Estate agent insisting mortgage is done through them

tcall

Have put an offer in on our first home, however there is a lot of interest in the property and the agent has basically taken first offers and will be going back to everyone for final offers.
The agent has said that they are insisting the mortgage is done through themselves, which I find appalling. As a first time buyer we have been lucky to have been offered approx 3.5x our joint income from a lender and feel we probably wont be offered this by another company.
We are left with the impression that the agent will recommend the offer of a buyer who will take out a mortgage through them, rather than a buyer who makes their own arrangements.
Is this normal? Is there anything we can do?

dougk_2

First speak to the seller directly and tell them what is happening and explain you are not happy. They may agree with you. Tell them you already have a mortgae offer so its not an issue.

You do not have to use their mortgage advisor. The reason why they are asking you to do this is so they get an extra "cut" out of you. If they won't accept your offer based solely on the fact you won't take the mortgage through them complain to any professional bodies they belong to.

payless

http://www.oea.co.uk/



6

Offers

6a

By law you must tell clients as soon as 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 client has specifically instructed you, in writing, not to pass on. You must confirm such offers in writing at the earliest opportunity and keep a written or computerised record of all offers you receive (including the date and time of such offers) and the client’s response.




Discrimination6b



You must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate against a prospective purchaser of your client's property because that person refuses to agree that you will (directly or indirectly) provide services to them. Discrimination includes the following:

herbiesjp

Not a good situation to be in - you like the house, and rightly want to sort out your own finances - but will this mean they don't put your offer forward favourably to the vendor? Who knows?

I agree with both previous posters, in that it is not right and should not be tolerated.

See if you can have a word with the vendor and see if the offer has been put forward, and then take it from there.

cjanderson

or, agree to go and have a chat with the mortgage advisor. they may also be wanting to ensure that you do have an agreed mortgage deal in place so can proceed. And then point out what deal you have been offered, and can they match it? Sometimes they can better it, So no harm in seeing the advisor, shows your serious.

moneywasternomore!

I can absolutely guarantee that the reason the agent is pushing you towards their mortgage lender is because they personally receive a nice healthy "referral fee" if you take out a mortgage through their advisor. I agree, talk to the advisor - or at least agree to, you can always cancel the appointment - as the agent will sometimes receive a (much smaller) fee just for you going to see the advisor.

If this goes to best & final offers, make sure yours is presented in the most comprehensive manner. Include details of your existing mortgage offer, and make sure you have a solicitor in place, ready to proceed. As a FTB you're already in a strong position. Keep a copy of your offer, just in case the agent does the dirty on you.

Finally, mention to the agent that you know their insistences are illegal, and that you intend to inform the vendors. It would be interesting to know if this is just from one agent, or from the company - does the branch manager know these restrictions are being imposed? Start mentioning the Property Misdescriptions Act and they'll know you know your stuff, and back off. opening clause:

1.—(1) Where a false or misleading statement about a prescribed matter is made in the course of an estate agency business or a property development business, otherwise than in providing conveyancing services, the person by whom the business is carried on shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

Good luck, and there are some good agents out there - my wife, for example!

Xbigman

There's another reason they try to get you to see their mortgage advisor, to pump up the size of your mortgage.

Colleague at work was offered a good 3.5 times single income deal but EA advisor tried for two hours to persuade hime to go for a 4 times deal with much higher interest so he could up his offer on a flat that the EA said had 'a lot of interest'.
Regards



X

bridiej

I'd never see one of these sharks again. When I bought a house many moons ago with O/H in Lincoln we saw one of these guys, not only did he push endowment mortgages (spent about 5 minutes on pension and repayment mortgages and a good 45 minutes on endowments) but also scared the life out of us going on about how I could die from cervical cancer or O/H of some other cancer (bearing in mind I was only 21 at the time!)

Luckily I had my head screwed on and we sorted ourselves a repayment mortgage, but it really put me off seeing another one!

luckyfool

Speaking through bitter experience as a non estate agency-tied broker this is far from unusual. As said previously it is of course highly ethically suspect if not illegal, if you are happy with the mortgage you have in place I would stand firm and make it clear that if your offer is not passed on you will report them to the ombudsman, I would also contact the vendor direct. They are unlikely to be happy that the estate agent is jeopardising them gaining the best price for their house by chasing commissions.

I don't see why you should have to go in to see the Estate Agent's adviser, get the hard sell there and get emotionally blackmailed into taking their products. Show them your agreement in principle, give them contact details for your broker, that way you are showing them, and the vendor that you definitely got a mortgage in place.

nrsql

>> however there is a lot of interest in the property
Did the estate agent tell you that? If so don't believe it.
It's amazing how much interest there is in properties at the moment - all of which suddenly disappears when you try to sell.

You can say that you are interested in hearing about a mortgage from the agent. As long as you don't sign anything then you can ignore anything they say.
If the agent is putting this sort of pressure on you then I would say there is no need for you to be completely open with them. You never know you might get a good deal.

Given that the agent will get a fee you might want to suggest reducing the offer saying that they can take it out of the fee if you take their mortgage. They will say they can't do that - but they can if they think it's worthwhile.