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Which? criticises estate agents over fees

Thursday, 31 March 2011 3:21 PM

Consumer group Which? has criticised estate agents over the large discrepancies in fees and valuations.

Although the organisation said agents had begun to improve in recent years, there were still issues with some agents over-valuing properties in order to win instructions, Estate Agent Today reports.

Which? invited 48 agents to value homes around the country between November and January.

"We could have paid between £5,481 (independent) and £13,703 (Connells) for someone to sell the same house. We also discovered that valuations could vary by tens of thousands of pounds for the same property," the report stated.

"And while valuations are an art, not a science, some of them were too far out, which would inevitably make it harder to sell your home."

Furthermore, one Essex property was valued at £650,000 by one estate agent and £500,000 by another, suggesting there are still some agents out there hiking values just to land a contract.

Commenting on the findings, property ombudsman Christopher Hamer said sellers should shop around for a good deal and ask agents to justify their fees.

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