Valuation confidentiality

Comms69

Zanderman wrote: »

Hmm, well 4 out of 5 other estate agents disagree and say they would.



I would doubt that advising your client to lower their offer on a purchase is in their best interests if it's likely to lead to the offer being rejected, the purchase falling through and so their own sale falls through. That's being incompetent, and shooting both the agent and their immediate client in the foot, not acting in best interests.

And we are still potential clients of the agent concerned - who gave that valuation to us in confidence and (until this current episode) might have thought they still had a chance of being taken on if the first agent failed to get a buyer.



I was hoping for some comment from someone who knew estate agency rules and regs rather than just some dismissive responses!

OK, lets pretend today im an estate agent. Aside from submitting my details to my choice of accreditation scheme I have fulfilled your requirement.


That's how simple it is to set up as an estate agent.

spadoosh

What a bad agent. Fancy suggesting you couldnt get as much money and then when someone is willing to pay that money tell them theyre overpaying.

First thing id be wondering if i was the buyer is how much more could i be achieving if i sold my house through someone else.

Speak to the buyer, recommend they change agent who might be able to achieve a higher price for them, tell them you wont reduce the price because an estate agent was wrong with their valuation. You (the buyer) are(is) evidence of that. THey are simple a bad estate agent.

lincroft1710

This one is so simple!

There is no breach of "client confidentiality", because you are not their client!

CocoLouie

It could be that your buyer asked their EA what there professional opinion is on the house price.


Most EAs like to inflate the price of potential clients houses in order to get them on their books. Perhaps this EA gave a true valuation for your property and you wouldn't be the first person to think it is worth more than it actually is.


Either negotiate, tell them to take it or leave it at original agreed price or walk away completely.

Zanderman wrote: »

I was hoping for some comment from someone who knew estate agency rules and regs rather than just some dismissive responses!

Translation - I only want people who agree with my point of view to comment even if it isn't correct.


If you feel that strongly about what the EA has done then follow their complains procedure although I doubt much would come of it.

Zanderman

Impatient_Coconut wrote: »

EA can & would be stupid not to tell buyers. EA want their properties to sell ASAP and if they don't believe the house is worth the offer theres a chance they won't get a mortgage on that amount.

You'll find out at the mortgage valuation survey.

Not if he's a cash buyer. Which he is. And the agent knows that. So the agent is fundamentally stupid to tell them and to jeopardise the whole chain. The value of the house their client is buying isn't their business. It's the one they are selling they should be concentrating on doing successfully.

Comms69 wrote: »

OK, lets pretend today im an estate agent. Aside from submitting my details to my choice of accreditation scheme I have fulfilled your requirement.
That's how simple it is to set up as an estate agent.

And your point is? The accreditation schemes have rules, or at least codes. The individual agent will have terms on which they issue their valuation. I'm just curious to know views on what those rules/codes/terms might suggest in these circs, not how easy it is to set up in estate business.

I thought someone might know - and maybe they do but will be along later...

I'm merely asking for views, informed ones preferably, on whether a valuation, once given and whilst the house in question is still on the market, should be disclosed.

The details of the circumstances, which most respondents are referencing, aren't the point. It is simply is there (or should there be) client confidentiality?

(And for those who keep saying we are not the client, we were when the valuation was given. It was our valuation.)

Zanderman

CocoLouie wrote: »

Translation - I only want people who agree with my point of view to comment even if it isn't correct.

That is a bit harsh - i haven't given a view. I'm genuinely curious. I've asked a (possibly technical) question and most responses so far haven't actually given a (technical) answer, just given off the cuff responses.

davidmcn

Zanderman wrote: »

That is a bit harsh - i haven't given a view. I'm genuinely curious. I've asked a (possibly technical) question and most responses so far haven't actually given a (technical) answer, just given off the cuff responses.

I'm not aware of any legal duty of confidentiality for the circumstances you've outlined.

And in any event, "I think that house is worth £250k" isn't your confidential information. They could give that information irrespective of whether you had previously consulted them.

If you had told the EA in your meeting that you were desperate to sell and would let it go for £200k, that might be confidential.

lincroft1710

Zanderman wrote: »

(And for those who keep saying we are not the client, we were when the valuation was given. It was our valuation.)

It wasn't "your valuation".

You were never a client. A prospective client maybe, but you chose not to do business with the agent. It could be argued that you weren't given a valuation, just an idea of what the agent thought the property would sell for.

Nobbie1967

If you had paid for a valuation then I would expect them to keep this confidential, but you have no contract with the estate agent in question and they have divulged no confidential information. No reason why they should not tell the buyer what they thought your house was worth.

Maybe they've done it to scupper the deal in the hope of picking them up as a buyer for one of their houses? Not very nice, but not illegal.

CocoLouie

You could be searching for a something that doesn't exist. There isn't a regulation for every single possibility within discussions with an EA. Their valuation is just their opinion on what it is worth and you have no contract with them so you aren't their client.


It may or may not be bad form from them but there isn't much you can do about it.


They are assisting their client who is the person possibly buying the property from you and if they are correct then they have saved their client from wasting money paying for a survey. If they are wrong then they won't have cost their client anything and have possibly gotten the price lowered.