Nearly two thirds of buyers and sellers have estate agent problems

Nearly two thirds (60 per cent) of people who bought or sold a property in the last five years had a problem with their estate agent, research from the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) shows.

However, over a third of buyers and sellers (39 per cent) did not consider whether their estate agent was regulated, meaning their agent may not have been signed up to a code of conduct or have any regulatory body over seeing them.

Respondents’ biggest complaint was a lack of communication skills – either not calling back, or chasing them too much (21 per cent). A further one in seven (14 per cent) felt their agent didn’t care about them.

An additional 13 per cent claimed that their estate agent had not told them about known faults in properties, while 11 per cent said their agent didn’t keep promises they had made.

Other problems reported by both buyers and sellers included finding the agent was over-pricing (9 per cent), being dishonest (9 per cent) and exaggerating property descriptions (10 per cent).

NAEA managing director Mark Hayward says an estate agent should help, not hinder, the process of buying a house.

“With the extensive administrative tasks and processes involved in buying or selling a home, communication between agents and homeowners is essential. It’s the estate agents’ role to make these processes seem as pain-free and seamless as possible, which regulated agents endeavour to do.”

London liability vs safety in Scotland

Those in London are the most likely to encounter a problem with their estate agent (83 per cent), including not being told about known property faults (34 per cent), bad communication (16 per cent) and feeling as if the estate agent didn’t care about them (14 per cent)

Those in Scotland have had the easiest run, with only 35 per cent claiming to have had a problem with their estate agent in the last five years.