Mortgage News
Almost two-thirds of advisers say clients have experienced conditional selling ‒ Access FS
Around 63% of advisers at Access Financial Services have said that their clients experienced conditional selling between November and May.
The report stated that all advisers surveyed said that conditional selling had caused harm, including stress, hassle or confusion.
Conditional selling is when an estate agent tells a potential buyer that they have to use the agent’s in-house broker in order for their offer to be put forward on a property. The practice is illegal.
Around a third of brokers said that they thought that conditional selling had got worse during that period, although a similar proportion said that it was about the same.
Approximately 30% said that they didn’t know and 4% said that the situation was improving.
Around 83% of mortgage advisers said that there were some estate agencies where conditional selling was “almost standard practice”.
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Advisers said that as a result of conditional selling, customers were denied the opportunity to buy a property as they refused to use the agent’s broker.
They added that first-time buyers were especially at risk as they felt pressured to use the in-house adviser.
Advisers added that customers expressed frustration at being forced to use a service they didn’t want and didn’t understand why they had to use an adviser they didn’t know or trust and why they were being denied the fundamental right of free choice.
Karl Wilkinson, CEO of Access Financial Services, said: “Something is broken in the property industry when this practice continues after 20 months of our campaigning against conditional selling, and developing tools and processes to protect advisers and their clients.
“A significant minority of estate agents are being allowed to continue to negatively impact our industry. This has to stop.”
Wilkinson continued: “Conditional selling is morally wrong and a clear breach of Consumer Duty as well as The Property Ombudsman’s Code of Practice and the Estate Agents Act 1979. What other industry puts up with this kind of harmful behaviour? We can do better.”
The broker has released two free letter templates for financial advisers and their clients, one to estate agents making them aware of the situation and a second letter to request support from The Property Ombudsman.