The Property Ombudsman has released its latest findings as related to complaints against estate agents in 2010. Their Annual report was published on 16th March 2011 and can be viewed at the TPOS website.
Essentially, the report outlines the fact that there has been a 41% rise in people expressing dissatisfaction with estate agents. Previously Christopher Hamer, the Ombudsman, had predicted that one-third of his workload would be taken up with complaints against sales agents, while the other two thirds would be taken up by complaints against letting agents. According to this report, though, for “one-third”, read “half”. That’s right – 50% of complaints arriving at the Ombudsman’s office were about sales agents. And, even though property transactions are down to half the level they were in 2007, complaints are running at a record high.
Even though Mr Hamer says he ‘can offer no explanation’ for this increase in complaints, that explanation is staring us in the face. Property prices have dropped, leaving homeowners with less equity than expected. So for the moment, moving house doesn’t seem like such a great investment.
But at the same time estate agents are raking in big profits from their growing fees. The average estate agency fee in the UK is 3450 based on the typical property value of 180,000. LSL Property Services, owners of Your Move and Reeds Rains; and Connells, another large chain of agents, have just reported profits of 28 million and 46 million respectively.
On closer investigation, it appears that high street estate agencies have been pushing up their fees to compensate for reduced sales volumes, and those fees are taking great chunks out of whatever equity homeowners have managed to cling on to these past few years. And this goes some way to why home sellers might just be a tiny bit narked at having to pay thousands of pounds into an industry famous for substandard service and sky-high fees. If the market’s been moving in the right direction, it’s a lot easier to bite the bullet and pay that four-figure sum to get your house sold. But since the market’s been moving in precisely the wrong direction and any equity you may have had is now just a happy memory, coughing up thousands of pounds for a sub-bargain-basement selling service can be a painful experience, to say the least.
And this, Mr Hamer, is the explanation you can’t offer: the reason there are so many more complaints against estate agents – even though the market has shrunk considerably – is that we the people are no longer standing for shelling out huge sums of money and getting very little in return. We are fed up with supporting a business that is, in the main, unregulated … where there are few – if any – qualifications required to start in said business … and because of those and other factors, the standard of service is unacceptably low.
If Mr Hamer can’t offer an explanation, what chance is there of his offering a solution? Probably nil, but there is one: avoid high street agencies at al costs, and go online. You’ll save yourself a fortune by using an established internet estate agency. eMoov.co.uk, for example, has testimonials on its website from people who’ve had excellent service while they’ve been selling their house – and all for a fraction of what an offline agency would charge. Are you listening, Mr Hamer? Mr Hamer? Hello? Is anybody there?
eMoov makes it easier for you to sell your house online. You can sell your home fast and with the benefit of cheap estate agents fees. All properties are added to UK’s top 25 property websites including Rightmove and Prime Location, to reach 170 million buyer visitors each month. Plus as Internet estate agents, their low cost service reaches millions of people 24/7.
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