Estate agent etiquette

big_saver_5

I have a friend who is an ea manager. They are now asking for evidence of an aip or proof of funds before viewings as they are in a seaside town and are getting people using viewing houses as a reason to leave their houses and give them something to do at the weekend. He gets people phoning up in the morning saying I am down from London for the day can I have a viewing on this house. 

Falafels

We were asked for proof of funds before we could view the property we're buying, and so were our respective buyers when we sold our properties. There have always been time-wasters in this business, and this is a way of ensuring that serious buyers only go around viewing properties. Obviously, the greater the number of visitors, the greater the risk of spreading Covid.

It's standard practice these days. I appreciate that it feels like an invasion of your privacy, but that's the way it is right now.

In answer to your question, if a prospective viewer wanted to look at a property I had for sale whilst bypassing the agent, I'd politely refer them to the agent. If it transpired that the reason they wanted to bypass the agent was because they weren't prepared to supply proof of funds, I certainly wouldn't be inviting them to view.

If you're in a position to proceed with a purchase - and there's nothing in your post to say you aren't - then I can only advise you to get your paperwork together and get back to the agent.

youth_leader

I agree with the EA checking if people are proceedable during the pandemic, the new variant is so transmissible. I'm in rented and had to have viewing with the prospective new tenants, having the windows open during this cold weather was grim but I can't risk my purchase being delayed.

MaryNB

big_saver_5 said:

I have a friend who is an ea manager. They are now asking for evidence of an aip or proof of funds before viewings as they are in a seaside town and are getting people using viewing houses as a reason to leave their houses and give them something to do at the weekend. He gets people phoning up in the morning saying I am down from London for the day can I have a viewing on this house. 

Seems to be a nationwide issue https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55668457

Doesn't surprise me in the least that people would take advantage of this loophole. In the Irish Times today it was reported that a dentist in Tenerife was considering contacting Irish police over large numbers of Irish people booking appointments to circumvent the rule on non-essential travel. Unsurprisingly none of them ever showed up for appointments.

PatriciaHooper

Thank you for sharing your recent experience. Practice has changed since I last bought a house.

Falafels

lookstraightahead said:

As there's a pandemic on, maybe people should stop putting their houses on the market if they don't want people wasting their time. 

Do you really think sellers want time wasters in 'normal' times???

Falafels

PatriciaHooper said:

Thank you for sharing your recent experience. Practice has changed since I last bought a house.

Yes - changed out of all recognition! Last time I bought and sold was in 1995, and it's a whole different planet these days!

PatriciaHooper

Oh, I bought slightly more recently so was rather shocked that I was asked to show account details.

lookstraightahead

Seashell517 said:

lookstraightahead said:

Seashell517 said:

There's a pandemic on. Responsible agents are only showing houses to proceedable buyers. It's not the time to be letting anyone who fancies a look into other people's homes.

An AIP doesn't mean you have a mortgage though. I think EAs lose buyers on this basis, as per my previous post.
i would prefer proof that there's no chain from the buyers side - reduces risk much more.

As there's a pandemic on, maybe people should stop putting their houses on the market if they don't want people wasting their time. There are some nightmare vendors too who aren't willing to move, thus wasting buyers time by pretending that they are serious. 

The OP said 'proof of funds'. That doesn't always mean a DIP. But if you need a mortgage then you're going to need the DIP to put an offer in anyway, so what's the difference to the viewer in getting it before the viewing? If they're serious about buying then they'll need one pretty soon anyway. 

As I posted, this could have happened to me. But the agent was savvy enough to show me round while the DIP was being processed. I would like to see how serious vendors are and proof that they can move out.

lookstraightahead

MaryNB said:

lookstraightahead said:

Seashell517 said:

There's a pandemic on. Responsible agents are only showing houses to proceedable buyers. It's not the time to be letting anyone who fancies a look into other people's homes.

An AIP doesn't mean you have a mortgage though. I think EAs lose buyers on this basis, as per my previous post.
i would prefer proof that there's no chain from the buyers side - reduces risk much more.

As there's a pandemic on, maybe people should stop putting their houses on the market if they don't want people wasting their time. There are some nightmare vendors too who aren't willing to move, thus wasting buyers time by pretending that they are serious. 

Where I live houses go SSTC pretty fast so it would have been a case of cutting off my nose to spite my face if I refused to get an AIP before a viewing. It look less than 5 minutes to do one. In the end they didnt ask for it before the viewing (I did tell them I had one). The EA did do a much more thorough check of my finances before accepting (it was partially a ruse to get me to use their mortgage advisor though). They wouldn't mark it SSTC until I had my mortgage offer. 

There is an option between zero viewings and excessive viewings. A homeowner may accept the risk of viewings but attempt mitigate that risk by getting the EA to vet buyers. The fact that nightmare vendors exist has no bearing on vendors trying to manage timewasting viewers.
In May I was renting and on a joint tenancy and we had to find a replacement tenant. We wouldn't allow anyone to view without a skype chat first. We did urgently need to find someone but still didn't want loads of people trekking though the house during the first lockdown.

A 5-min AIP just proves my point.

yes of course you need everything before SSTC. That's when in becomes more realistic, for the MOS.