An estate agent has blown the whistle on certain practices carried out by the firm she works at.
Stating that these alleged practices tend to benefit the agent only, the woman told the Telegraph that one involves offering a £1,000 incentive to the buyer if they choose to use mortgaging and conveyancing services ‘in-house’.
However, this incentive is actually taken from the offered price received by the vendor.
This supposed tactic of using an incentive is less well-known than, for example, putting pressure on a buyer to use a particular conveyancing or other service involved in a property transaction.
Telling the newspaper that for agents, selling mortgages was now the priority, she went on to state that many vendors were being put off high bids from buyers with independent mortgages, despite offers being submitted.
Named by the paper as ‘Jenny’, the estate agent said that the majority of people will opt for a more certain offer, even if it’s a few thousand pounds less.
According to the Telegraph’s report, a vendor may only choose to accept offers which the agent has ‘financially verified’, which Jenny stated enables them to reject independent buyers from the offset.
