Estate agent 'forcing' us to use their solicitors

olly300

All those who are being bullied or have been bullied by an EA you need to report the EA to their local trading standards.

If you put in the EAs postcode in the website I linked to the council will come up. You can either send them a letter, or google and contact them by email.

While some councils are better than others if enough people complain action will be taken against them.

tim123456789

Then the buyer is a fool

I'm using the EA's recommend Sol for my purchase because they actually did tick all of my requirements, and their quote was competitive!

But the last thing that they are is fast and efficient. They take forever to respond to my questions and are the ones from my pov slowing the purchase down.

I don't actually mind this because so far they are woking to a timetable that suits me, but i doubt that it's suiting the vendor

tim

G_M

The property has tenants? And the seller wants a quick sale?

:rotfl:

And when the tenants say they can't move out because they can't find a new property, what will happen to the 'quick sale'?

YOU are the one who should be questioning the 'quick sale'.

Tenants will hold things up. Solicitors won't.

PCManchester2012

I hate these EA / developer cons. When I bought my current house with my ex partner it was on a new build and be bought off plan. The developer, who I knew was in money problems at the time (we got a GREAT deal), was pushing us to use their 'recommended and approved' mortgage broker and solicitor. There wasn't even a choice - it was 1 broker and 1 firm of solicitors. I smelt something wasn't right straight away and basically said that I wasn't interested in speaking to their 'approved' people as I already knew a solicitor and there are plenty of mortgage brokers which can be found online.

They actually turned our offer down at first, stating that by not using their recommended solicitors the sale would probably be lengthy!! It didn't make any sense to me, until I realised that they were probably getting some form of commission or kick back from the solicitors and mortgage brokers by putting business their way.

I did speak to their broker once, more out of desperation that anything else, and the quote he came back with was nearly £150 more per month than the broker I had sourced myself came back with.

In the end we ended up using their recommended solicitor because we weren't getting anywhere. It really was laughable... their solicitor was extremely slow and we ended up moving in 3 months later than planned. It was ridiculous - the property was a real steal price wise and so we weren't going to just walk away. They also came in way over their estimate - we ended up paying £1,790 for the purchase of a £152k house when their quote was around £1,200.

Be very wary!

hunnieybunniey

Hi havent had time to read all the replys but we had this trick played on us a couple od weeks ago. They just assumed we were going to use there convayancer. I told them i had one already my mother in law had recommended. They said the vendor wanted a quick sale then put me on to there manager who said aslong as it didnt delay anything that was ok. Funny seen as i thought it was the seller who decided. Anyways couple weeks later my solictors on ball and theres is taking there time. Id just say you want to use your own and tell them it isnt going to delay the processea

getmore4less

Tenants,


Go round and ask them when they are moving out.

SecondTimeBuyer

I just remembered this thread for info:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/354573

MargaretB_2

Are estate agents getting desperate? Last year a friend of mine was looking to buy her first house. She had already arranged a mortgage offer through her employer, which she had in writing. But the agent was insisting that she had to use their mortgage broker. Luckily she asked me if that was right, and I told her what I will tell OP now - tell them to shove it!

The vendor is not going to turn down a perfectly good sale just because you don't want to use the agent's solicitor. It is probably a conveyancer anyway, not a solicitor at all. And get details from other agents nearby to view other properties; word soon gets around.

They will soon come round when they realise you won't be bullied.

funkydrummer

Thanks for all the info guys. Really handy tips popping up in this thread from everyone.

We've spoken to our solicitors who had a word with the branch manager of the estate agency and confirmed we do not need to use any other solicitors that the EA "recommended".

Thanks for all the advice!

I hope this thread will be useful to someone in the future who is unfortunate enough to come across the same problem.

funkydrummer

G_M wrote: »

The property has tenants? And the seller wants a quick sale?

:rotfl:

And when the tenants say they can't move out because they can't find a new property, what will happen to the 'quick sale'?

YOU are the one who should be questioning the 'quick sale'.

Tenants will hold things up. Solicitors won't.

You bring up a very good point. Let's hope it does not come to this.

getmore4less wrote: »

Tenants,


Go round and ask them when they are moving out.

Sound advice, thanks. I might sneak a question in on our next visit to the property.