Review: Estate agency
Estate agents and financial advice by Martin Reynolds,
chief executive, SimplyBiz Mortgages
August and September seems to be the time when we hear about the same issues as the previous year but could the outcomes finally be different in 2013? Te below may actu- ally not be true this year: - Te mortgage market always goes quiet in August - Te government launch an- other housing initiative - Arsenal will sell their best player to a Manchester club - Te summer was a wash out weather wise Tere is one niggle that
seems to re-appear on a fre- quent basis without any real resolution and this is the link between estate agents and fi- nancial services. A few commentators have
mentioned it in articles re- cently and I have seen twitter feeds discussing it. Tat is the perceived inference that an estate agency will not submit an offer unless the prospective purchaser is seen by their in- house mortgage adviser. Without wishing to get into
the debate about whether this really happens or is a myth from a disgruntled adviser who has lost a client, I thought it may be worth setting out a few facts so that we are all
7c. By law you must not
discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a pro- spective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide related services to them. Dis- crimination includes but is not limited to the following: z Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.
z Telling the seller of an offer 10,000 and Growing
We are now at 10,000+ reservations for the government’s Help to Buy equity scheme. This is a good news story and one we should be seeing as a positive. It has taken a while but we have a
22 MORTGAGE INTRODUCER SEPTEMBER 2013 Te above is very clear in
that the two parts of the busi- ness should not be linked. Section 8 covers financial evaluation. 8a. At the time that an of-
fer has been made and is being considered by the seller, you must take reasonable steps to find out from the prospective buyer the source and availabil- ity of his funds for buying the property and pass this infor-
government scheme that is working and delivering what it set out to achieve. I do get a little tired of seeing negative press about a success. Open debate is fine and in fact healthy but knocking something just to create a headline is in poor taste.
aware of the process and pro- cedures. Tere is a code of practice
for residential estate agents that
is published and moni-
tored by Te Property Om- budsman. Te latest code came into
force in August 2011. Within this there are guidelines and specific procedures for all as- pects of the sales process. Sec- tion 7 deals with the offer pro- cess. I have included clause 7c in full below for clarity:
less quickly than other offers you have received.
z Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.
z Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are pre- pared to let you provide ser- vices to them.
z Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.
“The house buying process is a stressful and at times fragile process so a clear, helpful path for both buyer and seller are required.”
mation to the seller. Such in- formation will include whether the prospective buyer needs to sell a property, requires a mort- gage, claims to be a cash buyer or a combination of these. Such relevant information that is available should be included in the Memorandum of Sale hav- ing regard to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Whilst it is important to un-
derstand how a potential pur- chaser intends to raise funds to purchase the property, this should be carried out in the spirit of section 7. If your clients do get the
feeling that any of the above are being breached then they should raise their concerns and with your help quote the relevant clauses. Copies of the code are available on re- quest from the estate agent. Te house buying process is a stressful and at times frag- ile process so a clear, helpful path for both buyer and seller are required. As an industry we do not need to muddy the waters. As I mentioned at the start
of the article I hope the chat- ter is all myth but if not then ensure you help your clients know their rights.
www.mortgageintroducer.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52