According to one UK independent mortgage intermediary, two of his clients had already met and sorted out a mortgage deal with him, yet were subsequently pressured by estate agents when viewing properties. The estate agents claimed that they could get the buyer ‘a better interest rate’ than what the broker had arranged, despite not knowing what that rate was.
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The intermediary told Mortgage Introducer that after the buyer initially rejected the estate agent’s offer of a meeting with its in-house adviser, he was reportedly called four times in what was described as a ‘harassing’ manner. The buyer eventually relented and saw the adviser in order to prevent further phone calls being made and to ‘get them off their back’. The buyer was also concerned that if they did not see the in-house adviser, they would get a second rate service, and would lose out on a sale to another buyer who had seen the adviser.
The intermediary, who asked to remain anonymous, said that regulation of the estate agency sector could not come soon enough.
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He explained: “It is this sort of activity that gives this industry a bad name. As soon as estate agents are regulated the better. There are good and bad ones everywhere, as in all business, but the problem is that they can’t seem to take no for an answer. If the buyer tells them that they’ve got a mortgage deal sorted out elsewhere that should be the end of the matter.”
Samantha Bennett, spokesperson at the FSA, said: “The mortgage intermediary needs to understand that the house buyer needs to know the information about the property and as long as they give the Key Facts Document at the right time the process should be smooth.”
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