The news that the Legal Service Ombudsman is to "name and shame" errant solicitors will likely be met with a degree of incredulity by some members of the Estate Agency profession. They too have an Ombudsman but he seems rather more reticent about washing the profession's dirty linen in public. Since we have an in-house Estate Agency (regulated by the SRA) we are in a pretty good position to expose some of the behaviour of other agents that goes on largely unreported. Examples include (in no particular order)
Overvaluing to secure the instruction
Buying off your own Client (the more sophisticated might use a "nominee" to cover their tracks)
Theft of rent
Theft of Tenancy Deposit
Not protecting Tenancy Deposit
Breach of the Cancellation Regs
Turning a blind eye to a Landlord's failure to obtain a mortgagees consent to let
Recommending the purchaser to use a Conveyancer that is known to be a "soft touch"
Undisclosed "kick backs" (referral fees from conveyancers - sweeteners from Trades involved in refurbs)
Requiring a Purchaser to list their property for sale with the agent who is selling the dream property they want to purchase (a great way of building up a chain of interconnected deals)
Misleading adverts - eg claiming to have an in-house solicitor to do the conveyancing
Fly-boarding
Touting another agents Clients (not in itself a breach of the Ombudsman Code but frowned upon by RICS)
The list is endless.
The problem is that, unchecked, the effect of such behaviour is to prevent a level playing field.
"No problem" you may say "instead of whingeing you should complain to the Property Ombudsman and other authorities.Their job is to secure a level playing field"
If only it was as simple as that.
Here's a couple of examples:-
Home Point Estate Agents Wolverhampton - repeatedly sent "touting" letters to our Clients omitting the obligatory "dual fee" warning. We complained to them. They ignored our complaint. We complained to the Ombudsman who found them in breach of the Code of Practice and required them to desist. They complied ..... for a while. They then started again. We complained. They ignored our complaint. We complained to the Ombudsman but before he dealt with the complaint the Code was changed......you've guessed it! The requirement to include the "dual fee" warning in a touting letter was removed. Need we say more?
Connells estate agents Wolverhampton - not long after we launched our Estate Agency with all the convenience of a "one stop" shop Connells started claiming they too had an in-house Solicitor. They didn't and we complained. They ignored our complaint. We complained to the SRA. Eventually, after months of pushing on our part the SRA got an undertaking from Connells not to do it again. Hardly worth the effort.....so much for protecting the brand "Solicitor".
I've just finished a round of seminars telling all my colleagues about OFR and Lexcel v5. What I didn't tell them was that in expecting them to comply with their professional obligations I am also requiring them to compete with one arm tied behind their backs.
