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Buy To Let

Two thirds of movers had estate agent trouble

Lucinda Beeman
Written By:
Lucinda Beeman
Posted:
Updated:
10/10/2014

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