Rogue Agents

Buying, selling or improving your home is probably the most stressful event that you'll encounter in your life. Much of the tension comes from dealing with people you know nothing about and events you feel you have no control over. I know because my family and I have just been through it. Over the past year, we've tried to buy, improve and sell a house in the London area. Along the way, we've made a lot of mistakes, were forced to deal with some very dubious characters, got gazumped, caught in a property chain, lost money and generally had a very frustrating experience.

So frustrating in fact that I decided to do something about it and create this website. My simple goal is to forewarn people about the many unethical, dishonest and often corrupt practices that plague consumers and the property industry in the UK.

It's a sad fact that the industry is largely unregulated. Under the Estate Agents act of 1979, anyone can become an estate agent without any qualifications, license or experience. The only exceptions are if you are bankrupt or banned by the Office of Fair Trading. Even then, you're still allowed to work for another Estate Agent. It's therefore not surprising that, in an industry that rakes in over £2.5bn a year in commission alone, the potential to attract rogues is very high.

The best protection from these rogues is to know their tactics. Use our Scam Finder to discover the different scams and bad practices that abound at each stage of the process. Please help us develop this further by adding your experiences to our growing database. More you contribute, more this community will grow and become an increasingly useful resource to help others help themselves.