"Mirror mirror on the wall ... who is the fairest of them all?"
In our opinion, it's certainly not some lawyers. We find the recurrent concerns raised about regulating estate agents ironic, given the increase we've seeing in the dubious practice of "salami slicing" of fees by lawyers, who are highly regulated. We've seen examples this week of clients being quoted for spurious items such as "Land Transaction", "Investigation" and "Fast Completion" designed to confuse the client who thinks they are standard items making the base price appear lower. If agents used such weasel words to confuse their clients, they would be held up under the Property Misdescriptions Act. We know firsthand about pressure on fees, but we would like to see an end to this questionable practice and we will continue to offer fixed, transparent pricing to our clients.
Stamp Duty Land Tax Avoidance - A risk worth taking?
Despite the changes in the budget that outlawed many of the schemes that clients have been using to try and avoid paying Stamp Duty, we are still finding a few clients who want to take the risk. The firms that provide the schemes confirm that they are not foolproof, and we are aware of cases where they have gone wrong. While today, the practice is not illegal, Revenue & Custom have made it clear that they will crack down on it and in the future there is the possibility of further action. We have highlighted our opinions on our blog and continue to warn our clients to be aware of the risks involved with such schemes.
Lack of disclosure invalidates insurance
It is standard practice in insurance that the policy holder must fully disclose any facts that may impact their position, otherwise the insurance may be invalidated. Insurers have refused to pay out on buildings insurance when they learnt that a person living at the property has a criminal record that had not been previously disclosed. The classic scenario is the student arrested for being drunk and disorderly whilst away at university and returns home without telling his or her parents. Then, there is a catastrophic fire and the insurer learns of this offence and avoids paying out under the buildings insurance. Policy holders should be aware of this potential risk.
The Partnership League
We are aggressively rolling out our Partnership League to an increasing number of agents around the country and it is proving extremely popular. In the last week alone, we have received over 20 referrals from agents who are on the scheme, and we are recruiting more every day. Contact us us for more information on how to join our unique scheme.
