If you were watching BBC one on tuesday night at 9pm you would have seen their Whistle Blower report. In this programme journalist Anna Adams and her colleague Emma Clarke go undercover to work for agencies of various sizes in the London area.
Their investigation uncovers a multitude of illegal and immoral practices by estate and letting agents ranging from placing false offers, hiding fees, faking signatures on documents “the chop chop trade”, flyboarding, undervaluing and overvaluing to sharing confidential information about clients.
You name it, it seems that some estate and letting agents are in to it! In one extreme case a mortgage broker even offers to forge passport documents and pay slips in order to get an unemployed person a huge mortgage.
Of course not all estate agents are like this, a lot of them will be honest, hardworking individuals, which is why it was nice to see on the same day a property professionals directory was launched by OurProperty.co.uk which aims to bring transparency to the property market. This site will allow estate agents to be open and honest about their fees and practices, and for users to submit feedback on their experiences with agents for others to see. Just what the market needs, in my opinion.