The issue of conditional selling in estate agency has hit Westminster.
There have been several reports in recent months about agents requiring potential buyers to speak with their in-house mortgage broker before an offer is passed on to a vendor.
This practice of conditional selling contravenes the Estate Agents Act 1979 and a Labour MP appears to have latched onto the issue.
Shadow transport minister Tan Dhesi issued a written parliamentary question last week that asked whether the Housing Secretary “has made an assessment of the level of compliance of estate agents with the Estate Agents Act 1979 in general and specifically with regards to conditional sales and the use of in-house mortgage advisers.”
Housing Minister Rachel Maclean replied: “We continue to work closely with the National Trading Standards Estate and Lettings Agency Team who oversee the enforcement of the Estate Agents Act 1979, including issuing of warning and prohibition orders and monitoring of agents' disclosure of referral fees for third-party service providers.”
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Yes, this practice has been happening for years. Primarily with the large corporate agents where the employees are instructed to carry out this practice by the "powers that be" within the firm but when they get caught they blame it on lack of training and will implement this to address this issue. Then it all goes away and they start again.......it will never be rectified....PERIOD!
In the late 80s, the banks and building societies bought up estates agents, to become the corporates we know today. They did it to promote financial services. Many negotiators rely on commission from referrals, as their basic salary is so low. It encourages hard selling. It should not include conditional selling. On one hand, it is responsible to ask a would be buyer to talk to financial services, but not to make it conditional on whether or not a offer is submitted.
The financial position of all buyers should be qualified prior to them viewing anything. Proof of cash funds is also useful. This way buyers are not wasting anyone's time including their own.
Has the Modern method of auction con hit Westminster yet?
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