Conveyancing Explained

In October 2008, all Estate Agents selling residential property must be members of an Estate Agents’ Redress Scheme. Such a Scheme has to be approved by the Office of Fair Trading.

There are currently two approved estate agents redress schemes. In June 2008 the OFT approved the Ombudsman for Estate Agents Company Limited’s estate agent redress scheme.

The scheme has been put in place because recent research by the OFT has found that there is a high level of customer dissatisfaction with estate agents, but those who are dissatisfied find it difficult to complain and gain redress when problems do occur.

The purpose of the approved redress schemes is to deal with a range of complaints about estate agents relating to their acts or omissions in relation to a Home Information Pack (including providing advice as to whether a Pack is required) and to award redress where complaints are upheld. In addition, the approved redress schemes will have to pass information to Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading regarding misconduct.

All estate agents must join an approved scheme by October 2008, failing which they can be fined or ultimately banned.

Make sure when instructing your estate agent that you check whether they are members of an approved scheme and if so, which one. Check how you can seek redress in the event of a complaint that is not dealt with to your satisfaction through the company’s complaints procedure.

SEE MY NEW ARTICLE – 8/9/2008 ON ESTATE AGENTS’ REDRESS SCHEME

OK, so being in the business already and for a period of eight years, I’m not going to name estate agents in the Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton on Tees areas whom my clients have had bad dealings with, because I want to give a totally unbiased view (although there is more than one agent that I wouldn’t instruct). All I will say is that during the conveyancing process in Teesside, it’s not uncommon for clients to pay three thousand pounds commission for a service provided by the estate agents and to find that the solicitor is never actually contacted by them.

A good estate agent should make regular update calls to both the buyer’s solicitor and the seller’s solicitor to find out what stage has been reached and what is still outstanding. They can then contact whoever is holding the transaction up and try to hurry things along. Some agents will do this every couple of days, some every week, every two weeks, every month or, as I have often found, never!

This as you may appreciate, can really help the process along. The estate agent can often negotiate price reductions more quickly for example, as they do this via telephone, whereas the solicitors will write to each other and negotiate in writing. An estate agent should be able to provide you with regular updates as to the progress reached by the other party in the transaction. A conveyancing solicitor is only really able to comment upon the stage reached by you, although they may have been provided with some information by the other party’s conveyancing solicitor. An estate agent is more likely to know whether the other party has search results, mortgage offer in place etc. if they are in regular contact with the solicitor.

If you’re selling a house, the estate agent should;-

1) Give you written confirmation that you have instructed them to sell.

2) Give details of their commission fees and tell you when you will have to pay them e.g. if they are to be your sole agency, then they should tell you that you still have to pay their commission if you sell through a different agent. If you agree to sole selling rights, they should tell you that you will still have to pay them if you sell the house privately.

3) Not discriminate against someone who wants to buy your house but who doesn’t want to apply for a mortgage through them.

4) Tell the buyer whether you are taking the house of the market when you have accepted an offer.

Bear in mind that although some agents may offer a lower percentage in terms of commission, they may not be the agent for you if they cannot give your property maximum exposure to potential buyers. Do they seem to be selling many other properties in your area? What will the costs of advertising be? Are they advertising properties on sites such as www.rightmoves.co.uk or www.fish4homes.co.uk, both of which are pretty popular with potential buyers.

If you’re not happy with the service offered by your estate agents, then bear in mind that you can dispute their bill. To do this, you really need to be making a note of whom you speak to during the transaction, the date, time and what you’re not happy with. You might be able to negotiate a reduction in their fee if you don’t think that they have actually done what they told you but you need to check the agreement which you signed with them.

If you want to do this, then you really need to let your conveyancing solicitor know so that they don’t just pay the estate agents automatically on completion. Obviously, it is much easier to negotiate if you are withholding monies rather than if you have already paid them!

There is an Ombudsman for estate agents who you can contact regarding complaints; however, many estate agents are not members of the Ombudsman Scheme and you should check this out before you sign a contract with a particular agent.

SEE MY NEW ARTICLE – 8/9/2008 ON ESTATE AGENTS’ REDRESS SCHEME