Property TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has criticised an estate agency in Cornwall for charging a property purchaser for ‘compliance’ in order to increase their chances of securing a property they are desperately trying to buy.
After discovering that Bradleys Estate Agents in Cornwall charge £70 for conveyancing, unless the buyer is using the estate agency’s conveyancing service, Allosp took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share her thoughts:
“Dear @bradleysgroup
“How can you justify charging a purchaser in this way, is this in the best interests of your client, the vendor? Surely you can read a bank statement and mortgage offer letter?”
Bradleys responded: “This is entirely legal and each company will have different systems/platforms to meet their legal obligations. We won’t comment on others charges, however these checks should be done by every estate agent and reports suggest they aren’t! This protects our clients and ourselves.”
Allosp, unsatisfied with the agency’s response, added: “Why are you charging buyers for these checks? Other agents don’t do this, If you want to charge your client, the seller, to do these checks that is fine, but why is the charge only applied if the buyer isn’t using your solicitor?”
The estate agency concluded: “You’ll find most estate agents are charging due to the increased requirements and obligations not to mention the time it takes. We don’t charge if they use our preferred firm because we have better communication and therefore more control and quicker completion timescales.”
Is Bradleys right? Does your estate agency charge for this service?
EYE has approached Bradleys for comment but received no response.
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