At David Phillip Estate Agents, we watched with interest the BBC Panorama investigation aired on Monday night, which revealed potentially some startling behaviour at two of the well-known UK Estate Agency brands.

In the episode titled ’Undercover Estate Agent’, reporter Lucy Vallance went undercover for six weeks as a sales negotiator at an Estate agent in the UK, and discovered that, in over interests in other potential purchasers, the company was favouring buyers who were taking out mortgages brokered by the company itself.

Vallance also spoke with a whistleblower where “staff were under pressure to sell add-on services and were incentivised by a commission scheme to get sellers to drop their house prices”, allegedly, after a potentially inflated valuation was given to win instructions.

Propertymark breaks the silence after the Panorama Investigation

Various Estate Agents have voiced opinions on the programme, and Propertymark have now issued a response”

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, commented, “Agents must provide a full duty of care and ensure impartiality to all participants throughout the entire sales and transactional process. Buyers and sellers must have the freedom to choose products and services that meet their needs and preferences.

“It is important that agents display an understanding of the impact of the key factors which interact with the buying and selling process. This includes areas such a contract law, conveyancing and the mortgage application process”.

Full due diligence on all parties

“Agents must adhere to the terms of undertaking full due diligence on all parties, such as compliance, anti-money laundering regulations, proof of funds and the ability to purchase. They can offer to introduce services which provide the appropriate advice and products, but there must be full transparency and absolutely no conflict of interest”.

“Due to continuous progression within many areas of law, the housing sector has far greater levels of consumer protection in place than at any point previously, and these standards are constantly evaluated and evolved to ensure they remain fit for purpose”.

“Should anyone feel a service offered to them might fall short on standards, they can raise a case with organisations such as Trading Standards, The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress scheme, as well as the organisation's own internal complaints procedures”.

The Customer Experience is key

At David Phillip Estate Agents, the Customer experience is key, and we have a clean sweep of 5-star reviews on All Agents (the Estate Agent industry's main referral site) that reflect the service we provide our clients. 

Our role is to link vendors of properties to purchasers, and to this end, we take our responsibility very seriously. The industry has various best practices in place; below are some of the practices we adhere to ensure we are fully compliant.

• We do have a full written complaints procedure in place, should any client be less than happy with our service with all complaints responded to in a specified time frame.
• The Property Ombudsman, of which we are members, have a Code of Practice which is a set of rules and guidelines that Estate Agents, who are members, must adhere to. It aims to ensure fair, transparent and professional practices in the property industry. The code covers areas such as fair treatment, accurate marketing, transparent fees and handling complaints.
• We are fully compliant with the Government’s anti-money laundering rules and regulations, and we pay to be part of this
• We are members of Smart Search to ensure further checks are in place around money laundering.
• We have stringent onboarding procedures and always ensure full due diligence once a property has received an offer received especially in terms of proof of funding and affordability.
• We do work in partnership with various product providers covering mortgages, conveyancing and surveys, although we recommend them; ultimately, our clients choose who they use. 
• Our CRM  (customer relationship manager) system is Alto, which is owned by Zoopla and one of the best client portals in the industry. We are particularly careful with people’s data, but Alto also holds information on the progression of every client interaction with our company – this provides a fully transparent process.
• Property file allows both buyers and sellers to view their overall sales procedure. We have regular reviews and any issues during the sale are dealt with head-on and in the most transparent way possible.
• David Phillip FRICS has valued properties in North and West Yorkshire for over 40 years. He prides himself on providing the most accurate valuation possible - we do not overvalue to win instructions, but provide a competitive but realistic valuation on every market appraisal we attend. We do know that some agents may overvalue to win the instruction, but this doesn’t do the vendors any favours, as ultimately, they may need to reduce the price of their property in the long run.

David Phillip FRICS

David Phillip is FRICS qualified – Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors – this is the highest membership within the RICS., signifying that the individual has achieved significant professional accomplishments and leadership in the surveying profession. FRICS members are recognised for their expertise, experience and contributions to the field of property land and construction – when you are choosing an Estate Agent to sell your home, find out if they hold this qualification.

So if you are considering selling your home and would like a Free Market Appraisal, choose and Estate Agent you can be confident will provide a 5 star professional service- call 0113 4676400

David Phillip Estate Agents, 86, Leeds Road, Bramhope, North Leeds, w:davidphillip.co.uk

Selling houses in North Leeds and covering Bramhope, Adel, Cookridge, Pool-in-Wharfedale, Otley and Alwoodley