Spot a dodgy estate agent
A recent YouGov poll found that almost two out of three people do not trust estate agents, and 43 per cent believe they earn too much money for the work that they do.
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the only professionals involved in the house-buying process who do not need to meet any training or competency standards and are completely unregulated.
Don't let a rogue estate agent waste your time, effort and money. Use this guide to the truth behind some typical estate agent lies:
- "We give preferential treatment to sellers who use our legal and mortgage services." It is illegal for any estate agent to make it a condition of the sale that you use their services and an estate agent who discriminates against you because you decline their services is breaking the law. And any estate agent worth his/her salt should be able to work quickly and efficiently with any lender, solicitor or broker.
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"I can recommend a broker who has access to the best mortgage rates and a solicitor who knows the local market." Don't listen to this twaddle: the estate agent has no idea about what the best mortgage rate for you will be. And solicitors do not need to know the local market to do a good job. The reason estate agents say this is because they get a cut for referring you on. You'd be much better off asking friends and family for objective recommendations.
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"Trust me, a similar property on this road sold for £10,000 more last year." You don't need to trust the estate agent, you can find out the facts yourself from the Land Registry. All you need is the postcode of the property and you can look up the actual prices paid on that road recently yourself here, for free. Never forget that it is in the estate agent's interests to push the price up as high as possible, because their fee is usually a percentage of the price paid. This might seem like good news if you are selling a property, but it's you who are inconvenienced if your property takes months to sell because they valued it too highly.
If you have a complaint where you believe the estate agent has acted contrary to their duties under legislation, you should contact your local trading standards department or the Office of Fair Trading.
Watch our video on estate agents to find out more about what a good estate agent should be able to offer you. Or if you want a recommendation for a good chain, why not ask for tips from other lovemoney.com readers using our Q&A tool? Or add a tip of your own to the comments box below!
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