can an estate agent do this?

alison123 | 23:15 Wed 16th Jul 2008 | Property

36 Answers

I sold my house nearly a year ago now. The sale was handled through an Estate Agent, it was on the market for under a day and i never actually got any brochures printed although photos of my home were taken. It was sold to a guy whos intent was to add it to his portfolio of property. I have just been told by a friend that my house is now back up for rent but all my furniture, car etc (the original sale pictures that were taken of my home) is on the Estate Agents Website. Is this right that they can do this?

force of sale

Rental Aggreement

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888sally888

Another good idea mrs chappie is to ask a friend whose taste and judgement you trust to come over and be honest because when you live in a house you dont notice the little stuff and problems.

Its funny the things that put people off. My funniest was one applicant who loved the house but not the amount of dog poo on the lawn!! YUK. I have kicked many pairs of pants under beds before now too!!

alison123

Question Author

By the way i will post their response on here tomorrow if anyone is interested.

888sally888

sorry alison for my ramblings - good luck and let us know what happens but i really think they should re-photo. I wonder if maybe the tenants have made a mess?!

zig - female, estate agent, audi = sound!!

alison123

Question Author

Oh dont worry about it Sally, kill a couple of birds with one stone! All makes interesting reading and if it helps others then all the better. Will post their answer tomorrow!!

mrs.chappie

I bet you could tell some stories Sally. I know what you mean about the poo on the lawn, when we moved into our current house the lawn was absolutely covered in it - horrible! (It wasn't there when we viewed though, thank goodness).

Do you have any thoughts about folk trying to sell their house themselves (not through an EA)?

My OH has been thinking about trying this, but don't know how we would put a value the house - it feels wrong to get an EA to value it if you're not gonna use their services - kinda sneaky.

888sally888

To price your house look on RightMove and do some comparisons. EA are used to valuations without getting the house to sell so dont feel bad about that.

Some sales and purchases are very complicated with a long chain. I must admit I would use an EA but negoatiate a good fee!

alison123

Question Author

That was something i wish id done with it being up for less than 24 hours, cost me a couple of thousand and they didnt even do anything, a girl who worked in the estate agents already knew the guy who eventually bought it so she just told him it had come on the market so how sneaky is that!! I just wish id got a board made up. I was fortunate though to live in a really popular new build area where they were selling fast. If you dont want to get an EA in to value it, have a look at property around you to get a rough idea for what it is selling for. You have nothing to loose, just make sure you use a good solicitor to deal with legal side of things.

alison123

Question Author

Right Move is where my old friend found my house re-advertised lol !!

mrs.chappie

Thanks for the advice Sally, and to Alison & jno too.

I don't mind having to pay, it just seems like such a lot of cash - one per cent is gonna equate to two thousand pounds for us. And I have got a feeling that our house might sell quickly (but not as quickly as Alison's!) as all the visitors we've had have commented on what a lovely house it is, and it is in a supposed "desirable area" and in the catchment area of a very popular school - blimey I think I'm turning into an estate agent meself!!!

This house sounds so nice I just might buy it again! lol.

alison123

Question Author

I would definately negociate a price with them. Play them off against each other and go with the best Agent. Again, good luck, hope your home sells really quickly! Your sounding very Professional there, may have to start calling you Sally !!! lol. Nite nite x

mrs.chappie

I've rang three agents Alison, and they have all said they charge one per cent selling fee. I know everyone has it to pay, but if (like in your case) I did get a real quick sale, I don't seem to get much for my money! (No offence to Sal, hope she understands where I am coming from!)

888sally888

lol I am not offended at all!!

Also say you will do all your own viewings - unaccompanied viewings dont use up the EA's time so maybe they would reduce fees for that too.

redcrx

as jno said, dont leave valuables about when veiwings occur.

Mind you, my propery is on market empty. I asked estate agent to ensure no-one is ever left alone in there and yet someones still managed to steal the plug off of the chain in bath!

alison123

Question Author

No offence to Sally here but it just goes to show how dodgy Estate Agents can be. You pay extortionate amounts of money to them, ensure them with your home and things still manage to get stolen. What sort of low life would enter somebody's home and choose to steal a plug!

Well my initial post regarding the pictures of my home being shown on the EA website, i called them this morning and told them i was unhappy about it, they apologised and said it most certainly shouldnt have happened and that they would remove them immediately. They called me back to confirm that they had been removed, however upon checking the site they were still on, i called them back for them to be quite off hand with me, they wanted to know why my friend (who initially told me that they were on) hadnt contacted them with regards to the rental??? They dont seem to get the point, why should i have had to pay the amount of money i did for them to market my home and they continue to use my pictures for someones elses benefit. Still hours later they are still showing on the site and i am now in the frame of mind if they do not remove them (after all it is showing all my personal possessions) i will be seeking legal advise about it. It seems a very very unproffessional way to run a business.

redcrx

not sure what site its showing on but certainly rightmove often change details overnight rather than during the day.

Ive just changed mine and i know it wont be on web until tomorrow. It now reads "may require bath plug". lol

I cant believe they were rude to you about it at all, id be tempted to send all sorts of people in to waste their time :)

alison123

Question Author

Lol, nice one about the plug!!!!

Im very tempted to get my friend in to view it and go back to them and say it was nothing like it was on the website and that they are very misleading lol. No wonder they have the reputation they do. Its actually their own website that is still showing my details so all she told me about it talking a couple of hours to remove is pure b$ll. They can upload them straight away so surely they can delete them straight away.

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