Selling house fee

pope

Selling my buy to let property  estate agent wants to do Third party anti money laundering check charging £60 what would they need to check I'm not the buyer. Does this sound normal as £60 is a lot?

Thanks

Emmia

pope said:

Selling my buy to let property  estate agent wants to do Third party anti money laundering check charging £60 what would they need to check I'm not the buyer. Does this sound normal as £60 is a lot?

Thanks

In the grand scheme of your property value and sale fees you'll pay to the agent  £60 is probably tiny.

The check would look at the source of funds for the buyer.

Edit: But, OP if you want to know what it includes and involves ask the estate agent.

david29dpo

Seems to be an increasing trend. Not sure if its even legal. Just another overpriced money grabbing fee as far as i can see.
As a buyer i would never pay an agent anything.
Thought that was the job of the buyers solicitor. 

pope

david29dpo said:

Seems to be an increasing trend. Not sure if its even legal. Just another overpriced money grabbing fee as far as i can see.
As a buyer i would never pay an agent anything.
Thought that was the job of the buyers solicitor. 

Exactly this what I'm thinking agent will need to look at werè deposit has come from for buyer. I am the seller just does not make sense.

I have talked to the agent about this fee he says its a legal requirement if he does not do the check he can be fined. I don't know if that is correct.

david29dpo

I am sure someone will be along soon to say if its legal or not.

david29dpo

• Why Buyers Shouldn't Pay:

  The legislation doesn't mandate that buyers pay for AML checks, and it's considered a "shady practice" for agents to charge buyers for checks that are a legal requirement for the agent. 
  
  Just found this.

eddddy

pope said:

Selling my buy to let property  estate agent wants to do Third party anti money laundering check charging £60 what would they need to check I'm not the buyer. Does this sound normal as £60 is a lot?

Often, it's part of a 'cunning plan' to sell you conveyancing services.

Essentially, you're often paying £60 in order to get a sales call - and so the estate agent can get some commission.

Sometimes, it might go this: you'll be phoned by the 3rd party company, you assume that they're doing compliance checks - they ask you lots of questions - and they'll use your answers to help them sell you conveyancing services.


Here's a snippet from a website by a company that offer 3rd party AML services, which seems to be explaining to estate agents how they use compliance (AML) checks to sell conveyancing:






If you want, you can say you won't pay the £60 - and if they insist, you'll go to another estate agent who doesn't charge £60.

Or if you've already agreed to proceed with this estate agent - did they tell you about the £60 fee before you agreed?

user1977

No different from adding fixed fees for doing the photography etc. Yes it’s legal, I’m not aware of any restrictions on how EAs put together their tariffs. Just compare the total costs against their competitors.

pope

eddddy said:

pope said:

Selling my buy to let property  estate agent wants to do Third party anti money laundering check charging £60 what would they need to check I'm not the buyer. Does this sound normal as £60 is a lot?

Often, it's part of a 'cunning plan' to sell you conveyancing services.

Sometimes, it might go this: you'll be phoned by the 3rd party company, you assume that they're doing compliance checks - they ask you lots of questions - and they'll use your answers to help them sell you conveyancing services.


Here's a snippet from a website by a company that offer 3rd party AML services, which seems to be explaining to estate agents how they use compliance (AML) checks to sell conveyancing:






If you want, you can say you won't pay the £60 - and if they insist, you'll go to another estate agent who doesn't charge £60.

Or if you've already agreed to proceed with this estate agent - did they tell you about the £60 fee before you agreed?

I have not agreed to proceed or sighned anything yet. There reviews online compared to the other agents are really good they have 200 positive Google reviews. But at the same time there selling fees are an extra £500 more than other agents.

eddddy

pope said:

I have not agreed to proceed or sighned anything yet. There reviews online compared to the other agents are really good they have 200 positive Google reviews. But at the same time there selling fees are an extra £500 more than other agents.

Most estate agents fees are negotiable. You can try saying something like "if you price match the other estate agent, I'll go with you".

What about their other contract terms - how do they match up with other agents' contracts..?

• Presumably, it's payment on exchange / completion
• Is it true "no sale, no fee"?
• What's the minimum contract period?
• Is it "sole agency" or "sole selling rights"?
• Is there a "ready, willing and able buyer" clause?
• Are there withdrawal fees - or any other fees in any circumstance?

Put another way,  don't just read their contract thinking about what you have to pay if they sell. Think about other outcomes as well, for example...

• it turns out they are useless, and you want to change estate agents
• you decide not to sell - before accepting an offer (e.g. due to a change in your circumstances)
• you decide not to sell - after accepting an offer (e.g. due to a change in your circumstances)
• your buyer pulls out

What fees would you have to pay in each case, how long would you have to wait etc?

Bookworm105

david29dpo said:

I am sure someone will be along soon to say if its legal or not.

the agent is legally required to perform anti money laundering on both seller and buyer

it is a contractual matter who the agent tries to pass that cost on to, be that seller or buyer, or they may choose to cover it from their non itemised fee 

all comes down to bottom line total cost charged 
you may as well quibble over the other charges such as CHAPS fee etc