Estate agents asking for proof of AIP before viewing

Cathy-louise93

I'm currently in the process of viewing properties as a first time buyer.

One particular estate agents have come back to me when I asked to view a property on their books and said they want to view my mortgage in principle before even letting me view the property.

This particular estate agents were a bit unhappy with my lack of wanting to go into a million and one details about my AIP when I'm only asking to view the property when I first contacted them.

They have said seeing the AIP is common practice, but none of the other estate agents I'm in touch with at the moment have asked to see it or even asked me anywhere near as many questions about it.

Just wanting to check that I am right in thinking this is a bit of an odd request when I've not even seen the property yet.

And has anyone had this before?

Thanks.:)

Aylesbury_Duck

Plenty on here asking the same question. It does seem the EA is prying, but equally, if you were selling a house, would you be content for the EA to allow anyone to view it, irrespective of whether they had a realistic chance of affording it? I suspect there are a lot of time-wasters out there.

Mahsroh

Yeah, I'm 50/50 on this issue.


If I was a seller, on one hand I wouldn't want a load of timewaster or people just being nosy, but then I wouldn't want to put off potential buyers by asking them to jump through hoops to even be able to view the property!


Thinking back to when I bought my house (albeit 10years ago) I didn't even have AIP in place at the point of viewing. I viewed a few different properties and when I found one I liked I approached the bank about a mortgage. In fact I actually recall ringing the Estate Agents the day after viewing to tell them that I intended on making an offer but had to sort mortgage out first! Then ringing back again 2 days later with a firm offer after meeting the bank!

Nick_C

I think a good EA will want to ensure that you are a serious potential buyer and can afford the properties you are asking to look around before giving you a viewing.

We got our AIP before our first visit, and had an offer on our home before making any offers ourselves.

Akahotpot

I had a similar issue ,my daughter who was on maternity leave offered to book the viewings of houses I was interested in
But it just got too messy with her trying to explain she was not person buying and n didn't need to speak to the mortgage adviser etc etc

eddddy

If it was the sort of house that might attract 'sightseers' (e.g. a grand mansion or a celeb's house) - I could understand the EA wanting to qualify viewers.

But in other circumstances, I'd wonder if this just irritated potential buyers, who might then decide to view the house down the street via a different (less demanding) EA instead.

JoJo1978

The EA may just be following instructions from the vendor, who is free to only open their home to anyone they choose. When we were looking we encountered it too for one or two houses (we weren’t getting a mortgage but hadn’t yet sold our house) - in both cases it was because the vendors had sales fall through recently and were only interested in buyers who could move quickly.

Thrugelmir

Mahsroh wrote: »

If I was a seller, on one hand I wouldn't want a load of timewaster or people just being nosy, but then I wouldn't want to put off potential buyers by asking them to jump through hoops to even be able to view the property!

Serious potential buyers will already have done the groundwork in order to show their intent.

pennypinching77

Hi Cathy

When I was buying what turned out to be quite dodgy ea asked me for my mip before viewing properties which I of course obliged.

I soon found that every property I took an interest in and proceeded with an offer then happened to have another interested party even though none was mentioned before and I was encouraged to up my offer.

I personally feel the ea knowing how much I had to play with wanted me to max out. I backed out of 2 bidding wars and lo and behold the houses still remained on the market. The 3rd I made an offer on and again was told there was a 3rd party so I simply upped my offer had it accepted then made the vendor drop the price due to damp issues.

My advice would be don't show them your hand if needs be. Not following property prices so don't know if it's a sellers or buyers market but I'm sure if they want a potential sale they'll still let you view without a mortgage in principle.

Hope all goes well

pennypinching77

Just wanted to say - in dodgy pactice I don't mean the EA's trying to fleece me but the fact this EA was getting info from my hight street mortgage company I never agreed to. The mortgage company had initially put me onto this particular EA. I was young and very naive I will say.

Company has since disappeared and I am paying half in mortgage payments then what they tried to drown me with.

I'm sure not all EA's deliberately mis-lead buyers. However, I certainly will be using an online agency to sell my property, when the time comes!.

Nick_C

Our AIP didn't show the amount that had been provisionally approved, on the advice of the mortgage advisor at Santander who gave us the decision.

However, EAs for vendors were able to see that our home was on the market, how much it was on for, and that we had a mortgage arranged. And of course EAs want to know the price range that you will consider so that can show you appropriate properties.

This is sufficient to demonstrate that you are serious potential buyers, without showing your hand entirely.

And of those your solicitor can give an assurance that a prospective buyer has the funds in place to support the offer they are making.