Estate agent demands mortgage appointment with them before allowed viewings

lovecake1

I am a FTB and have a mortgage in prinicple from Habito (online broker). I want to view a property I have seen but the EA now demands I first make an appointment with their mortgage advisor to 'vet' me, before they let me view it. Is this normal? I have told them I can send them the mortgage in principle and details of my deposit, but still no good. They said that the mortgage in principle isn't from a lender. I know the market is crazy here but I really don't want to have their mortgage advice. I put an offer in on a property with another agent a few weeks ago which was rejected, but didn't have to provide the documents until the final offer stage. Viewings were no problem.

MaryNB

lovecake1 said:

I am a FTB and have a mortgage in prinicple from Habito (online broker). I want to view a property I have seen but the EA now demands I first make an appointment with their mortgage advisor to 'vet' me, before they let me view it. Is this normal? I have told them I can send them the mortgage in principle and details of my deposit, but still no good. They said that the mortgage in principle isn't from a lender. I know the market is crazy here but I really don't want to have their mortgage advice. I put an offer in on a property with another agent a few weeks ago which was rejected, but didn't have to provide the documents until the final offer stage. Viewings were no problem.

That's bad form. Perhaps the seller is particularly worried about time wasters, or got burned by an unreliable buyer before. 

I bought a house in November. I was allowed to view but my offer wasn't formally accepted until I sat with their mortgage advisor. Initially they kept telling me I should sit down with their mortgage advisor if I wanted my offer to be attractive to the seller. At one point they essentially walked me into booking an appointment as if it was the natural next step. I obviously cancelled. Eventually they told me I had to have my offer vetted by their financial team, despite my AIP being from a lender. They didn't even check my payslips, it was a sales pitch followed by mortgage advice. 

I sat with gritted teeth, didn't pay them a penny (or £600 for that matter!), got a mortgage directly with my lender and am now living in my lovely new house.   

eddddy

You can try the approach of saying something like this in an email to the EA...

"Can you confirm that you have passed on my request to view to the seller, and you have explained to the seller that I have a mortgage in principle from Habito, and the seller has declined my request for a viewing?"


But the EA might then pass on your request, but strongly advise the seller not to let you view, and the seller might follow the EA's advice.

moneysavinghero

Make an offer on the property. Make it subject to viewing the property and subject to not having an appointment with their mortgage adviser. By law the EA would then have to pass the offer onto the vendor and they cannot make it a condition that you use their services first. Vendor would probably want to know why the EA is turning down proceed-able buyers from viewings so you might find the EA would just offer you the viewing rather than have to pass the offer on.

lovecake1

Thanks for your suggestions. MaryNB I can't believe the EA made you go through their sales pitch before accepting your offer! I am also intending to arrange my mortgage directly with a lender once I have an offer accepted.

I viewed a property with the same EA last week and asked why I could view that one without being 'vetted' and was told it was because it had been on the market for a long time. Only had this problem with this agent so far, Unfortunately a lot of sellers in the area I am looking in use them.

Tomorrow I will get a call from my 'case handler' at the EA to arrange a mortgage advice appointment. I think I might tell him I can send him the MIP and proof of deposit but won't do the mortgage appointment. Not sure how to proceed regarding the viewing if they still refuse me. Almost feel like knocking on the seller's door to let them know how the EA works but that might be counterproductive, especially if there is a lot of interest.

hippocrates1

They basically want to know how much you Cana Ford so they can max out your affordability and see how desperate you are to buy. Don’t put the ball in their court. Although I do see their reluctance to accept habito. Why can’t you get a DIP from a lender?

lovecake1

hippocrates1 said:

They basically want to know how much you Cana Ford so they can max out your affordability and see how desperate you are to buy. Don’t put the ball in their court. Although I do see their reluctance to accept habito. Why can’t you get a DIP from a lender?

The MIP from Habito was to get an idea of what I can borrow. I have been looking at different price brackets with different size of deposit. Each time I check out available deals on moneysavingexpert I get different lenders, so not really sure who to go with for a DIP. I do get the feeling this might be the way forward though.

AdrianC

lovecake1 said:

I am a FTB and have a mortgage in prinicple from Habito (online broker).
...
They said that the mortgage in principle isn't from a lender.

Will Habito lend you the money themselves? No.
Has anybody who will lend you money themselves given you an DIP? No.

So, no, you do not have an actual DIP from anybody who will actually lend you money themselves.

All you have is a broker saying "We should be able to find you somebody" - and I bet there's caveats around even that...

I know the market is crazy here but I really don't want to have their mortgage advice.

What have you got to lose?
Half an hour of your time.

What could you gain?
At the minimum, a viewing.
At the maximum, a better mortgage deal.

moneysavinghero

Go with the one that looks like the best deal.

macman

As long as you go in fully aware that it's not a 'vetting' but a chance to do a sales pitch to you, what is the problem?

JJR45

Recently built?  May only have a Architects Certificate on it which limits the amount of mortgage providers.