Estate Agent making me use in house Mortgage Advisor

richdeniro

Hi There,

Basically last week I had an offer accepted on a 1 bed flat but the Estate Agent said that the vendor was keen to keep it 'in-house' as they had already had another buyer pull out and so this means they want me to arrange my mortgage through the mortgage advisor in the Estate Agent.

I had an appointment with him on Saturday and because already had a mortgage in principle through London and Country he agreed to waive fees and said that they were a 'whole of market' broker.

He found me a Santander mortgage which seems ok but should I go back to L & C or any other brokers to see if they can do better?

Would it affect my chances with the property if I told the Estate Agent I had found a better mortgage?

Thanks in advance.

ACG

Estate agents can not "make" you use their broker.

If your offer has been accepted, do what is best for you.

An estate agent broker waiving their fees to win business! Times must be hard.

richdeniro

L & C have sent me through a much better quote than the Estate Agent broker did. It's a HSBC mortgage.

Can I forward it onto the Estate Agency broker and ask is there any reason I shouldn't go with this deal and ask if he could do it for me?

I'm happy to use the Estate Agent broker if they can use the best deal.

My main problem is that because the vendor had a previous sale collapse I was told by the Estate Agent that they wanted to keep the sale 'in-house'.

ACG

Agents are generally full of ****.

Show them your DIP and that you have a broker on board, if they start playing games go and knock on the door of the person selling the property and ask if they know their agents are playing silly games.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

HSBC have a very limited panel - unlikely that they have HSBC option.

The crap about the vendor wanting, previous sale etc is almost certainly just that - 'crap'.

If you have the vendor details (if not obtain from land registry) write to them and explain the position and ask if it is their instructions, copy to estate agents and atch the feathers fly !

Senior_Paper_Monitor

And then make a formal complaint about the agent (see below) ...

I have posted the following extract many times on here, but one more won't hurt:



Extract from The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice for Residential Sales (as of 22.02.10)

• as recognized by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)

• as approved by the Office of Fair Trading under its Consumer Codes and Approval Scheme

6. Submission of Offers

6a By law, you must tell sellers as soon as it is reasonably possible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged (in Scotland, missives have been concluded) unless the offer is an amount or type which the seller has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm each offer in writing to the seller, and to the buyer who made it, within two working days.

6b You must keep written or computerised record of all offers your receive – including the date and time of such offers – and the seller’s response. Such records should be made promptly.

Discrimination

6c By law you must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a prospective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them. Discrimination includes – but is not limited to – the following:

• Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.

• Telling the seller of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.

• Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.

• Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.

• Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.

amnblog

Senior_Paper_Monitor wrote: »

• Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.

That's the key bit - mortgage advice would be such a service.

dexterwolf

Tell the agent that you have found a better mortgage and you will pull out if they insist on using their people. I guarantee there will be an awkward pause and then it will be all ok

ACG

dexterwolf wrote: »

Tell the agent that you have found a better mortgage and you will pull out if they insist on using their people. I guarantee there will be an awkward pause and then it will be all ok

I would not guarantee that.
Agents want as much per deal as they can get. If the OP pulls out the next person through their door may take their advice and conveyancing services and then all of a sudden they go from earning say £2k to over £3k on the same transaction.

richdeniro

Hi Richard, HSBC is the only lender we don’t have access too partly because it can take up to 8 weeks to arrange the valuation.

The difference between the 2 deals is around £700 over the 2 years. Nationwide are offering a £500 cashback on completion so really the difference is around £200 over 2 years.

Getting the best deal available is important but you also need to look at things like the level of service and the fact that you have access to me face to face.

If you do decide to go with HSBC I would have to go back to the seller first and make them aware that they may be delays as this was the issue why the property fell through before.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Senior_Paper_Monitor

Laugh, I nearly cried .....

"HSBC is the only lender we don’t have access too" - I'd be willing to bet that is not correct !!

"partly because it can take up to 8 weeks to arrange the valuation." - no, because they have a very limited distribution panel and control the invitation to it.

The comparison may or may not be valid - we don't have the figures available to tell

"Nationwide are offering a £500 cashback / important but you also need to look at things like the level of service " - I'm not sure you will find many advisers recommending Nationwide on service levels at the moment !

"I would have to go back to the seller first and make them aware that they may be delays " - so your mortgage broker (professional adviser) is going to dob you in to the other party in the deal !!! Now you know whose side they are actually on, and why you shouldn't use an EA adviser !!!

I refer to my #5 & #6 above.