THE HOME BUYING PROCES S MAKING AN OFFER TO PURCHASE A PROPERTY
Are you a first-time buyer or someone looking to move home? Either way the home buying process can be stressful and time consuming. You take the time to search for suitable properties and book viewings. You see a financial/mortgage adviser to establish the price range of affordable homes within your budget.
Eventually you find the ideal home, it meets your requirements and you need to report an offer to the selling estate agent. How do I make an offer, what amount should I offer & how does the estate agent deal with the process? All key questions, however, it is most important at the stage to proceed with caution and make sure you are aware of your consumer rights as a buyer. There are many excellent and reputable estate agents in the market place however a small number may try to imply that for your offer to be taken seriously you have to purchase other services provided by themselves.
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This isn’t the case. The law stresses that an estate agent must swiftly forward all offers within 24 hours and follow this in writing to the vendor. The exception is where the seller has requested in writing that the agent does not to forward any offers under a specific threshold. Anything other than this is rather aptly regarded as a breach of the estate agents (Undesirable Practices) (No 2) Order 1991, the law clearly forbids “discrimination against a prospective purchaser by an estate agent on the grounds that that purchaser will not be, or is unlikely to be, accepting other services provided by the estate agent.
YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF 7C OF THE CODE OF PRACTICE FOR ESTATE AGENTS:
7c. By law you must not discriminate, or threaten to discriminate, against a prospective buyer of the seller’s property because that person declines to accept that you will (directly or indirectly) provide related services to them. Discrimination includes but is not limited to the following:
1 Failing to tell the seller of an offer to buy the property.
2 Telling the seller of an offer less quickly than other offers you have received.
3 Misrepresenting the nature of the offer or that of rival offers.
4 Giving details of properties for sale first to those who have indicated they are prepared to let you provide services to them.
5 Making it a condition that the person wanting to buy the property must use any other service provided by you or anyone else.
Furthermore, the Estate Agents Act requires agents to pass all offers made for a property on to the seller in writing immediately.
The buyer is not obliged to provide any proof of identity, proof of deposit or proof of mortgage at this stage to the agent. If this is what the estate agent says is required before reporting an offer, they will be in breach of the EAA.
Any flagrant breach of these rules is a very high-risk strategy since you are well within your rights to instantly take them to the ombudsman. In fact, the Office of Fair Trading can bar any estate agent who fails to comply with the 1991 Order or continues to make such claims.
Happily, every estate agency must now belong to one of two ombudsmen that allow for redress or compensation when things go wrong- the Property
Ombudsman
www.tpos.co.uk or the alternative (and confusingly named) Ombudsman Service: Property at
www.surveyors-ombudsman.org.uk/
Working with a good financial adviser/mortgage broker will be invaluable as they will support you throughout the buying process, not just at the application stage.
For further information please contact Peter Hunt on: 0121 503 0961
www.moneywatchfinance.com
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THE MIDLANDS PROPERT Y GUIDE MONE YWATCH F INANCE
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