Property purchasers and renters are becoming increasingly abusive because they are struggling to secure the properties they want, owed primarily to a lack of housing stock on the market, according to the head of an independent estate agent in Greater Manchester.
Maurice Kilbride, who runs his Cheadle-based business under his own name, posted a message on Twitter this week expressing his concern over aggressive applicants.
“We know that there isn’t enough housing stock available to satisfy demand,” he said. “It’s been like that for decades, but it’s particularly bad at the moment, because of the stamp duty holiday.
“There hasn’t been enough homes built for a very long time. It’s just a shame when they take it out on us, because it’s not our fault.”.
The tweet, which was initially picked up by the Manchester Evening News, added: “Why are some people so angry and confrontational?
“The abuse I had off somebody this morning when I told them a property had gone and unfortunately was no longer available for viewing was quite unpleasant and totally unnecessary. It makes me very sad.”
It doesn’t help when agents list properties on RM as ‘Let Agreed’ and when renters have been scouring the portals in the hope of finding a property they get extremely frustrated seeing an immediate Let Agreed property. They question why they were not notified and always suspect that something dodgy is going on!
It also frustrates them when they view a property at a certain price and then after the viewing, the agent presents a form that askes how much they are prepared to rent the property for…meaning, this is now a bid.
It also doesn’t help when potential renters see a property on the portals and arrange a viewing, only to find that the images were taken about 5 years ago and the property is not in the same condition as the pictures. Highly frustrating when the renter has travelled several hours to make the viewing.
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Still no excuse for using abusive, vitriolic and confrontational language towards another person.
No excuse.
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If I can be allowed to play Devil’s advocate for a moment:
1. Sometimes an agent will have several ‘A1’ applicants on their books, or have a renter they need to move from a home to make it vacant. Therefore, they have no need to list the original property on the portals For Let (or Sale). A former manager of mine would say “that’s good estate agency right there!” A good estate agent simply doesn’t upload properties to the online portals and wait for the phone to ring, they’re proactive. If a member of the public wants to move home, I suggest they make themself known to the local agents, and don’t just rely on Rightmove, et al.
2. Prices are negotiable – although it may be helpful if the agent used ‘guide price’ or ‘OIEO’ if they’re looking for over the advertised price. Whatever the case, an offer can be lower, not just higher. It all depends on the market and what the renter feels the property is worth, regardless of what price was used to market the property.
3. Does such a viewer ask if the property was having work done before the next tenant moves in? If a property has been occupied for 5 years, a lot of landlords (that we deal with, at least) would professionally clean or replace carpet, repaint, and fix most apparent damages. That way they should attract a better calibre of tenant and/or achieve higher rent p/m.
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Moving home sometimes brings out the worst in people – end of.
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I have never worked in a market where buyers are as abusive, rude and demanding as this one there is no excuse for this, we have a job to do and as one previous manager I worked for used to tell me ‘for every winner there will always be a loser’
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