Estate agent asking for a lot of paperwork

Legacy_user

We are looking to sell our flat shortly and the agent we are going with has asked for:

1) 2 forms of ID
2) copy of the last service charge account
3) copy of the lease
4) copy of supporting documents for share of freehold

This is quite a bit of paperwork but what are they entitled to and what are they not? I would think 2) 3) and 4) are documents for a solicitor

CLAPTON

Gold_Anaconda wrote: »

We are looking to sell our flat shortly and the agent we are going with has asked for:

1) 2 forms of ID
2) copy of the last service charge account
3) copy of the lease
4) copy of supporting documents for share of freehold

This is quite a bit of paperwork but what are they entitled to and what are they not? I would think 2) 3) and 4) are documents for a solicitor

seems to me they are doing a good job as your potential buyers would want to know this before making an offer

PasturesNew

They have to make sure you are who you say you are - and that you can sell the flat.

Good agents will want to know the answers to questions asked by potential buyers, who might be put off by the agent not knowing the answers.

Some of the FIRST questions asked will be: How much is the service charge? How long is the lease? So it's a share of the freehold?

You should be pleased this agent appears to want to be able to answer these questions correctly and not put buyers off and not mislead people (that might lead to them pulling out at the last minute as they didn't know something sooner and panicked).

kinger101

Sounds like a very good agent. They are being very diligent in checking facts before they market your property. There are often posts on here from people who fork out on surveys and legals, only to find out leases are much shorter than advertised etc.

System

Thanks everyone for posting but nobody answered my question.

Sagz_2

To answer your question: they are entitled to ask for anything they want.

If you choose to give it to them is a different matter.


As others have concluded, your agents sound like they know what they are doing and want to have answers ready for when buyers show interest.

beeg0d

To answer your question they are entitled to none of the documents. They may request them from you and they may require you to provide them in order to act as your agent (and so refuse to act on your behalf without them), but there is no law requiring you to give them the documents on the flip side however there is no law requiring them to act on your behalf.

p00hsticks

Gold_Anaconda wrote: »

Thanks everyone for posting but nobody answered my question.

What does it say in the contract you've signed with the agent ?
If it doesn't say that you have to give / show them anything, then the answer is probably is that they're not entitled to anything.

But as the comments provided by other posters have suggested, you'd be rather cutting off your nose to spite your face to withhold the information. It will enable the agents to provide the answers to a number of basic key questions that potential buyers will want to know even before they put in an offer and get involved with your solicitor.

PasturesNew

Gold_Anaconda wrote: »

Thanks everyone for posting but nobody answered my question.

We thought we did, by pointing out how good the agent seems.

Gold_Anaconda wrote: »

2) copy of the last service charge account
3) copy of the lease
4) copy of supporting documents for share of freehold

This is quite a bit of paperwork but what are they entitled to and what are they not? I would think 2) 3) and 4) are documents for a solicitor

They are "entitled" to know what they are being asked to sell. They NEED to know the details of what they are being asked to sell, so this makes them "entitled" to know as they are acting as your agents.

The originals are documents for the solicitor. The agent's just asking for copies.

You can simply not supply them with this vital property information if you choose. You can then expect them to not bother talking to people about your flat, or bothering to call people back to arrange viewings, because they will know they will be asked questions they don't know the answers to.

They would hold copies of that basic information on file so they can check if/when they're asked.

So, yes, they are "entitled" to it.

Entitled is a strange word to use though. Legally, no, you don't have to tell them..... commercially, as the seller, it'd be nuts not to be shovelling their arms deep with this type of detail/evidence.

System

beeg0d wrote: »

To answer your question they are entitled to none of the documents. They may request them from you and they may require you to provide them in order to act as your agent (and so refuse to act on your behalf without them), but there is no law requiring you to give them the documents on the flip side however there is no law requiring them to act on your behalf.

Good stuff. Does this apply to providing forms of ID ? I've no problem in doing this in order for them to apply with money laundering regulations, but the rest of the information can be provided to them anecdotally. My main concern is data protection. I limit the information I give out as a formality because it is safer.

Thanks for the information.

System

PasturesNew wrote: »

We thought we did, by pointing out how good the agent seems.



They are "entitled" to know what they are being asked to sell. They NEED to know the details of what they are being asked to sell, so this makes them "entitled" to know as they are acting as your agents.

The originals are documents for the solicitor. The agent's just asking for copies.

You can simply not supply them with this vital property information if you choose. You can then expect them to not bother talking to people about your flat, or bothering to call people back to arrange viewings, because they will know they will be asked questions they don't know the answers to.

They would hold copies of that basic information on file so they can check if/when they're asked.

So, yes, they are "entitled" to it.

Entitled is a strange word to use though. Legally, no, you don't have to tell them..... commercially, as the seller, it'd be nuts not to be shovelling their arms deep with this type of detail/evidence.

They are not entitled to it. They can ask. I'm happy with this.