To be surprised this estate agent wasn’t sacked?

Estate agents are among the most corrupt and despised "professions" if you can call them that. I would not trust any of them as far as I could throw them. They are robber barons.

A relative of mine had a series of issues against them with her rental flat. When she threatened to go to their regulator (pointing out they could be fined or even struck off) they quickly backed off.

I'd be asking what their fee reduction will be for the damage to the market reputation of your house

Yes this. I'd definitely pubically call them out. It's all pubically played out online so no way to deny it. See how what a hilarious laugh it is when they ate they are the subject.

There is another thread running, an independent Estate Agent took a photo a
family had on the wall of their deceased baby and posted it on her family FB page captioned “it’s dead”. And now this!

I know you are not stating this as truth, how could you, but could there be a suggestion that there might be a level of moral deficiency in this industry. I know that is a huge generalisation and there are bad characters in all professions but….!

Stupid response

Having a tv on a wall is more grim than a picture of two people having sex.

Terminate contract before any viewing takes place

These people have keys to your home! The idiot who created the photo could be hosting viewers

@Easack either they take it seriously and they sack the person who did it, or they think it's a joke.

If the latter, I wouldn't want them marketing my property. I'd also be posting online about how unprofessional they are and leaving a very poor review.

This. Absolutely.

🥲

A few years ago, during a funeral service in my local area, a pornographic film was accidentally shown on the big screen. It was made worse by the fact that it was a very large funeral for a young father and his baby, tragically killed in a road traffic accident. I can’t remember the exact details of the investigation, but I think city council staff were found to be responsible. I’m guessing they were dealt with appropriately, but in your case who knows.

I’ve bought and sold many properties and my experience of estate agents is not the best. I value honesty, and it’s sadly lacking in that profession in my experience.

You have worryingly low standards. Nobody expects the estate agents to be caring. But they expect them to be professional.

Wouldn’t have thought they can afford to cut their commission

most only charge 1%

tell them you want out without any come back from
them and a redund on any cost incurred

I would suggest to the EA that they have breached your trust and therefore you are terminating the contract

I would change estate agent as I would no longer trust them. Losing business is the only language they will understand.

that's fair enough but getting a new EA on board will take a while, new photos, further costs etc.

a discount in commission % might be worth several thousand pounds.

for one naught photo, on a Facebook listing, now removed.....

presumably the OP wants to get the house sold and move sooner rather than later so there's merit in being pragmatic with this.

most EAs are target driven and financially motivated. they are not, as a class, known as a particularly thoughtful or as a caring profession. a necessary evil if you will, I see little merit in dwelling on this one

I am not surprised that the person kept their job. It's an estate agent, you should presume the worst to begin with.

The sooner we have proper regulation of estate agents the better.

A discount? I would have wanted to break the contract with them immediately and use someone else.

Yes course it was silly and unprofessional

fair enough, what would you suggest the OP does next?

I wouldn't want to have them sell my house after that. I fear the trust would be broken. Not sure if you can get out of the contract you signed with them but considering what they did I am sure it would be a mutual thing.

I would not want them making money off my house sale.

I hope you have something in writing about their conduct in fact I would probably email them to reiterate my dismay at their behaviour so that I would have something in writing from them. Then I would leave a review of what happened on any website you checked to show what kind of people they are.

I would expect the estate agent to be sacked as a minimum. Surely creating and publishing indecent images is against the law, which is what has happened here, and this image was viewable by the public at large. That includes using digital alteration.

Really odd attitude.

If I did anything like this in my profession, my feet wouldn’t touch the ground on the way out the door.

Think about it from the OPs perspective. She tells her “funny family story” to a friend, who tells another friend, who tells another. Which of those friends do you think will then give the EA a wide berth when they come to sell?

Why would you have a total liability with no judgment in your office; an accident waiting to happen, that directly impacts your business.

some posters here haven't read the op carefully.

they stuck a porn picture on the TV, that was visible in the living room photo. subsequently removed.

expecting people to be sacked is mad.

just speak to the most senior person, explain what a stupid thing this was to do, see if you can get a fee reduction, or refund for any photos paid for.

if thats not enough change agent.

once the house is sold this will just be a funny family story

You don't have any control over what they do about the situation but you do have control over what you do as a result.

They have no doubt breached their contract so personally I would terminate the contract out of principle.

They obviously haven't taken reputational damage seriously so a fair and honest review wouldn't go amiss