Buy To Let
Two thirds of movers had estate agent trouble
Nearly two thirds (60 per cent) of people who bought or sold a property in the last five years had an issue with their estate agent.
According to research by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) the biggest complaints revolved around communication skills. Some 21 per cent of people had worked with an estate agent who either never called them or wouldn’t stop, while 14 per cent felt as though their agent “didn’t care about them”.
Others complained that their estate agent hadn’t disclosed know problems with properties like damp (13 per cent), made promises to them that were never followed through on (11 per cent) or exaggerated property descriptions (10 per cent). Nine per cent of people accused an estate agent of being outright dishonest.
Mark Hayward, managing director at NAEA, said: “Buying a property is the biggest purchase and financial commitment of your life, and can be an overwhelming experience. It takes a lot of hard work and research to ensure you are ticking all the right boxes, and no doubt people come across many challenges along the way. An estate agent should really be there to help this process, not hinder, and therefore the choice of which agent to go with is an important one.”
See the chart below for the ten most common complaints:
| Complaint | Per cent who have experienced it |
| Bad communication – calling too little or too much | 21 per cent |
| Buyer or seller felt as if the agen didn’t care about them | 14 per cent |
| Not being informed about known property faults | 13 per cent |
| Making promises they could not keep | 11 per cent |
| Being too pressurising | 10 per cent |
| Exaggerating a property description | 10 per cent |
| Overpricing a property | 9 per cent |
| Feeling as if the agen was dishonest | 9 per cent |
| Agent being mis-or poorly informed | 8 per cent |
| Not being able to contact the agent | 8 per cent |
