For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By Trent772
#1903847
We have accepted an offer on my Lad's apartment in Manchester - £128k. Sold through PB, they are now trying to insist we use their conveyancing service.... OK, so long as they are competitive.

Got 4 quotes - around £750 - £850, all checked with no extras.

PB - £1250.......... :evil:

Anyone else had a similar rip off and did you resolve it ?
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By lobstaboy
#1903851
It's too late for my advice to help you I'm afraid. But just in case. I have three rules for buying and selling property
1. Sell using a real estate agent with actual people and premises. Be prepared to pay a bit more.
2. Only look at potential things to buy that are handled by ditto
3. (Absolutely the most important) When selling, only entertain offers from people who are going to use a conveyancing solicitor that is a real live person, not an internet 'no sale, no fee' place. Make sure your agent, see no. 1, understands they must do due diligence on this as well as the obvious stuff like have they got the money...

You get what you pay for.
Charliesixtysix, tr7v8 liked this
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By JonathanB
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1903855
Surely they can’t force you to use their solicitor? When we bought our house the developers had their designated solicitor and made us talk to them but ultimately we used our own.
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By Trent772
#1903857
That is what I thought.

Lobstaboy - I know..... I fell for the advertising - sorry :lol:

Sadly, The Boy signed the contract without consulting me...... :evil:
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1903897
Nope, it is against the rules (as jmcm said), and furthermore when offering you the 'option' they need to declare their financial interest (ie, the referal fee they get from said solicitor).

Complain in writing to the firm then complain to the Estate Agent complaints body, either The Property Ombudsman* or The Property Redress Scheme.

*Just checked and Purplebricks seem to be signed up with The Property Ombusman scheme.
Flyin'Dutch', Trent772 liked this
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By Sir Morley Steven
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1904033
PB charges a fixed fee roughly 0.7% of your property. Along with the higher conveyance fee it is still far below any other estate agent. How is that a rip off?
eltonioni liked this
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1904049
Not only are PBallegedly facing a class action from 100+ estate agents over pension and holiday pay ( dispute over whether they are employees or not), they could also allegedly be liable by omission for not protecting clients in the letting business which could cost them millions .

An outfit to be avoided it seems .
User avatar
By lobstaboy
#1904062
Sir Morley Steven wrote:PB charges a fixed fee roughly 0.7% of your property. Along with the higher conveyance fee it is still far below any other estate agent. How is that a rip off?


It isn't so long as the service they can provide for that meets your needs.
Caveat emptor.
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By lobstaboy
#1904144
Sir Morley Steven wrote:In this case it did. It sold the property.


That wouldn't have been enough for me. I'd be prepared to pay more to be certain I'd got the best price for the property and that the offer I was going to accept came from solid purchasers with ready funds, no intention of swapping to something else later and not likely to lose any mortgage offer they believe they've had.
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By lobstaboy
#1904153
xr25688 wrote:
lobstaboy wrote:I'd be prepared to pay more to be certain I'd got the best price for the property and that the offer I was going to accept came from solid purchasers with ready funds, no intention of swapping to something else later and not likely to lose any mortgage offer they believe they've had.

The English system of house purchasing has no provisions whereby one can achieve those things.


True enough in the sense of certainty (I shouldn't have used that word)! But using a decent estate agent will dramatically improve your chances compared to using PB.
I'm speaking from hard won experience having been involved in seven house transactions in the last six years.
Punishing :(