Estate Agent ID Check Charge

LLM000

Is it common practice/ legal for estate agents to charge you for ID checks when putting an offer in on a property? They said they were not able to check ID's themselves anymore and it had to be done through a separate company who validate IDs at a cost of £60 I think for the 2 people purchasing the property. Has anyone else been made to pay this fee/ is it legal/ is there a way around it?

DE_612183

How hard is it to look at a passport and say - thats ok?

No, I don't think this sort of charge is fair...

Practice guide 81: encouraging the use of digital technology in identity verification - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

propertyrental

walk away and use different EA. Tell them why.

DE_612183

propertyrental said:

walk away and use different EA. Tell them why.

They are buying not selling - if they walk away from the EA they walk away from the property they want.

user1977

Leaving aside how much the charge ought to be - why isn't it being paid by the EA's client, like all their other fees?

LLM000

DE_612183 said:

propertyrental said:

walk away and use different EA. Tell them why.

They are buying not selling - if they walk away from the EA they walk away from the property they want.

Yes this was our worry, we wanted the house so didn't want to walk away. On reflection I think we could have tried to contest it more and see if they would have made a waiver otherwise would have lost our offer.

LLM000

user1977 said:

Leaving aside how much the charge ought to be - why isn't it being paid by the EA's client, like all their other fees?

Good point! I don't know.. we just paid it without contesting which I regret now and just pondering now as I am totalling up all the costs we have paid so far..

fiish

I did the same as you, paid £75 for the ID check without thinking too much about it, although the agent for my purchase required it only after the offer was accepted. I think I got conditioned by the years of renting before tenant fees were banned

I do regret it slightly, but not hugely - compared with the rest of the moving costs (solicitor fees, surveyor fees etc) it hasn't been big enough to make a big fuss over.

LLM000

fiish said:

I did the same as you, paid £75 for the ID check without thinking too much about it, although the agent for my purchase required it only after the offer was accepted. I think I got conditioned by the years of renting before tenant fees were banned

I do regret it slightly, but not hugely - compared with the rest of the moving costs (solicitor fees, surveyor fees etc) it hasn't been big enough to make a big fuss over.

Thanks for sharing your experience! Agreed, compared to the other costs it is a drop in the ocean but equally it is a bit of cash I would have preferred not to part with and seems extortionate for a simple ID check!

p00hsticks

user1977 said:

Leaving aside how much the charge ought to be - why isn't it being paid by the EA's client, like all their other fees?

They probably have had to pay a similar or even higher fee  - either overtly or as part of the overall fee - to have their own id's and ownership of the property checked out. 

Why should they then also have to pay for every individual who wants to make an offer on their property - especially as the more realistically they price their property, the more offers they may potentialyl get.  

theartfullodger

LLM000 said:

Is it common practice/ legal for estate agents to charge you for ID checks when putting an offer in on a property? They said they were not able to check ID's themselves anymore and it had to be done through a separate company who validate IDs at a cost of £60 I think for the 2 people purchasing the property. Has anyone else been made to pay this fee/ is it legal/ is there a way around it?

Thank them kindly for their generous offer (use these words), explain you've never met them before and are unsure of their bona fides and also require to ID check them: Same price.  How could they say no??