Estate Agent forcing to use their services when buying a property

balich

Hi,

I am currently trying to buy a house and have placed an offer on the property. The estate agent i am going through has benn trying to sign me up to get mortgage and use their solicitors.

They are saying that i would have an obvious advantage if i go throiugh them.

There is another buyer who is interested in property and they have now matched my offer and decided to get a mortgage through them. I have received a phone call from the estate agent advising me on that. The agent is saying that he can persuade his manager to give preference to me only if i use their solicitors.

I have own independent mortgage broker whom i want to use and i dont trust the estate agent. The estate agent wants to charge me £500 for their service and would forfeight the fee if i am to buy insurance for the property through them. I think it is a rip off. It seems unfair to me that they are manipulating the sale and deciding who to give preference. Although they are saying that it is the seller who decides who to sell to and that the seller take preference with the buyer that would go through the estate agent's broker.

My question to you is whether the estate agent is doing anything illegal? Do i have the right to request contact details of the seller and try and speak to them directly to get their opinion?

Also, if they are acting illegaly that can be proven, is there a body i can complain to?

Regards

Balich

hazyjo

Rubbish - it shouldn't make any difference if you use their solicitor, mortgage, etc. They're trying it on - and I'd wonder about that 'other offer' too. If it does exist, are they in a position to proceed?

Grrrr at EAs. It's things like this that give them a bad name.

Just put your offer forward, on your terms, and be prepared to lose it. But somehow I doubt you would - this is getting increasingly common. Properties sit on the market for months and suddenly there's another offer or interested party when you put forward an offer.

You could arrange another viewing and happen to drop it into conversation with the vendors... they might say 'what offer?!' or they probably won't be too happy to know they're trying to bribe any interested parties re offers on their house.

Jx

AnnaV

I am pretty sure it is (someone will come along and confirm, I am sure). Just be glad you are not selling through them!

They get commission from the broker and solicitors. You might not get the best deal from the broker so it could end up costing you thousands.

Lazzza

Using the EA's linked advisers is not a valid reason to give to a seller to prefer one buyer over another. Surely if there is another bona fide buyer at the same price, they should be trying to get you to raise your offer rather than line their pockets. It's def wrong.

I personally would doubt the other buyer's position as described by the EA. Emphasise your other buying credentials (including your own solicitors you can trust and a good broker/mortgage AIP) and hope that gets back to the seller and is enough to make your offer acceptable. If you wanted to get a bit heavier, you could have a go at the EA at their conduct and ask to speak to the buyer directly.

AnnaV

If they are still in the house you could call round or send a letter. I'm sure they would want to know, as the estate agent is potentially losing them offers. Also they would be able to leave the contract early for this as it is a complete breach by the estate agent.

Flower3200

If you go to the Office of Fair Trading website and type in Estate Agency Act 1979 it will provide interesting reading and research to quote to the Estate Agent. I like the following extracts. Hope this helps....:T

Avoiding bias

You must not discriminate against potential buyers because they don't want, or might refuse, to take services from you or a connected person.
For example, you must not:

• refuse to provide information about a property to these buyers
• take longer to send property information to these buyers, compared to others
• set additional requirements, as a condition of passing on an offer, eg, forcing them to have a mortgage survey before you will pass on their offer to your client

Making misleading statements

It is illegal to mislead buyers or sellers in any way. Specifically, you must not give misleading information about:

• offers for a particular property, or invent bids
• the existence or status of any potential buyer.

A statement that is factually true might be presented in a misleading way. You must take care to avoid this.
Examples of misleading statements:

• You cannot claim to have first time or cash buyers, unless you can show why you think this is true.
• You cannot advertise or claim that you have potential buyers, unless you can prove that this is true

Lazzza

The EA has unwittingly given you some great leverage to get your offer accepted, were you inclined to use it.

Trollfever

Also from the OFT:

Information about how to make a complaint about an estate agents


http://www.oft.gov.uk/about-the-oft/legal-powers/enforcement_regulation/enforcement/estate-agent-complaints

balich

Thanks to all for the response on this and especially to those who have pointed me to the code of practice regulation.

I have written a letter telling the Estate Agent that what hey are doing is illegal and pointed them to section 6c of the act. I have told them that even if it is the seller who wants the sale to go through quickly and that wants everything under one roof. The agent still must advise the seller not to put such condition on the buyer and advise seller not to be biased.

The manager of the branch got back to me few days ago and have said that He will speak to the seller. He ofcourse defended himself and blamed that this was requirement of the sellr and they are not breaking any regulation. To me they clearly are...

Yesterday i got a call back and got hte good news. Apparently the other buyer has pulled out and my offer has been accepted. THey now want 100% commitment for the sale to go through.

I am looking forward to finally getting a place as i have already had 2 sales fall through due to them being ex council properties. in a block of flats or in an area where there are a lot of council tenants. The banks will not land on these properties now adays unless they are in a popular area where there is high demand.

I will update you in a month or so on whether i got the house.

Pupnik

Oh the other buyer mysteriously pulled out, funny that!

EAs just take the biscuit. We had the same issue with ours- they wouldn't even let us view any of their properties without seeing their broker first, and once we put our offer in they phoned us to say the seller would only sell to us if we use the same solicitor as her (different branch of the same partnership)! We thought this was odd but agreed, and it was only after we got to the EA office to confirm it that we found out that the solicitors in question were the EA's ones which they had tried to flog to us the week before. I was very uncomfortable about this but as they told us that it was the seller's decision there was not much we felt like we could do. The breakdown of the fees for the solicitors wasn't too bad but we had to pay an upfront fee of £300 and then we got sent the proper paperwork from them with the tailored estimate and although the quote itself was reasonable (not cheap mind!) we found there was a clause where if you phone them to ask any questions or if you write to them they charge you! I was seething and really feel like we have been taken for a ride because I don't feel like we can contact our solicitors at all in case they whack a massive fee on top, I would never have agreed to it if I had known that. Plus, it became increasingly obvious the the whole thing about the seller wanting us to use those particular solicitors was a complete fabrication.

We were very green first time buyers who were obviously a prime target to be taken advantage of and it has been a massive learning curve. I know next time we are buying we will know the EA tricks much more and will sort out our own mortgage and get a solicitor lined up before they have the chance to try flogging us all their stuff. EAs really do deserve their crummy reputation.

KateLiana27

Good for you for standing up for yourself. I also came up against the hard sell when agreeing a sale on the house we bought, though they didn't quite verge into illegal territory.

What is this nonsense about "100% commitment to the sale" they are asking for now? Last time I checked that was called "completion".