Estate agent's Financial Advisor is demanding more than I expect

james.hope87

Hi all,
We got bullied into using the estate agents in house financial advisor or solicitor or they would not take the house off the market.

Now the Financial advisor is asking us to email him with scans of all our recent bank statements, proof we have the deposit money in our account (which we don't yet as it is currently being released from other investments) and to top it off a £2000 deposit before contracts are exchanged to secure the offer.

The first few things I can understand for affordability (though I am not really comfortable with someone trawling through my bank statements) do they really need them though?

The deposit though seems plain wrong. In my experience when buying you pay the deposit on the house all in one go to the solicitor AFTER the mortgage offer, valuation, survey etc...

What should I do?

TrickyDicky101

james.hope87 wrote: »

Hi all,
We got bullied into using the estate agents in house financial advisor or solicitor or they would not take the house off the market.

Now the Financial advisor is asking us to email him with scans of all our recent bank statements, proof we have the deposit money in our account (which we don't yet as it is currently being released from other investments) and to top it off a £2000 deposit before contracts are exchanged to secure the offer.

The first few things I can understand for affordability (though I am not really comfortable with someone trawling through my bank statements) do they really need them though?

The deposit though seems plain wrong. In my experience when buying you pay the deposit on the house all in one go to the solicitor AFTER the mortgage offer, valuation, survey etc...

What should I do?

Never, ever, ever, ever agree to this.

RAS

I think it is time to ditch the in-house mortgage advisor.

The requirements on affordability mean that you do need to provide the bank statements but I would not do this with someone who worked for the vendor.

james.hope87

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Never, ever, ever, ever agree to this.

Thanks, I will refuse to this then and say that we will pay the deposit to the solicitor as usual when we exchange contracts.

What should I do if they say they will put the property back on the market?

james.hope87

RAS wrote: »

I think it is time to ditch the in-house mortgage advisor.

The requirements on affordability mean that you do need to provide the bank statements but I would not do this with someone who worked for the vendor.

Well they have now accepted our offer so surely they can't up it?

jbainbridge

Tell the vendor you are considering withdrawing your offer because of the EA's behaviour.

Don't give the EA a £2k deposit.

Get your own financial advice. Get your own solicitor.

james.hope87

jbainbridge wrote: »

Tell the vendor you are considering withdrawing your offer because of the EA's behaviour.

Don't give the EA a £2k deposit.

Get your own financial advice. Get your own solicitor.

This seems like it would slow things up a lot. Plus the vendor doesn't really need our business. In Bristol if we pull out someone will bid higher.
How would I contact the vendor directly? I don't have their details, they don't permanently live in the property we are buying as far as I know.

Dan-Dan

james.hope87 wrote: »

This seems like it would slow things up a lot. Plus the vendor doesn't really need our business. In Bristol if we pull out someone will bid higher.
How would I contact the vendor directly? I don't have their details, they don't permanently live in the property we are buying as far as I know.

Some people cant be helped!

Why would you NOT get someone on board , on YOUR side on a purchase of many thousands of pounds?

eddddy

james.hope87 wrote: »

This seems like it would slow things up a lot. Plus the vendor doesn't really need our business. In Bristol if we pull out someone will bid higher.
How would I contact the vendor directly? I don't have their details, they don't permanently live in the property we are buying as far as I know.

Hi james.hope

Just say you need to check with your solicitor, to make sure he/she is happy with the terms of the deposit. And ask the EA to provide the contract terms for the deposit, so you can pass it on to your solicitor.

The EA will either back off, or try to tell you that you don't need to get your solicitor involved. Stand firm and say you will only hand over money based on your solicitor's advice.

(And your solicitor will advise you not to do it. ... and don't use the EA's solicitors/conveyancer.)

princeofpounds

and to top it off a £2000 deposit before contracts are exchanged to secure the offer

woah! Major bad practice. Has he put that in writing?

egoode

When I had my offer accepted I received a memorandum of sale from the agents with the vendors address on it. Check if it's been sent and if not ask for a copy to be emailed to you.