Identity check/money laundering

Scrappycoco

Looking at a property with EA, get an email if I want to proceed as a buyer then I must buy their £75 Mover Protection Insurance Policy to be able to proceed. The company will then ask this insurance company to do my ID checks.

Surely this cannot be legal?

dunstonh

Never heard of that before.  Seems a bit dodgy.   If the vendor wants that protection then they can pay for it.   I don't see why you would need to pay for it.

ACG

You always think Estate agents have reached the lowest they can get and then all of a sudden they find a new way to lower the bar. 

There is no requirement for any insurance policy. 
Speak to the vendor, let them know you are making an offer but their agent is making you buy an insurance policy in order to proceed. See if they are ok with that or if they are happy their agent is risking losing a buyer so they can earn an extra few quid. 

Once all is said and done, report them to NAEA and put it on all social media and see how they like being called out on it. 

dunstonh

You can also make a complaint under the FCA complaints process.   The sale of insurance is regulated.   Forcing you to buy something that is not required or wanted would almost certainly breach regulations.    

Scrappycoco

ACG said:

You always think Estate agents have reached the lowest they can get and then all of a sudden they find a new way to lower the bar. 

There is no requirement for any insurance policy. 
Speak to the vendor, let them know you are making an offer but their agent is making you buy an insurance policy in order to proceed. See if they are ok with that or if they are happy their agent is risking losing a buyer so they can earn an extra few quid. 

Once all is said and done, report them to NAEA and put it on all social media and see how they like being called out on it. 

I am going to report them now. Threatened to when the agent showed me around, but she just smirked!

amnblog

Ah the 'Smirk' that well know rapport building technique in sales.

Scrappycoco

     

Ah the 'Smirk' that well know rapport building technique in sales.

  

Scrappycoco

Oh dear. Happened again.

After sending a complaint to the Ombudsman about the first EA, I have just made an offer on a property another EA -  Online Estate Agent - wont mention which one incase it is not allowed.

Get to the end of the Offer only to find that if my offer is accepted then I am expected to pay £60 this time for the same insurance policy just to ID me. (they are not stating it is an insurance policy, just an ID check)

It is an insurance company who are just after selling conveyancing, mortgage brokers, movers etc at greatly inflated prices.

Not sure as I cannot find it but I saw a post - which I thought was on this thread where some gave information of how to ID check for around £4 or so. OR - cannot they just go to my solicitor who has already ID check me. - Driving license, passport and utility bills`?

Can anyone shed any light on the matter.

K_S

@scrappycoco On broker forums, I've heard of Leaders (and some other EAs that are part of the same group) do this during the COVID market frenzy, though I haven't come across it recently.

From the services that I've come across for businesses that need to do online IDV for their clients, it costs between £2.50-5 per individual with most of them. Charging anything more than that is just a naked cash grab.

I don't blame buyers at the end of their tether going along with it but I wish more would just refuse to pay these kind of charges and take the effort to flag it to the vendor, raise a formal complaint and take it to the property ombudsman (might not get a result but would still make them think about it).

Scrappycoco said:

Oh dear. Happened again.

After sending a complaint to the Ombudsman about the first EA, I have just made an offer on a property another EA -  Online Estate Agent - wont mention which one incase it is not allowed.

Get to the end of the Offer only to find that if my offer is accepted then I am expected to pay £60 this time for the same insurance policy just to ID me. (they are not stating it is an insurance policy, just an ID check)

It is an insurance company who are just after selling conveyancing, mortgage brokers, movers etc at greatly inflated prices.

Not sure as I cannot find it but I saw a post - which I thought was on this thread where some gave information of how to ID check for around £4 or so. OR - cannot they just go to my solicitor who has already ID check me. - Driving license, passport and utility bills`?

Can anyone shed any light on the matter.

user1977

Same advice as before - it's fair enough to provide ID to them, but it's their client (i.e. the vendor) who should be paying any fees involved. Otherwise where does it stop? You pay the estate agent for their time showing you around the property?

dunstonh

Get to the end of the Offer only to find that if my offer is accepted then I am expected to pay £60 this time for the same insurance policy just to ID me. (they are not stating it is an insurance policy, just an ID check)

For reference, I use electronic ID checks.  It costs £1.70 plus VAT.   
The vendor is paying x% of the house price to sell the property.   Minor costs involved should come out of that.   Charging the vendor and then charging the buyer £60 for a couple of quid transaction tells you all you need to know about this estate agent.

Also, electronic ID checks can be avoided if manual ID is available.  e.g. Passport or photo Driving Licence.
However, these online estate agents are cheaper for the vendor and it appears they try to recover some of the margin via the buyer and ancillary services.