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Original poster

Estate agent - is this shady?

36 replies

amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 16:52

An estate agent wanting to sell our property quoted us 160£ + VAT for the EPC. Spoke to another estate agent who says it’s 90.

is there an actual reason for the discrepancy, or are the estate agents looking to make some money off the top? If so, is this standard practice? Feels a bit cheeky

OP posts:
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Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 31/05/2024 17:02

Malbecfan · 31/05/2024 16:33

@amijustbeingsuspicious the EA smarmed round our buyer to get them to sign up to sell their place in the days when you could put in an offer before you had gone on the market. Because they got another fee from them and weren't getting anything more from us, they were given the red carpet treatment. Unfortunately for us, MiL chose them as it was her place, but DH owned it. They were "a good local film" in her eyes. They were lying bastards in mine. The best was when I rang up to say that unless the buyer exchanged that day, we were pulling out and they replied they only took instructions from Mrs Fan (MiL). I'm also Mrs Fan as I took DH's surname and took great delight in telling them that I was Mrs Fan, I had DH's authority which they knew, and to get onto their "favoured" client pronto to get the exchange happening. Solicitor rang 25 minutes later to thank me for prodding them into action. Massive complaint about their unprofessional behaviour and half the fees written off. As a result, when we sold our own house a few years later, we did it without an EA.

Oh wow - thanks for sharing! I definitely think I’ll be writing a review about these guys when this is over. You’d think people would just want to sell but they do seem to want to play God a little 😀

OP posts:
Malbecfan · 31/05/2024 16:33

@amijustbeingsuspicious the EA smarmed round our buyer to get them to sign up to sell their place in the days when you could put in an offer before you had gone on the market. Because they got another fee from them and weren't getting anything more from us, they were given the red carpet treatment. Unfortunately for us, MiL chose them as it was her place, but DH owned it. They were "a good local film" in her eyes. They were lying bastards in mine. The best was when I rang up to say that unless the buyer exchanged that day, we were pulling out and they replied they only took instructions from Mrs Fan (MiL). I'm also Mrs Fan as I took DH's surname and took great delight in telling them that I was Mrs Fan, I had DH's authority which they knew, and to get onto their "favoured" client pronto to get the exchange happening. Solicitor rang 25 minutes later to thank me for prodding them into action. Massive complaint about their unprofessional behaviour and half the fees written off. As a result, when we sold our own house a few years later, we did it without an EA.

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 31/05/2024 15:16

Malbecfan · 31/05/2024 15:15

Do not use the same EA as the seller. It might be better for them, but it won't be for you. Sadly I have experience of this, but luckily for me, I had a solicitor who wasn't afraid to put a rocket up them.

What happened in your experience to make it worse ?

OP posts:
Malbecfan · 31/05/2024 15:15

Do not use the same EA as the seller. It might be better for them, but it won't be for you. Sadly I have experience of this, but luckily for me, I had a solicitor who wasn't afraid to put a rocket up them.

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 31/05/2024 15:06

Also he was trying to say the photos would cost 500£ and the photographer who came today said it’s half that

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DistinguishedSocialCommentator · 31/05/2024 15:05

They can ask for what they like- shop around - we had one rental house done in London last year f0r 70 quid - LA wanted 130 - average price was around the hundred

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 31/05/2024 15:03

I actually just wanted to update on here to say the estate agent has turned out to be extremely petulant. We are trying to buy a house from him, and:

  1. when we told him we were using a different agent to sell, he literally hung up the phone and
  2. he has repeatedly said he thinks he would be able to sell us the house we want IF we use them. Eg the seller would also really like it.

feels like bullying.

OP posts:
mumda · 28/05/2024 21:48

I've just paid £50 for an EPC..

Wordsmithery · 28/05/2024 20:57

I've had experience of estate agents doing really dodgy stuff so this sort of thing pales into insignificance by comparison. I agree it's annoying, though, and you should vote with your feet if it's unacceptable to you.

samestyle · 28/05/2024 19:48

It's because the estate agent doesn't do the EPC themselves, they are referring you to a company that will pay them commission for the referral, most of them do this, its cheaper to find your own local EPC person directly, just tell them, you will do your own. All they need is the details directly available on the government website and that doesn't cost them anything to find out.

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 19:41

Itwillallbealright · 28/05/2024 19:21

https://www.gov.uk/selling-a-home/energy-performance-certificates#:~:text=An%20EPC%20gives%20a%20property,is%20valid%20for%2010%20years.

He would have known even if he hadn’t sold your property. You can look it up online. I was really annoyed when I found out that the estate agent was telling me I needed one, rather than advising that I may not. It felt deceitful

Thank you for this. Deceitful is the word!

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Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 19:41

LlynTegid · 28/05/2024 19:35

Do you want to do business with someone who tries to rip you off? I wouldn't.

No, that’s how I feel that’s why I was curious but lots of people on here think it’s just business. I feel it’s a bit misleading and short sighted as they want to sell our house but now I just don’t trust them.

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Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 19:40

bows101 · 28/05/2024 19:33

Every EA is different. They try it for every penny they can get. Regarding payment of photos, again that is individual to each EA. If you want a higher quality picture to sell for more/hit more customers then it may be worth it, compared to the EA who sends a 19 year old round to do it on an iPhone. Nothing shady, just how the business works.

But again, the estate agent charging less for EPC and fronting the photo cost is one of the upmarket ones - so I’m confident their photographer will be good!

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Itloggedmeoutagain · 28/05/2024 19:38

Think i paid 60

LlynTegid · 28/05/2024 19:35

Do you want to do business with someone who tries to rip you off? I wouldn't.

bows101 · 28/05/2024 19:33

Every EA is different. They try it for every penny they can get. Regarding payment of photos, again that is individual to each EA. If you want a higher quality picture to sell for more/hit more customers then it may be worth it, compared to the EA who sends a 19 year old round to do it on an iPhone. Nothing shady, just how the business works.

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 19:16

Itwillallbealright · 28/05/2024 19:13

The Energy certificate is valid for 10 years since it was last done, so if you moved into the property you are now selling, less that 10 years ago, you won’t need a new one in order to sell. My estate agent who I last sold through, wasn’t forthcoming with this information and only when he was trying to justify the price of the Energy certificate told me ‘but it will be valid for 10 years’. He then looked disappointed that he had used that as a selling point when I told him I had only moved in 9 years prior.

Omg this is amazing thank you! We only moved 4 years ago (with this same agent and man so he would have known that information!)

I know what everyone is saying re shopping around I’m just surprised that the more “downmarket” agent is Charging almost double and wanted us to pay for photos upfront

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Itwillallbealright · 28/05/2024 19:13

The Energy certificate is valid for 10 years since it was last done, so if you moved into the property you are now selling, less that 10 years ago, you won’t need a new one in order to sell. My estate agent who I last sold through, wasn’t forthcoming with this information and only when he was trying to justify the price of the Energy certificate told me ‘but it will be valid for 10 years’. He then looked disappointed that he had used that as a selling point when I told him I had only moved in 9 years prior.

Paperthin · 28/05/2024 19:06

Just go with the cheaper EA. Or if you’d like to use the most expensive agent, you could always try to negotiate price down and say you’ll go with them if they price match.

….this doesn’t rankle with me as much as the surveyor who came twice to our house ( first sale fell through) and as he’d already surveyed the property, sat in his car out side the house and then presumably intended to charge the same surveyor cost again to the second buyers.

bananaramaterry · 28/05/2024 18:58

@amijustbeingsuspicious because one agent thinks they're worth it and not the other.

Createausername1970 · 28/05/2024 18:57

It's not "shady" as such. You will need an energy report and they have given you their price to get one carried out. It's up to you who you use to get it done. Some people will shop round to get a better price, others will decide to go for it as it's less hassle.

Our car went in for a service to the main dealer. One of the things that needed doing was not urgent. They quoted a cost, but we said no thanks as we knew our local garage could sort that cheaper. Doesn't mean the main dealer was shady.

Original poster
amijustbeingsuspicious · 28/05/2024 18:57

Cinai · 28/05/2024 18:54

I don’t think it’s shady, of course they will take a cut if they go through the trouble of arranging it. Unless they told you that they offer this service for free and you just pay their supplier, it’s their right to charge for the service they offer. As much as it’s your right to compare quotes and go with the cheapest one.

But why would one agent charge a fee for this and not another? It doesn’t seem competitive. They also wanted us to pay upfront for photos which isn’t the market norm

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Cinai · 28/05/2024 18:54

I don’t think it’s shady, of course they will take a cut if they go through the trouble of arranging it. Unless they told you that they offer this service for free and you just pay their supplier, it’s their right to charge for the service they offer. As much as it’s your right to compare quotes and go with the cheapest one.

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