Estate agent charging buyer for ID check

Ksw3

We had our AML checks and ID checks done by the EA without charge.

I know that for most companies the cost per search is about £3 per person so £60 seems quite excessive to me even if they could charge. 

TLeigh

I’ve just put an offer in on a house been sold by Leaders Estate agents and have been charged £60 for my ID to be checked, as a first time buyer I thought this was weird that it was something I should pay for, but got the distinct impression the house sale couldn’t move forward until I’d paid this fee and done the ID check. It was only when I was speaking to my mortgage broker that I realised this wasn’t standard practice, I feel completely duped, especially as no other method was offered, which wouldn’t have cost me, such as my solicitor performing the checks. Both the estate agent and the lifetime legal people are saying the charge is set by the other team, so any complaints I’ve tried to make about the excessive amount charged is going nowhere, I feel so cross that I’ve had to pay £60 for such a simple check!! 

eddddy

It seems like such a strange thing for the estate agent to do.

Getting £60 from each buyer would earn them 'peanuts' overall - but it potentially causes so much bad feeling.

theartfullodger

Buyer should require estate agent to undergo ID check and charge them for it.

Buyer has no real idea who they are dealing with, who being given all that private data about themselves.

max029

I had this in 2022 house was with 2 agents .The one we arranged a viewing from stated we would have to pay £60 ID checks if offer accepted. I refused the viewing and went through the other agent (The first one offered to waive the fee after I did this but I did not go back to them). I have just had it again this week where an agent has stated £60 for ID checks or no sales sales Memo. I have written to them and stated if you are now imposing this for all sales remove us from your books we will not be buying through you. (No reply yet) Have also stated if house with more than one agent will go to agent that does not charge. If it is solely with them I will write to Vendor tell them I am interested but will not buy through that agent because of that fee (I imagine it would be waived again under that scenario) Also if I ma selling I would not sell through an agent doing this as it is outrageous and I am sure the agents not highlighting this to sellers when they sign even if it is in the small print of T & C      

powerful_Rogue

max029 said:

I had this in 2022 house was with 2 agents .The one we arranged a viewing from stated we would have to pay £60 ID checks if offer accepted. I refused the viewing and went through the other agent (The first one offered to waive the fee after I did this but I did not go back to them). I have just had it again this week where an agent has stated £60 for ID checks or no sales sales Memo. I have written to them and stated if you are now imposing this for all sales remove us from your books we will not be buying through you. (No reply yet) Have also stated if house with more than one agent will go to agent that does not charge. If it is solely with them I will write to Vendor tell them I am interested but will not buy through that agent because of that fee (I imagine it would be waived again under that scenario) Also if I ma selling I would not sell through an agent doing this as it is outrageous and I am sure the agents not highlighting this to sellers when they sign even if it is in the small print of T & C      

You'd really want to lose a potential house over the sake of £60? What's £60 as a % in the grand scheme of house buying?

GDB2222

max029 said:

I had this in 2022 house was with 2 agents .The one we arranged a viewing from stated we would have to pay £60 ID checks if offer accepted. I refused the viewing and went through the other agent (The first one offered to waive the fee after I did this but I did not go back to them). I have just had it again this week where an agent has stated £60 for ID checks or no sales sales Memo. I have written to them and stated if you are now imposing this for all sales remove us from your books we will not be buying through you. (No reply yet) Have also stated if house with more than one agent will go to agent that does not charge. If it is solely with them I will write to Vendor tell them I am interested but will not buy through that agent because of that fee (I imagine it would be waived again under that scenario) Also if I ma selling I would not sell through an agent doing this as it is outrageous and I am sure the agents not highlighting this to sellers when they sign even if it is in the small print of T & C      

I am less outraged than you. The EA is now required by the government to undertake pretty extensive checks of ID and source of funds. There’s a cost involved, and someone needs to pay for it. 

It’s purely a matter of convention that the agent has until now only been paid by the seller. In Germany, for example, the buyer pays the agent’s commission, which is a lot higher than in this country. 

Paying for ID checking may become the norm, and in the scheme of things it is a small cost for the buyer. Around here, most properties only have a single agent, so you would be losing access to a whole swath of properties if you excluded some agents. 

eddddy

It's interesting how all this stuff works behind the scenes...

• An independent EA says that AML checks cost them £4.75 each - and they don't pass that cost onto the buyer.

• EAs like PurpleBricks, Leaders estate agents and Romans estate agents refer buyers to a company called Lifetime Legal to do the AML checks. Lifetime Legal charge the buyer £60 for the AML check.

Lifetime Legal say that the £60 includes some perks (some kind of buyers protection insurance, etc) - and part of the £60 is paid back to the EA as a referral fee.



So the buyer pays the £60, and then Lifetime Legal phones the buyer to tell them to download an app

Lifetime Legal also do conveyancing - and Lifetime Legal say this to EAs:



That sounds to me like:
- You pay your £60
- A Lifetime Legal salesperson phones you - to tell you to download an app
- The  Lifetime Legal salesperson takes the opportunity to try to sell you their conveyancing services  

I guess that if the buyer doesn't immediately realise that they're talking to a salesperson, they might be caught off guard.



(The above is just my guess of how the process works - it may not be completely accurate. Here's some more info:
https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2023/2/purplebricks-criticised-over-new-60-buyer-fee
http://wp.lifetimelegal.ltd/index.php/aml/ )

BobT36

powerful_Rogue said:

max029 said:

I had this in 2022 house was with 2 agents .The one we arranged a viewing from stated we would have to pay £60 ID checks if offer accepted. I refused the viewing and went through the other agent (The first one offered to waive the fee after I did this but I did not go back to them). I have just had it again this week where an agent has stated £60 for ID checks or no sales sales Memo. I have written to them and stated if you are now imposing this for all sales remove us from your books we will not be buying through you. (No reply yet) Have also stated if house with more than one agent will go to agent that does not charge. If it is solely with them I will write to Vendor tell them I am interested but will not buy through that agent because of that fee (I imagine it would be waived again under that scenario) Also if I ma selling I would not sell through an agent doing this as it is outrageous and I am sure the agents not highlighting this to sellers when they sign even if it is in the small print of T & C      

You'd really want to lose a potential house over the sake of £60? What's £60 as a % in the grand scheme of house buying?

Yes that £60 fee is nothing in the grand scheme of things is it. 
Neither is £100 so let's pay that. 
Sorry the fee is now £999, this is an important requirement. 
About that £3,999 fee you owe us... Don't feel bad, you're spending hundreds of thousands on the house so this is just pocket change, really! 


...
When does it stop? I agree with those telling them to FO. We should not be supporting more instances of Rip off Britain. They're playing both sides here and making an extortionate amount from both for something that is likely automated and probably even outsourced.. 

GDB2222

As sellers, my wife and I recently had to provide ID. I agree that it went pretty smoothly and didn’t take too long to get done. 

 Still, it took several emails for them to get all the information they needed, and they then had to update their system. So, there was definitely a cost involved. At any reasonable hourly rate, it would come to a lot more than £4.75.