Trying to force us to use their IFA

mollypops1

Hi,

I have looked through the forums and can't see anything on this subject so I thought I would say what we are going through and see if anyone else has going through what we are currently.

We have sold our house to a cash buyer and have put a deposit down on a new build yesterday that will be "ready" in june/july. The house cost was £300k and has been dropped to £280. At £300k we needed to use the help to buy scheme but with the drop in price we were not sure if we could buy it out right, so we asked our IFA to have a look for us.

When I went in to pay the reservation fee, the sales woman there was happy with the solicitors that we are using (not their recommended ones) but when I said we were not going to use their IFA (not very independent in my experience) the woman said that she will put the details down of our IFA, but she is not sure if they can sell it to us at the reduced cost and will ask head office. The cost was reduced not as an incentive to us alone but to anyone that walked in as we got a generic text from them saying this.

There was no mention of this on the day before when I went in to find out final prices and our IFA has found a deal where we can buy it out right on a full mortgage so why would I want to use their IFA who told me to use help to buy when I got "qualified" with them.

So my question is this. Has anyone gone through this sort of experience before and can they actually do this? I didn't think they could make you use a certain IFA by law and we had the freedom to choose who we wanted.

Thanks

theartfullodger

I would be inclined to tell them to go forth & multiply:

However, just to keep them happy & give them something to do, ask to see evidence of his training & qualifications, his criminal records check & last 3 months bank statements 1st before you consider their kind offer to talk to him.