Are estate agents regulated?

jessiejam

I am having a bit of trouble finding somewhere to rent at the moment.
Constantly getting daft alerts etc. At the moment to no avail.

On Monday a house was advertised for rent on daft and I contacted the agent to go and view it. The EA took some details and said he would ring me back with a time to go and view etc.
The day passed and didn't get a return call.
The following morning i had a look on daft again and saw that the house was now "let agreed".
Fair enough I thought maybe he was looking for different tenants, but annoyed that he didn't ring me back or gave me the impression that I was in with a shot at it.

Swiftly moved on.
On Wednesday morning the exact same house was advertised for rent with a different EA for an extra €150 pm put onto the original asking price.

I rang the new agent and told him that this house was already advertised by another agent and let agreed was on this agents website. He strongly denied this so I asked if it was possible that 2 agents could be letting out the property. No chance was the reply and he said he would know if there was another agent looking after the property as well as them. He swore that it must be a different property, so when I inquired about the number of the house I was told "I don't have to discuss this with you"

Is this normal or strange behavior?

This house is not even worth what the original property was valued at however i appreciate there is a huge shortage of properties out there.

Is it common practice for this to happen?
Is there a regulatory body that looks after the workings of EA's or are they left to their own devices and can charge what they want?

The greed of some people is incredible. I can see now where the new bubble is going to come from unless someone puts a cap on it.

Any thoughts

Please no smart comments or digs (pardon the pun)

Mr. Incognito

Yes.

http://www.psr.ie/website/npsra/npsraweb.nsf/page/index-en

Michael D Not Higgins

The PSRA regulates estate agents as well as auctioneers and other property agents. Complaints about EAs go to them for investigation. We don't know what happened behind the scenes with the landlord. He may have had an issue with his current agent and decided to go elsewhere. The rest could be saving face on the parts of both agents.

jessiejam

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The PSRA regulates estate agents as well as auctioneers and other property agents. Complaints about EAs go to them for investigation. We don't know what happened behind the scenes with the landlord. He may have had an issue with his current agent and decided to go elsewhere. The rest could be saving face on the parts of both agents.

Fair point.
But to jump the property up by that much in 24 hours. Ive never seen a property go for that much in that area. Even in the boom!
Im wondering why the original agent marked it let agreed instead of just withdrawing the ad?
I think what bothered me more is that the most recent agent was so defensive when I asked about it and was trying to convince me that it was a different property.
Why have rents not been capped? we are being screwed by agents again. They overvalued properties for sale when the banks were throwing money at people and now they are taking advantage again when the banks are making it harder for those that can afford it to buy houses. I feel the EA's have learned absolutely nothing from the last 10 years.

Lux23

To save face maybe, it could well be that the landlord was insisting on a higher price and the EA disagreed.

Michael D Not Higgins

jessiejam wrote: »

Fair point.
But to jump the property up by that much in 24 hours. Ive never seen a property go for that much in that area. Even in the boom!
Im wondering why the original agent marked it let agreed instead of just withdrawing the ad?
I think what bothered me more is that the most recent agent was so defensive when I asked about it and was trying to convince me that it was a different property.
Why have rents not been capped? we are being screwed by agents again. They overvalued properties for sale when the banks were throwing money at people and now they are taking advantage again when the banks are making it harder for those that can afford it to buy houses. I feel the EA's have learned absolutely nothing from the last 10 years.

This certainly can't be pinned on estate agents as heavily as you have done here.

Capping rents only restricts the supply and doesn't help anyone.

BarryD

I think you have to assume when dealing with estate agents / auctioneers etc., that they rarely give the full story. It's a while since I've seen one of those lists that grade professions by the degree of public trust but I dare say they remain low on the list. If you approach them that way, no problem.

jessiejam

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

This certainly can't be pinned on estate agents as heavily as you have done here.

Capping rents only restricts the supply and doesn't help anyone.

Maybe not but I think they should have taken some of the blame for the state of the housing bubble in years gone by.
How in your opinion would capping rents restrict the supply of rental properties?

jessiejam

BarryD wrote: »

I think you have to assume when dealing with estate agents / auctioneers etc., that they rarely give the full story. It's a while since I've seen one of those lists that grade professions by the degree of public trust but I dare say they remain low on the list. If you approach them that way, no problem.

I agree, but surely there is a moral/legal obligation for full disclosure about a property? Or is that not the case when renting?
I mean when I was buying my own house back in 2006, the EA was bordering on harassment with the amount of calls he was making to me about contracts, to a stage where i had to have my phone calls diverted! The pressure he put me under was scary. The lies he told to get the sale was incredible, falsifying other bidders etc.
If i approached an EA in 2010/2011 to buy a house he would have licked my feet to get the sale.
Am I blaming the wrong people here or do you think the greed of landlords is to blame?

BarryD

jessiejam wrote: »

I agree, but surely there is a moral/legal obligation for full disclosure about a property? Or is that not the case when renting?
I mean when I was buying my own house back in 2006, the EA was bordering on harassment with the amount of calls he was making to me about contracts, to a stage where i had to have my phone calls diverted! The pressure he put me under was scary. The lies he told to get the sale was incredible, falsifying other bidders etc.
If i approached an EA in 2010/2011 to buy a house he would have licked my feet to get the sale.
Am I blaming the wrong people here or do you think the greed of landlords is to blame?

I don't know but the estate agent etc. is primarily acting in the interests of both the seller/ landlord and also themselves in terms of their fees etc. The buyer is obviously necessary but lower down the pecking order. It's not an equal relationship so all you can do is understand it that way.

As far as I can see, renters/ buyers at the lower end of the scale are more likely to get screwed around. Those with large cash assets or other wealth can reverse the process, put pressure on and screw up the seller, EA etc. Sucks but that's it.

Mind you, isn't there a chap down in Clare, 'Green Valley Properties' who is supposed to be an ethical EA. So maybe some exist!!

jmayo

jessiejam wrote: »

I agree, but surely there is a moral/legal obligation for full disclosure about a property? Or is that not the case when renting?
I mean when I was buying my own house back in 2006, the EA was bordering on harassment with the amount of calls he was making to me about contracts, to a stage where i had to have my phone calls diverted! The pressure he put me under was scary. The lies he told to get the sale was incredible, falsifying other bidders etc.
If i approached an EA in 2010/2011 to buy a house he would have licked my feet to get the sale.
Am I blaming the wrong people here or do you think the greed of landlords is to blame?

First off, as others have alluded approach EAs/acutoneers with a total cynical mindset.
That way you won't be disappointed.
You don't appear to have learned or adopted this mindset, even though you have past experience of a distinct lack of professionalism from other EAs.

Always remember they are not acting on your behalf, they do not have your best interests at heart and the more willing you are to part with your money, the better it is for them.
Also the rental market is now a sellers market so buyers often treated as two a penny, both by landlords and their agents.

BTW I don't mean this to sound condescending, but if you are looking for morals go to a church where even there they have proved hard to find.
There are certain professions or jobs where morals and ethics appear to be a hindrance.