AIBU to say estate agent is breaching GDPR and taking the P*ss

[helloyouminx]

Long story short, our house has been on the market for a few weeks and despite lots of viewings, we have had no offers and whilst I know we will be a little biased, all the feedback we have had on the house is positive (it's recently redecorated, extended and carpeted throughout) and we feel that the current Estate Agent hasn't been as motivated to sell our property since 1)We have relinquished our interest in another property they are selling 2)They have had more listings closer to where they tend to operate.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there, we have decided to go with another EA and gave the current one 2 weeks notice. In the meantime we have had around 7 more viewings and nothing...

DH called current EA today to confirm it would come off the market tomorrow as per the notice period. EA tried to convince him to extend and then said that he would send us a list of all the names of people who have viewed our property so far to pass onto the new EA so that if they come back via the new EA and make an offer, he still gets his commission!!! DH has refused but the EA was insistent he will be sending a list.

Surely that's not our problem and upto the two EAs to talk about in the event it happens, and surely a breach of GDPR for anybody who has viewed???

That's standard within estate agency - there will be a period of time once your agency with them has expired in which they can still claim their commission for any introduction they made that subsequently goes onto purchase. You then pay their commission rather than your new agent

I think it’s usually written into the contract that way to be honest, I know ours was when we sold.
If someone goes through the second estate agent that also came through the first we would have had to pay twice as technically it was the advertising from the first one that they saw.
I’m not sure if there is a way around it other than only allowing people who haven’t viewed before to view form this point onwards

Thanks for the reply
I do understand that, my issue is more about the passing of customers names. We have no idea who views our property as he has conducted all the viewings so surely the onus is on him to send this info over to the new agent (he knows who this is!)

Yes, it's standard.

Yes, totally standard. Just forward it onto your new EA. They will know how to deal with it.

Wow, I had never realised that.... so if the new estate agent secures a sale from someone who has viewed previously, I could possibly be liable to pay both agents their fee?! (will dig out the contract!)

There's been at least 3 viewings where the EA has said that they are shaping up to make an offer on the house and then they've vanished into thin air, so a new EA/ photos etc might prompt them to return?

I can see it initially seems odd from a GDPR perspective. You might want to check your contract with the first EA to see how they addressed referrals/commissions/changes in EA and GDPR. It seems odd for you to be given these individuals' contact details rather than the new EA though I suppose you could have chosen to self-market hence would be responsible for complying with any contractual obligations with respect to commission and those historical viewers and might need to know if your ultimate seller is one the first EA originally attracted hence you owe the first EA commission. Your GDPR responsibilities with respect to those individuals' details will hopefully be set out in the contract with the first EA and/or covered when they give you their details. If not then they might be skirting on thin ice with respect to GDPR.

Good luck with the sale.

I think that’s a terrible part of EA’s and I do wonder if it breaches the newer data protection laws as surely they don’t give their details to one estate agent for them to be given willy nilly to any other you move too.

I’d be pissed off as the possible buyer maybe I didn’t buy it because estate agent bully boy was a dick and I couldn’t be doing with dealing with such an arse but I like estate agent angel who are fabulous so now I would go forward I wouldn’t want to pay bully boy just because he showed me it first.

Slightly different but we sold our house last year and every time we had a viewing we saw the full names of people viewing it...it's standard practice and not in contravention of GDPR I suppose??

Yes, there is a risk of being liable for two lots of commission. It's not entirely unreasonable as, if you are on a commission contract with your EA they are putting in the work to sell your property with the risk they'll get nothing if it fails to sell and you take it off the market.

You might want to get in writing in advance from your new EA how they will handle commission if the ultimate sale is to someone the first EA introduced so, if possible, you avoid being liable for two full commissions.

Thanks everyone, this is all really helpful.

It's ok for the EA to make contact with your new EA with a list. It is NOT ok to use you as an intermediary. This is a breach of GDPR.

It will be on the contract that you signed, if it's anything like the ones we have signed in the past it will have the details on there - and possibly a time limit, eg 6 months from when you changed agent.

Are you still going to change agent?

@ChicCroissant
Yes either way we are changing agent.

Please read every word on both sides of page of contract you sign as the small print is also legally binding. Point out any objection to anything on it and cross it out with signature by you and agent regarding ''cross out''.

Well... teaches me not read through these things before signing!

Another reason to have proper regulation of estate agents. Allegedly Mr Blair backed out of doing this by being persuaded it would restrict competition- which makes me wonder what some EAs are up to.