CHOOSING YOUR ESTATE AGENT-PART ONE

What must I look for in an Estate Agent?  Do they have a website?  Is it easy to navigate Are they members of a recognised professional body, i.e. National Association of Estate Agents?  It should be noted that estate agents are not legally required to have any formal qualifications to be or practice as an estate agent. Are they members of the relevant Ombudsman Scheme? Do they give a professional and businesslike image? Do they have Professional Indemnity Insurance, should they make a serious error or if they are negligent? How long has the firm/company been in business? What areas or districts does the firm/company cover?  Are they local or have wider or national coverage. What methods of communication do they use, i.e. telephone, e-mail, text messaging, fax, post. What are their terms of business? What do they do for

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Health Warnings about Home Information Packs-Its a Trap for the unwary

Consumers are warned that  Estate Agents may use the Home Information Packs (HIPs) legislation to tie-in hundreds of thousands of property sellers thereby creating a situation comparable to the sole agency agreement critisized by many industry professionals.

Home Information Pack – Why has it had an adverse effect on the property market?

 Before I consider the question, I think it is important that we understand exactly why the Government wanted to bring in reforms to the property market and, in order to do this, we must travel back in time – nearly 10 years – when the property market was very buoyant and some unscrupulous sellers were increasing the prices of their properties just before exchange of contracts (gazumping).  It was considered that doing something about this practice may make the government of the day popular, however, it was soon discovered that gazumping was only affecting 2% or less of the market.  This clearly resulted in a re-think and it was suggested that, because a number of properties fall through just prior to exchange, there were considerable abortive fees incurred, payable to the lawyers and, therefore, that something had to be done

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Rights of Occupation

Last week I had an interesting problem that needed to be solved before a transaction was ready to exchange and complete. The facts briefly were:- a) The occupant is in the property and is there rent free for seven months b) The occupant was the survivor of a co habiting couple who were not married c) The deceased partner did not leave a will and the executor was one of the deceased surviving children d) The executor was selling the property to a third party and the surviving partner was to sign a tenancy agreement so that the sale was able to proceed e)At the last minute the partner refused to sign any agreement and demanded a payment to leave