Reduce the Stress of Moving By Choosing the Right Estate Agent

 Research clearly shows that moving house is one of the most stressful things we can do. When we are living in such a faced-paced world, facing a cost-of-living crisis, the lasting legacy of the pandemic, and a European war on our doorstep, most of us are already more stressed than is healthy. Did you know that choosing the right estate agent can help reduce the stress of moving?

When it comes to one of the most expensive purchases we are ever likely to make – the roof over our heads – let’s look at some of the facts and figures relating to estate agents.

No formal regulation for estate agents

It may surprise you to know that anyone in the UK can call themselves an estate agent and set up a business selling and/or letting property with little or no experience and no formal regulation. Whilst many agents do have professional qualifications and belong to professional bodies such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Property Mark or the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) there is no legal requirement to do so.

In contrast, in the US, real estate agents or ‘realtors’ must be a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR), licensed by the State(s) in which they operate and a member of a local real estate association. To achieve their realtor licence, they must undertake at least 70 hours of training and keep their knowledge and skills up to date, renewing their licence every two years.

Whilst the vast majority of estate agents in the UK are decent hard-working people like the rest of us, there have been enough rogue traders out there over the years to have established a distrust of the profession as a whole amongst the general public. Indeed, many of us have a horror story to tell about hidden charges, withheld tenancy deposits or an alarming lack of transparency across the board. This all emphasises the importance of choosing the right estate agent in the first place.

Fluctuating commission rates on house sales

Estate agents also have a bad reputation thanks to wildly fluctuating commission-based fees. In 2023, you can expect estate agent fees to range from 0.9%-3.6% of the total cost of your new home according to the Homeowners Alliance. This means anywhere from £2,655 to £10,620 for the average house sale.

If you live in an area where there are only one or two local estate agents who have the lion’s share of the local property market, then it may also feel difficult to haggle when it comes to the commission they charge.

Lack of trust in estate agents

As a result, the trust we place in estate agents has been steadily decreasing in recent years. According to the most recent findings from the Ipsos Veracity Index, the profession placed twenty-seventh out of the thirty professions included in the survey, only beaten in the race to the bottom by government ministers, advertising execs and politicians in general!

Currently, the only redress we have with residential estate agents is via The Property Ombudsman (TPO) and the Property Redress Scheme. All estate agents dealing with residential properties in the UK and letting agents or property managers in England and Wales must register with one of these two schemes or face a £5,000 fine (or a possible revocation of their licence in the case of Welsh lettings agencies and property managers).

Whilst both schemes have a formal complaints procedure, they do not have the authority to take legal action against agents nor dictate how they do business. There are also limitations in terms of the types of complaints they can consider which are detailed at the links below. As such, you may still need to take an estate agent to Court or refer them to Trading Standards if things go wrong.

The following consumer information links are also useful:

https://www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/consumer-guidance

https://www.theprs.co.uk/Resource/Consumer

Raising standards in the industry

To raise standards across the profession, the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) Working Group was established in October 2018 and produced a report highlighting its recommendations for the sector in July 2019. This included:

• An independent property agent regulator.
• A single, mandatory and legally enforceable code of practice for property agents.
• Minimum entry requirements and continuing professional development for property agents.
• Clarifying the processes and charges for leaseholders.

Unfortunately, the recommendations are still being considered by the government, with no timeframe for the creation of the new regulator or the introduction of minimum standards and qualifications.

Whilst we wait to hear what the results of the RoPA recommendations will be, one way to avoid any nasty surprises when it comes to estate agency fees is to go down the route of a fixed fee by using an online estate agent such as Yopa or Purplebricks who will do the same job for a more competitive rate. However, as you would with any competitively priced high street agents, always ensure that any low fees quoted by an online agent include all the essential aspects of the sale which you would expect so you aren’t paying more for so-called ‘optional extras’.

What should your minimum expectations be?

As part of the fee they charge, any estate agent that you choose should always undertake the following tasks as standard.

• A valuation of your property.
• A written description of your property.
• Provide accurate floorplans.
• Provide professional photographs of your property.
• Install a ‘For Sale’ sign.
• Contact their existing list of potential buyers with details of your property.
• Market your house via online property portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and On the Market (and ideally at least two of these big hitters).
• Organise and manage viewings.
• Negotiate the sale price on your behalf.

We hope this information helps you and that choosing the right estate agent if you are buying, selling or renting a property will make the whole process a little less stressful!