Estate agent charging buyer for ID check

YoungBlueEyes

Wasn't there a recent thread on here about something similar? And the answers were varied but a consensus of 'don't pay the EA, it's not their job, their making stuff up for more money, they're not trained to do anything like that, this is a solicitor's job and they're required to do it anyway'.

But now it's - well it's only a few quid, just pay it.

Hmmm. 

silvercar

 My son bought through Yopa (online EAs similar to purple bricks) and didn’t pay them anything. ID checks were done by his solicitor.

prowla

£120 to have an offer accepted?

Nope!

eddddy

GDB2222 said:

 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. 

£4.75 would be the disbursement - money that the EA has to pay out.

EAs don't generally charge buyers an hourly rate for their time - that's not how their business model works.

Are you suggesting that they should specifically charge an hourly rate for ID checks - but not for anything else?



For example, they don't charge buyers an hourly rate for these types of things:

Before the offer:

• Taking a prospective buyers initial phone call
• Qualifying them as serious buyers
• Recording their details on a database
• Contacting buyers as new properties come onto the market
• Generally responding to any emails and phone calls from the buyer
• Liaising between buyer and seller to arrange viewings
• Maybe accompanying the buyer on viewings
• Contacting the buyer for feedback on viewings
• Passing offers and counter-offers back and forth between buyer and seller
• Negotiating with buyer and seller

And after an offer is accepted

• Doing a financial appraisal of the buyer (checking bank statements and mortgage AIPs)
• Checking the 'proceedability' of the buyer
• Issuing a memo of sale for the buyer's (and seller's) solicitor
• Contacting other EAs in the chain
• Phoning the buyer periodically to check on progress
• Updating the buyer on the seller's progress
• Passing messages between buyer and seller
• Arranging access for buyer's surveys
• Generally responding to emails and phone calls from the buyer

So why charge an hourly rate for ID checks?

(And FWIW, the Property Ombudsman requires the EA to download a copy of the Title Register - if available - for each property they sell. That requires a £3 disbursement. They don't normally add that to the seller's bill. So they're already absorbing that as a disbursement.) 

user1977

YoungBlueEyes said:

Wasn't there a recent thread on here about something similar? And the answers were varied but a consensus of 'don't pay the EA, it's not their job, their making stuff up for more money, they're not trained to do anything like that, this is a solicitor's job and they're required to do it anyway'.

But now it's - well it's only a few quid, just pay it.

Hmmm. 

Indeed, why not just charge buyers for everything else - £120 for a viewing, etc.

They're providing a service to the vendor, the vendor should be paying.

eddddy

user1977 said:

Indeed, why not just charge buyers for everything else - £120 for a viewing, etc.

They're providing a service to the vendor, the vendor should be paying.

Arguably, the '£60 fee model' might be even worse than than that.

It's a way of 'forcing' buyers to speak to the EA's recommended conveyancers.

A bit like the EAs who 'force' buyers to speak to their recommended mortgage brokers.


(And if the buyer then 'signs-up' with the recommended conveyancer - I expect the EA gets a few hundred pound referral fee.)

YoungBlueEyes

I wonder when it started, EA's charging for checks? I'm guessing it's not a legal requirement or they'd all have to do it. We bought this place last summer and I bought my previous house 4 years ago, neither time were we asked/told to pay a charge like this. 

As it's a sol's work already, how can EA's decide they want to do it first and pass you the bill?

housebuyer143

When i worked in an agent we only did AML checks if we were unable to verify the ID using conventional methods, as in driving license and proof of address...
Not sure if they are just lazy now and skip right to the AML but I wouldn't pay it either - if they need to do it then include it in the sellers costs. In the past I have just provided the EA with aforementioned documents and there was no problem.

eddddy

YoungBlueEyes said:

I wonder when it started, EA's charging for checks? I'm guessing it's not a legal requirement or they'd all have to do it. 

It's a legal requirement to do AML checks. But obviously, it's not a legal requirement for EAs to charge buyers for them.

A recent ad-hoc / unscientific poll by 'Estate Agent Today' (an EA industry news website) said that 17% of EAs who responded  said they currently charge for AML checks (but they didn't say how much)...

A poll at the bottom of the story asked readers if they also charge for these checks.

A majority of 72% said no, while 17% said yes and 11% were considering it, suggesting 28% of respondents either are or could start charging buyers and sellers.

Link: https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2023/2/reader-poll-do-you-charge-for-aml-checks

(But the poll might be very inaccurate - as anybody who visits the website can vote. Even if they're not an EA and just being mischievous!) 

YoungBlueEyes

Interesting. Thanks eddddy