financial advisor worries

agentdalecooper_2

Good morning all.
I have some concerns about the FA we have appointed to help us through the maze of selling one house and buying another.
The estate agent we are selling with offered us the use of the man they use,and as we are both working,we thought it would be easier to let him sort out the deals and then we would chose one we liked.
However,he has turned into a fifth wheel. He never contacts us,he failed to send the correct paperwork off,he has taken half of his fee from our account with no notice. And just this week he has ordered and authorised payment for a RICS homebuyers report at a cost of over £400 without first contacting us.
This valuation and assessment has found ' cracks in the elevations and pathways' which now requires a structural engineer. Which I assume I will pay for. The seller has already informed us that a porch on the front of the house has sunk due to inadequate footings,however the insurer agreed it was not serious enough to warrant a claim,and that was 5 years ago.
It seems like we are handing over a lot of money, due to this mans actions.
In hindsight maybe getting a FA from the estate agent we were selling with was not the wisest move.
I also can not find his name on the FCA website.
I assume that taking money from a clients account without notice is frowned upon in the industry,as is making £400 decisions on our behalf ?
Sorry for the long post.

AdrianC

agentdalecooper wrote: »

he has taken half of his fee from our account with no notice.

How has he done that? It is physically impossible for somebody to "just help themself" to the contents of your bank account.

And just this week he has ordered and authorised payment for a RICS homebuyers report at a cost of over £400 without first contacting us.

Were you not planning to get a survey done? Just going to go with the valuation the mortgage lender wanted?

This valuation and assessment has found ' cracks in the elevations and pathways' which now requires a structural engineer.

Seems like the survey was a good thing, then, if you hadn't noticed those.

Which I assume I will pay for.

Yep. That's the way it works. Then if the surveyor says "It'll cost £x,000 to put right", you can renegotiate the price with the vendor.

It seems like we are handing over a lot of money

Welcome to house buying. You just wait until you own it...

due to this mans actions.
In hindsight maybe getting a FA from the estate agent we were selling with was not the wisest move.

Whilst I'd agree with that second part, in this case it doesn't sound as if he's done anything wrong apart from a lack of communication.

You really need to re-read what you've signed to agree he can do, and how/when he can charge or agree expenditure.

agentdalecooper_2

Thanks for your reply. We gave him card details to make payments,but we foolishly thought he would contact us first to check that the payment was OK. Not just spend our money as and when he likes. He also didn't email or phone to ask which survey we would like. We only found out when we noticed £460 had gone out of the account. Not a small amount. Luckily we have enough in to cover it,but we now have to check every day to see if anything else has gone out,which is not really what we had in mind !
I am nvq3 brickwork,so the little porch wasn't a problem to me,but obviously the lender are not happy.

kingstreet

In thirty years, I've taken client card details for a lender valuation or product fee, but I've never got involved in instructing surveyors, solicitors or anything else.

I don't know any other mortgage brokers who do.