Tony what you mention still happens, at a guess I would say they wanted it for themselves, but that is covered and has been for all the time I've been in Estate agency ('97). These days repo's are administered by a 3rd party (not the bank) and the terms of instruction state that the property can not be sold to a member of staff or their family.
Failure to pass through an offer is a criminal offence (not civil) general agency law covers as does specific Estate Agency law. However when trading standards catch out the wrong doers they tend to give them a telling off rather than do anything meaningful. As I understand it we all have to be a part of an ombudsman scheme now too, but again it means little. I get where you are coming from but duplicating regulations and having licensing won't stop people willing to break the law from doing so.
HIPS were flawed, an idealistic but unworkable concept.
Searches are going online and will be available instantly, that is what should happen as they are only truly valid for the day they are done. I wouldn't want a 6 month old search when I buy a house.
Survey valuations must be commissioned by the lender to avoid a specific type of fraud which occurred in the 80's & 90's.
One thing that buyers often don't recognise is that the agent is acting on behalf of the seller, I frequently have to stop people telling me what they might go up to.
Agents fees are a debatable issue, with a lot of pros and cons. Interestingly the rates charges in the UK are low in comparison to many other countries.
I am certain though that if everybody paid the same the owners of the cheapest would pay more. The way it works out for us is that the average houses pay the bills/staff wages, the expensive stuff pays for holidays and the flats aren't really that profitable but can introduce you to what will hopefully be a long standing client.
A listing fee equivalent to maybe a third of the total amount payable would be great as I pay out for printing, advertising and staffing to market houses but plenty of sellers have a change of heart and decide not to move. Sometimes part way through a sale. However, sellers like the no sale no fee way of doing things.
The problem is not that the system wrong its that its too slow and is badly understood.
soapalchemist said:
One thing to double check PC; make sure the mortgage life insurance policy is up and running by the moment of completion.
I would say point of exchange actually Sharon. The one time that I had that situation the solicitors were debating how that would have panned out if the husband had died between exchange and completion. As it stood he died a few days before we expected to exchange.