Estate Agent caught on camera

[Tickledyellowish]

Our house has been on the market since early November and progress has been slow. I have to chase for any sort of information. It feels like they don't actually want to sell our house. We have only had 3 viewings in nearly 3 months so they are not doing much. We are open to advice, have dropped the price once and would take contrive feedback if we were lucky enough to get it.
We have a video doorbell at the front of the house and a kitchen camera which is set up for our puppy, and we have snuck a peek at these to get an insight into the viewings. Whilst I am confident that there is no legal issue here (it's our private property) it does feel a little imoral. However, it has meant that i have seen the estate agent turn up 10 mins late to viewings, park his car on the only driveway space so visitors can't park anywhere, introduce our lovely home by showing them the inside of our very cluttered garage. I have heard conversations about our house which fail to show it in it's best light and comparisons with cheaper properties that fail to show a proper understanding of what us on offer. I'm really annoyed about it and i feel let down. I honestly think and i could have done a better job myself.
The thing is, do I let on that I've seen and heard these things? I feel like making them squirm a bit, or should I just quit anyway and leave quietly?
I am going to end my contract with them either way.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for your comments all. I have checked my rights and I am legally allowed to record my own property. It's public places that you have to put signs up...very different.
I totally appreciate that estate agent's sales role is different to other sales roles. I don't think they could persuade someone that was otherwise unconvinced, to buy a house. It's a very personal thing buying houses.
However, what I have learned is that you need to know your product. We live on an estate, where there are a collection of houses all the same design as ours. The Agents took one on around the corner that was £25k cheaper and I quizzed them about this as I didn't think this would help our situation. The Manager told me that it would actually help our case, as people could see the difference between the house left as it was from 20 years ago, or one that had been modernised - new kitchen, boiler, flooring. We are also in a quieter part of the estate, end terrace, bigger garden, garden office etc etc... The lady viewing over the weekend asked why ours was more expensive and the guy showing her around said 'that one needed a bit of work, that's it'. This does not sound like someone trying their best to sell a house!
We priced the house based upon their advice. In fact we got 4 valuations and went with the middle one. I have lowered it once. Surely, it's up to them to advise us what to do with the price. We are open to suggestions as a house is only worth what people want to pay for it.
I have to give 28 days notice, so I might tell them about the recordings to see if they might let me out of the contract early? It's worth a go.

However, what I have learned is that you need to know your product. We live on an estate, where there are a collection of houses all the same design as ours. The Agents took one on around the corner that was £25k cheaper and I quizzed them about this as I didn't think this would help our situation

It would never in a million years occur to me to 'quiz' an agent about other property they took on.

Is it the norm to do this?

Covid notwithstanding, its a slow time of year for selling and the market only really gets going after feb half term. I would ask for some honest feedback from your 3 viewers. With Rightmove you can see what other houses in the road/area sold for. Check out their decor etc. How does yours compare?
One parking space for a large house (where presumably any occupants may potentially have 2 cars) might put someone off if the garage appeared rammed and unusable.
You've nothing to lose by changing agents but you need to compare against other local properties and ensure your price is realistic.

Well, I just thought that it was a natural question to ask. Two houses the same design on their books, one was £25k cheaper! But that one was horrible.

I wouldn’t say anything about their poor job because then you might get repercussions for not telling them about the camera, but I would end the contract and use someone else.

There are agencies where you can do the viewings yourself - like Purplebricks etc. If you want to do that?

If I had a puppycam and an EA in my house, I don’t think I’d be able to resist having a look either . But yes, mention you have one to the next agent. It isn’t ok to be filmed at work without knowing it!

It's not great that they're late but maybe they'd contacted the viewers about it.
Also if they were late presumably the viewers had parked already so it wouldn't be an issue that they parked on the drive.

It's only three viewings and your leaving anyway so I wouldn't mention it but as a previous poster it does sound like your overpriced.

If you have a notice saying you have cctv, people must expect to be filmed.

Do check your contract, because they often have sneaky little clauses that mean your 28 days is actually longer. We got out of a contract early once, because I sent an email listing all the issues we had with the agent; not turning up at all, no feedback, arriving late, arriving with a prospective buyer when I had said we were having friends for dinner at that time.

In my experience, the big chain agents are not good. We had much better service with a smaller local agent with a few branches. They know the area much better and the one who sold our last house really took time and trouble to get to know the property.

You can negotiate the notice period down. I would try to stay on their good side, not mention the recording, tell them you have changed your mind about selling/are having second thoughts and ask for the notice period to be reduced to 2 weeks. I got out of my contract with an ineffective estate agent that way.

@FusionChefGeoff

Can you look at a purple bricks or similar where you do actually do the viewings yourself??

Please PLEASE don't use Purplebricks. I worked for them for a couple of years and left because I couldn't sit in someone's house and lie and deceive them. Worst company from an employee (supposedly self employed working for them but absolutely not) and from a customer point of view. For every few people who scrape through and have a positive experience there's 100 more who have essentially thrown their money away and wasted a lot of their time.

Please please please don't do it.

Terminate the contract, but don't go into details why other than no progress and wanted a new, fresh perspective.

I would guess Estate Agents from different companies often meet and chat about clients. You don't want to be one of 'those'.

@Tickledyellowish - the thing is, £25k more is quite a lot more. Someone already stretching themselves might think it more cost effective to go for the cheaper house and improve it themselves over time, rather than move into your house and be stuck with your taste of kitchen etc, and improvements that are already getting on in age. Your house will appeal to people who can genuinely afford it, who like your taste, and who don’t want the hassle of doing stuff themselves. You have maybe taken away the opportunity of easily increasing the value of your home further, but are not appealing to everyone’s tastes.

Only 3 viewings is not the fault of the agent showing people round it is die to price and photos.

Please tell them. Others may benefit from your comments, it could be that there are some of the agent's team who are the culprits.

And use it as a negotiating tactic to get out of the contract earlier.

I'd try to get out of the contract by telling them what you've seen. The longer they drag it on, the longer it is before you can market with a decent agent.
We made a poor choice with our agent too and 6mths later although we've sold STC, it's at a much reduced price and there's no after sales support whatsoever. I'm kicking myself for using them (they seemed 'nice' and what I actually needed was competent and pushy).
They seemed to do nothing at all to push my property, it was the only house they didn't put on their social media, I couldn't find it anywhere on their website either. Just a really poor service all round.

@LemonViolet

Goodness I’d definitely give this feedback!!! Their performance has been poor, it’s an honest review of their service.

Your video doorbell is right there, we all know how they work, the EA would be stupid to think you wouldn’t be able to see what they were doing. You’re not spying on your own property, I don’t see any moral issue here at all.

This!

But individuals do have universal privacy rights regardless of where they are. Please stop recording people without their consent!

Change estate agents and clean your garage. No need for the drama

I disagree that £25k is a lot more given the cost of renovation work. Unless your finished product is very niche and people might have to rip out your orange bathroom suite and purple kitchen units, I'd prefer a finished house and given the other features of your house that seems a reasonable difference. Can you get some feedback from the other estate agents that you didn't go with as to why it's not selling and what they could do about it.

Also I found when I gave notice that the estate agents suddenly managed to get lots of viewings and sold it before I moved on.

Finally, some estate agents do deals on the side, like taking money to get someone a good property at a reasonable price. Is there any chance they've got a seller that's got their eye on your property and they're not showing other credible buyers round while they'd advise you to drop the price again?

You need to end the contract and if you take on a new estate agent you need to tell them about the cameras. You may be able to film your property but you are not allowed to record people without their consent in a professional context. It's your home but it's their workplace when they're showing a property.

The market is very slow just now. We live in an area where properties usually sell quickly but they are taking months. There was an initial surge at the end of the first lockdown but then everything slowed.

I've been to a few houses where I've been deterred by the EA. One was so objectionable we simply didn't want to deal with them/give them any business.

They do sound crap. I'd say that a neighbour told you those things just to avoid any potential trouble but I would give feedback.

This is why i always do my own viewings on a house and negotiate the selling fee downwards with the EA.

Firstly, out the link up here as someone here might recommend your home to a friend. Also, people might tell you things you could quickly change or what rooms to show first etc.

I would be really annoyed with the EA for all the reasons you described! Ridiculous behaviour!

Apologies if I've misread but are you questioning the EA taking on another local property because of how it reflects on your house? ( The Agents took one on around the corner that was £25k cheaper and I quizzed them about this as I didn't think this would help our situation )

It is hard to hear somebody being impartial about your home but if I ask why another seemingly identical house is 25k cheaper, I don't need a novel on it. Knowing the other house needs works answers that question. Most buyers would go and look for themselves anyway.

It's also not their fault that the garage is cluttered. They're going to show that room anyway and in some ways it's better to do the worst room first and then replace that image with the better rooms.

If you're genuinely unhappy with the service then leave and start again with another EA. And if you're priced right, there's no merit in worrying about the house round the corner.

Thanks for your comments and mixed feedback. I do not think that I have done anything wrong by watching my own cameras, set up to film my own home. The next thing some of you will be saying is that burgulars could say that they were illegally filmed whilst stealing from my house - their place of work! Ridiculous!
I'll not be reading any more threads on this but thank you all for your constructive observations!

Hmm. It is possible that the estate agent has a far better idea of how to sell a house than you...