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Article: The 10 dirty tricks of an estate agent (and how to avoid them); As complaints increase, estate agents are being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading. Ross Clarkdiscovers how unscrupulous ones are ripping us off.
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- June 21, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: ROSS CLARK
WE ALL loathe estate agents and not without reason, says the Office of Fair Trading.
The Government watchdog is so concerned that last week it launched an inquiry into aspects of the profession.
With house prices rising, estate agents are coining it: last year we paid them [pound]4.6 billion. At the same time, the Ombudsman for Estate Agents received 5,370 complaints, a 25 per cent increase. But the Ombudsman can investigate only 36 per cent of the nation's 12,000 estate agents' offices because the others refuse to join this scheme.
Here are ten ways wayward agents pull the wool over our eyes.
They flog ...