Estate agent asking for 'finder's fee'. Is this normal in London?

[mouldyironingboard]

My adult DD is trying to buy her first home in London. She put an offer on a flat but the estate agent has said that there will be a 1% 'finders fee'. I have never heard of this and, after an Internet search, found that the agent is not registered with any professional associations, if that makes a difference.

Is DD being ripped off by this shark or is this a normal part of the process?

it's not been part of my experience of buying property in London, but would be interested to know if that's always the case (I'm not some kind of property magnate!) Shouldn't the estate agent be making their commission from the vendor?

That's what I thought. I've only heard of the seller paying a fee.

There was an article about this in the guardian a few days ago - Link here

Totally outrageous.

I've bought a few times in London. Its not part of the process and I've never had to do it and I've bought recently (last 6 months) and in the 2007 boom.

DD is going to withdraw her offer as the extra 1% fee is too expensive on top of stamp duty.

I agree that it is completely outrageous.

Yeah I read that Guardian article too and was incensed. The agents selling our house have not exactly earned their fee and been very difficult to communicate with - and as buyers we would flatly refuse to pay this charge. It's definitely not industry standard in London and if I was in your DD's shoes I would continue to look through other agents. There's always more property on the market and the more buyers refuse to pay this ridiculous fee the less appealing sellers will find it. Hope she gets somewhere soon.

She should contact the seller, let them know that she was interested in buying the property but has decided not to as a result of their agent (who is being paid by the seller) seeking to get an additional payment from them.

I think that's a good idea, I'll suggest it to her as the seller is unlikely to be aware of the extra fee being asked from her.

Ha, I love this reader's comment on this article "Estates Agents - looking to have their cake, eat it and shit it in the buyers face"

WTAF? No way is this normal. It's basically a back hander to the agent. I'd definitely tell the seller and get that agent sacked pronto.

In my experience it's normal where a property developer is buying a place cheap. E.g probate never put on the market properly developer gets it massively under asking. Agent gets a big back hander from developer.
But not for a normal purchase.