Agent refusing to remove listing after completion

TrixA

What are the rules on when estate agents should take down online listings?

We completed on our house sale two months ago, but the listing is still up on Zoopla and RightMove as Sold STC, with lots of photos of our new home. We were burgled a month after moving in and we think (and the police agree) that we were deliberately targeted because we were new. The Zoopla and RM listings include images of the rear patio doors and the bathroom window the burglars used to gain access.

I have asked the agent who sold us the house to take the listings down but they have said that they prefer to leave them up for "marketing purposes". Since the house is no longer being marketed for sale, I assume they mean general visibility of their brand. Are they within their rights to do this? We have also been trying without success to get them to remove their sign from our front garden (we took it down the day we moved in, but weren't sure if we could legally dispose of it).

G_M

Write instructing them to remove both the sign and the listing. Give them a deadline of 3 working days.

moneyistooshorttomention

In the circumstances, I would be taking that sign into the EAs in person and complaining forcefully about the burglary I suffered and announcing I wasn't budging from their office until they had removed the listing.

I'd head in at 9am, complete with flask of coffee and packed lunch and something to do (eg Ipad to access the Internet) and just settle myself in comfortably. Handy to have a partner to take over stake-out duties in case they keep you waiting long enough to need a loo break before they remove the listing;).

My suspicion is you wont have to sit there visibly waiting for long.

westv

I would suggest the sight of you moving in was perhaps the bigger reason you were targetted (if you were done so for being new) rather than any old pictures on Rightmove.

pyueck

I think you are wrongly equating the listing to the burglary, however they should remove it. Go in and speak to them, sure they will do so if you explain your concerns.

TrixA

To be clear, I don't necessarily think the listing itself led to the burglary, but after a burglary it's logical to want to address any potential security risks.

I also think this agent has dubious marketing practices - the house was listed as 'Under offer' until completion at which time they changed the status to 'Sold STC'. There was no 'for sale' sign while it was actually for sale or while the conveyancing was underway then when we turned up on completion day there was a giant 'sold' board with the agent's branding to welcome us.

jhs14

You'll find most houses listed on rightmove/zoopla in the last few years still have pictures on those sites. Mine are still there after one year, my neighbour's after three years. It's the modern age we live in!

pathtofreedom

IF you search on right move under current prices rather than for sale, you'll probably find you can see anyones photos in the street going back years. I bought in 2007 and I can still see the original listing from when I bought it that way.

Argghhh

i took my house off the market and instructed the EA in writing to ensure the listings were removed from all websites, i gave them 7 days to do this. it was done in 2

davidmcn

I can't see that you have any right to have the listing removed (you're not their client and you don't "own" images of your house).

bazzyb

The Rightmove listing will be removed automatically 6 months after being marked as SSTC. Even when the listing is 'removed', as others have said the listing can still be found on Rightmove anyway - it will simply appear differently, such as like this one that was deleted a couple of years ago (from memory, someone with access to PropertyBee can confirm): http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-31388419.html

A very similar process applies to the Zoopla listing.

TrixA wrote: »

the house was listed as 'Under offer' until completion at which time they changed the status to 'Sold STC'.

This could quite possibly simply down to the software the EA uses. There is quite a range of systems available, and they will all present their data feed to Rightmove in a slightly different way, which sometimes presents some apparent discrepancies in how things appear.