Estate Agents wants proof of funds to buy property!

[Patsy10red]

We have put in an offer on a property which has been accepted. The EA.,
who we have not yet met is a very patronising chap and seems to think that a woman should be baking and cleaning and not dealing with a house purchase. He has now asked for proof that the funds are in hand.

Am I legally obliged to comply with his request?

Having sold a property eighteen months ago we are in the fortunate position of being cash buyers. However, the funds are not in one account
but several so that if the banks/building societies fail we would not lose our funds.

When we sold our house we did not request proof of funds, we believed the buyer.

Am I just angry because of his condescending attitude?

Help!! Any advice and info will be much appreciated.

[redfairy]

Yeah this is completely normal OP. Glad it's put your mind at rest. Good luck with your house purchase.

[TurquoiseDress]

Yes it seems pretty normal now, regardless of who you are/whatever

When we put an offer in last summer, we had to forward the mortgage AIP to the EA.

They requested the details of our mortgage broker and made contact with them!

I was quite surprised but I suppose they were doing their job of checking us out as serious contenders.

Would've drawn the line at revealing our true deposit/budget.

Didn't get the property in the end, vendor changed their mind and withdrew it from the market

[Patsy10red]

My first post on mumsnet and I have been overwhelmed by the speedy response. Thanks so much it has been much appreciated. It does appear to be the norm. now which has surprised me.
Nice to hear that I am not on my own when feeling uncomfortable about divulging such info. to the EA.
My solicitor is going to confirm to sad EA that funds are readily available
and we will await his reaction tomorrow.

[Parker231]

We were cash buyers for our current property but still had to supply evidence of funds. I thought it was standard now. Why do you think this is a problem?

[2014newme]

Normal
Nothing to do with baking. Estate agents want to sell houses they are on commission. They aren't being mean to you because you are a woman.

[Hullabaloo31]

We had to show to solicitor but not to estate agent.

[adriennewillfly]

I say this all the time - apologies for being a broken record. Use your solicitors and mortgage brokers to assure the EA that you are being truthful, without giving out unnecessary info.

[omnishamblesssssssssssssss]

It's normal

[adriennewillfly]

And when you show an EA your mortgage offer in principle, they do exactly the same thing - use that information against you. If your letter shows you have more buying capability, the EA will do their best to utilise it.

A good EA is working to get the best price for their customer (and you are not their customer). Yes, they also want to actually sell the property, but if they know that you can spend more, then they'll do their best to get more!

[FrenchLavender]

This is standard practice for cash buyers and I don't think it's an unreasonable request any more than asking for proof of a mortgage offer in principle.

[adriennewillfly]

I would recommend getting your solicitor to confirm you are a cash buyer and can afford the property, rather than showing bank statements.

I don't trust EAs in the slightest, and the less info they have on you, the less they can use to screw you over.

[wowfudge]

Three pages in and the OP hasn't been back...

[littlemissneela]

Having just bought a house this year, it was something our EA asked for. I guess they get people putting in offers who don't have the funds to actually proceed. Its nothing to do with you being a female - my dh was the one who dealt with the EA's

[Equimum]

We have just accepted an offer in our house and placed an offer on another. The morning after we verbally accepted an offer, our EA called to say that he had spoken to the buyers FA and they had confirmed that they should be able to get the mortgage. Similarly, the morning after we had our offer accepted, we had an email confirming the offer had been accepted, and stating that the EA had consulted with our FA that we already had a mortgage in principle that would cover the cost of the house.

[m0therofdragons]

We had to prove funds 10 years ago. Completely normal and makes total sense.

[NoShitShylock]

Completely normal - the estate agent works on behalf of the vendor and in checking your funds verifies your position and this protects their vendor.

[OhTheRoses]

We've paid cash for the last two houses and both times our word has been taken. I think the agents' words were "are you being serious you don't need a mortgage for this property". Mine "yes, really - we've sold through Savills the last couple of times - do you want to give them a call. Oh, and do you want me to get the bank to write to you?". Estate agent - would you mind, for the sake of due diligence. I know they phoned Savills, agent told me he enjoyed the call but was cagey so they didn't steam in for an increased offer. These things work two ways.

[Nyancat]

I would be cautious about if you have cash funds significantly in excess of your offer I don't know if I would trust them not to use that information to try and put pressure on you to increase your offer. On the other hand the way round that is to be very firm at sticking to your offer and refusing to go any higher. Or alternatively provide to your solicitor and they can confirm to EA

[micah]

I wish our EA had been that thorough £10k do do what, exactly?

As it turns out they didn't have the funds readily available, and on the day of exchange informed us that they only had 3% deposit, not the usual 10%, as had been agreed and contracts drawn up for.

EA just shrugged and said 'well we didn't know either", despite presenting them as buyers needing to be in ASAP it took 5 months ffs I thought it was what I was paying them for, to check this sort of stuff.

I'd have found another buyer had I known they were going to pull that stunt.

[Bluntness100]

We bought s couple of years ago, predominantly a cash buy with small mortgage on top and yes we provided proof of funds to our solicitor who I assume then either provided to the sellers solicitor or the estate agent. It's nothing to do with the fact you think he's an arsehole. You can provide to your solicitor if you prefer.

[specialsubject]

The proof of finance is to show you aren't a timewaster who will cost others money.

May be worth being a little bit less over sensitive.

[MissDuke]

43 I genuinely never thought of that!

[MissDuke]

We have a cash buyer buying ours and the EA requested proof of her money being available prior to marking our house as sale agreed. She brought it in the very next morning. We just made an offer on another property and were asked to show them our mortgage AIP. Definitely normal!

[SquinkiesRule]

Our conveyancing solicitor had all the proof of cash for us, we told the EA that the solicitor had our proof and he could ask him if he wanted proof we were cash buyers. He never asked again.

[43percentburnt]

Regarding security imo The biggest risk is not checking a potential buyer has cash/mortgage agreed prior to a viewing not giving the estate agent a copy of your bank statement. Anyone could say 'I have cash'.

I don't fancy a random stranger wandering around my home figuring out entry/exits, where burglar alarm sensors and my valuables are. Yes a burglar may provide an agreement in principle or a cash statement but it's a lot of effort for them.

Its a shame agents normally only request proof at the point of offer not prior to viewing.