How can I tell if Estate Agent is real and property being advertised exist?

Baggypuss

I am a 1st-time buyer. About 2 yrs ago I saw an advert for a dream property on Zoopla, but only being advertised by an estate agent in London about 60 miles away from the property with no website for me to check. There were only 3 photos of property on Zoopla (front of house, living room and kitchen). At the time I was in no financial position to buy. However, early this month I googled the same property and found it being advertised on Propertyhead (not on any other websites) and being advertised by a different estate agent in London again with no website but poor online reviews, with only 2 photos I previously saw but they were slightly fuzzy. A couple of days afterwards, the property was no longer advertised (could not google it). Is there a way to find out whether the estate agent is real (legally operating)? Whether this property exists as there were too few photos (description of modernised bathroom, garden on Zoopla 2yrs ago)? Is there a way to find out the location of the property (- I have been to the road, but could not locate it) and to ask whether the property is still on sale (is it possible to ask if owner would sell)? I apologise for asking so many questions as I am quite anxious about being scammed. I would appreciate some responses.

housebuyer143

This sounds like a scam. If you can't find it on the road, it isn't on Rightmove and the agent doesn't have a website, then I wouldn't trust it.

sheramber

Did you ask any of the residents if they knew the house from the photograph?

Jonboy_1984

How did you get the street name, one of the agents round here have a habit of placing their map pins two or three streets over from the actual address. 

Given the number of poaching letters from other agents and buying agents we got (starting) from within 48 hours of our flat going live I kinda wish ours had…


This does sound like a scam though.

user1977

What's the name of the agent? If they exist they're likely to be a limited company, in which case they'd exist on Companies House (and their business premises would be traceable, along with some sort of track record of other properties they've sold)

But taking a step back, how do you think you would be scammed? As a buyer, you don't pay money to the estate agent - so if anybody asks you to do that (even if they appeared reputable), you're being scammed.

You can try a reverse image search of the photos in the listing and see if that reveals any clues - the scammers who pretend to be landlords just lift the pictures from real listings.

eddddy

In the 'bad old days', some dodgy estate agents would advertise 'non-existent' properties (or properties not on their books) to make it seem like they were bigger and busier than they really were.

The goal was to get more enquiries from sellers and buyers.

But the regulations are much tougher now.

I guess it could still be that somebody is doing this to try to establish an estate agency business - but if so, it sounds like they're doing a bad job.

Baggypuss said:

Is there a way to find out whether the estate agent is real (legally operating)? 

By law, all estate agents must be registered with a Redress scheme - there are 2 of them, the PRS and The Property Ombudsman scheme


You can search for members of the PRS here: https://www.theprs.co.uk/consumer/members/

You can search for members of The Property Ombudsman Scheme here: https://www.tpos.co.uk/find-a-member

Baggypuss

That is sound advice.  Thankyou very much. I will check the PRS website.

Baggypuss

sheramber said:

Did you ask any of the residents if they knew the house from the photograph?

I did not think to ask. Sounds like a good idea.

Baggypuss

Jonboy_1984 said:

How did you get the street name, one of the agents round here have a habit of placing their map pins two or three streets over from the actual address. 

Given the number of poaching letters from other agents and buying agents we got (starting) from within 48 hours of our flat going live I kinda wish ours had…


This does sound like a scam though.

I got the street name on zoopla 2yrs ago and Propertyhead early this month. Maybe I should ask an estate agent in the local area about this property.

mi-key

You can always contact the agent and ask to view the property. The only way they could scam you really would be if they tried to charge you something for a viewing. Estate agents don't take any money from the buyer, the seller pays them via their mortgage lender / solicitor.

Robbo66

property portals such as Rightmove and Zoopla can only be advertised on by agents and the membership costs are high, in some cases £000s per month