Estate Agent Ethical?

hechizero

I know the title is somewhat rhetorical. We viewed a property on Saturday morning. The estate agent did not have enough time to view thoroughly so we booked a second viewing for the afternoon, he called to cancel. So we booked for today. Now this property only came onto the market last Tuesday. We were intent on making an offer on the first viewing but he assured us that there were no other viewings booked and that no offers had been made. Surprise, surprise when I called him this morning to ask a random question about the property he informed me it was under offer subject to contract.
I was a bit dismayed that he had not called or even more importantly asked if we had wanted to make an offer on the property. I asked him why and he said quite plainly that we had not arranged our mortgage through the their mortgage service, so were not a priority when it came to calling. He advised that if we were going to purchase a property through their agency that it we would be better by using their mortgage service as well as their conveyancing service. He did add that they could not force you to use any services.
The bottom line, in my opinion is that if you did not use them for all services related to your purchase you would probably never buy a property through them.

Any opinions on this type of business ethic?

Jorgan_2

Its not ethical, or legal. An EA cannot discriminate against prospective purchasers by failing to pass on or misrepresent offers because the purchaser were unlikely to buy financial services from the EA or their broker. The Office of Fair Trading would be more than interested in hearing about this. First point of call is your local Trading Standards office.

The agent also has to put forward any formal offer to their vendor as soon as possible. Not to do so would be against the law. If the agent gets funny over this tell him its part of the 1979 Estate Agents Act.

I'm sure there vendors would not be too happy to hear that the agent was restricting the marketing of their properties to those people using their mortgage service rather than the entire market place.

Report this agent to Trading Standards, Also try & speak to the Manager/Area Manager or owner, this needs to be stamped out.

Is it possible for you to contact the vendor of the property direct, saying that you wished to offer on the property & explain what has happened.

hechizero

Thanks for the reply Jorgan. I just called him back after reading your message and asked if they could still take an offer on that property and he said "no". Then when I informed him that is was a legal right, he started gulping and told me there were three offers on the table and the vendor was going to choose one of them, but if I wanted to put an offer through I could do so. So suddenly from no viewings and no offers on a Saturday afternoon to three offers first thing Monday morning sounds suspicious to me. Then the fact that he was not willing to pass on another offer off hand makes me think that perhaps there is collusion here.

Jorgan_2

Something isn't right thats for sure. Don't take any c@rp of this agent, go higher within the company or trading standards. If you need anymore advice let me know.

AndrewSmith

Who/Where is the Agent?

hechizero

It is a high street agent in Enfield. However I would prefer not to name them till I have made my complaint.

AndrewSmith

The only reason I ask is that I have contacts with Many estate agencies as I worked for a couple of large high street firms for aboyut 8 years and may be able to put you in touch with someone.

Ems*Honie

I would be tempted to put an offer in writing, make three copies, one for me, one for the EA and one through the vendors door. I hope it works out for you

hechizero

AndrewSmith wrote:

The only reason I ask is that I have contacts with Many estate agencies as I worked for a couple of large high street firms for aboyut 8 years and may be able to put you in touch with someone.

Thanks for the offer. However I have received a reply from and area manager and still don't want to name and shame them till I receive an appropriate response. If they stone wall me, which is possible. I will then post all other details.

identitymismatch

I wonder if the vendor knows that the Agent isn't truly acting as their agent. I think they'd be entitled *not* to pay commission if they found that the agent was witholding offers based on with whom you arrange your finance. After all, if you were to make a higher offer (or have some other advantageous) and the vendor didn't find out because the agent didn't stand to gain financially through you they'd not be acting in the vendor's best interests.
I'd be inclined to tell:
* Trading Standards
* The vendor
* The local press

Estate agents like this are BAD NEWS.

hechizero

After making my primary complaint I received a call from the manager of the branch in question who instead to being polite was quite the contrary. I did not expect that. Nor did I expect him to validate the following information:

Even though I requested a another appointment on the same day that was denied. Further viewings were taken on the property at "a later time" that weekend. Now I am not sure whether he was trying to cover tracks, because later in the conversation he said that circumstances had changed with the buyer who made the first offer earlier in the week leading that offer to be accepted, but he could not give me that "privy information as to why". So the stories do not match. I don't mind that there were further viewings, but the agent didn't confirm that, he simply said three offers were recieved this morning. Also that there were three offers on the table and none had been accepted as yet!

Secondly the manager of the branch said it was totally normal for buyers who had used their mortgage service to take priority over independent buyers and this is standard practice. He said I would have received a call at some point, but only to inform me the property was no longer avilable. I doubt that though.

Thirdly he said that it was also normal procedure to only take a certain number of offers. He said I could make an offer but it "would make no difference to me whatsoever" - which I construed as possibly never reaching the buyer.

Lastly, he was rude, defensive and downright indignant that I was the one who did not understand the process.

The agency is Kings Group http://www.kings-group.net/ Enfield Branch and yes I will be taking the time to make a formal complaint. Nothing worse than being lied to and mislead, then being blamed for it.