Are estate agents allowed to share information about you??

Kel_3

Hi all,

Thought someone on here might be able to give me the answer to this.

I was on the phone earlier to an estate agent who we have put in an offer for a house with (over a week and a half ago now thats neither been accepted or declined, but thats a whole other thread:rolleyes: ). I spoke to a different person than I usually deal with and she was obviously looking at something with our details on and she said 'are selling with ***** and are you buyers Mr and Mrs ******???'. What i want to know is how they got the names of our buyers, are estate agents just allowed to give out this sort information?? They have obviously got it from our estate agent as I can't think how else they would know?

Many thanks

Kel

silvercar

Estate Agents, at least good ones, will want to track the chain to know how complete it is. They need this info so they can advise their client, the seller, how worthy your offer is.

Fruitcake

Often estate agents have arrangements with others in a different area, even if they are sole agent. When I sold my house through an agent in North Bristol I got a call from an agent in South Bristol who was selling a house on behalf of a client in his area. They wanted to move to my area so he contacted my agent with their requirements. The result was they sold their house and bought mine, completing in under six weeks. It benefited me by having wider coverage, my buyers for the same reason, and both estate agents as they each got their fees from their own sales.

I wouldn't be too worried about this.

Phrootkake

You Only Listen To Me When I'm Wrong

linlin_3

I would ask how they got this information. If they share information with anyone else, they must ask your permission first. Otherwise they're in breach of the Data Protection Act.

Alan_M_2

My immediate thought was also the Data Protection Act.

cattie

I agree with silvercar, any agents I've been buying through have tracked the progress of the sale of my house by liaising with the estate agent in question.

Many reputable estate agents will want to confirm a prospective buyer not only has actually got their house on the market, but that they have a proceedable buyer.

It makes good business sense & can weed out timewasters.

welshcakes

I would also consider that the information on your buyer's name may well have been matter of factly included in a routine letter from your conveyancer/solicitor. However as said above it is quite commonplace for estate agent staff to be on friendly terms with others ( a lot where I live are out of hours mates). I worked many, many years ago in an estate agents and the amount of loose tongue chat between agents always astounded me.

digp

Law.... what law?