telling the truth?

There is no way of knowing if the agent is telling the truth or not.

How do I deal with the scenario?

I would advise one of two things:

• Only if you are comfortable with doing so, increase your offer to match the higher offer(or beat it by a small amount - £50 or so). This would more than likely result in your offer being accepted, as it did with me, as you have the best offer and you are the most desirable buyer
• Call the agents bluff and state that the offer you have made is already your best offer. This way you risk losing the house to a better 'offer' but you could still get the house for the initial offer you have made.

The agent is just trying to get the most money for the house as possible but the negotiation is a two-way negotiation. Would the seller want to lose out on a sale for the difference? Would you want to lose out on the house for the difference?