BBC Panorama investigates the high street and online agencies that fails to deliver their customer service promises!
A sellers home was sold at a lower price than it could have sold for? There was a buyer who could have offer more for it, an undercover investigation by BBC Panorama has revealed.
- An agent was found to prioritise in house services over higher offers
- Hot buyers would be those using in house mortgage or solicitors
- Over-valuing homes to win instructions, this creates unrealistic sales
- Targets to bring a homes value down to the market price
- Agents “should provide a service to both buyers and sellers consistent with fairness, integrity and best practice”
Some estate agents would sideline a potential buyer in favour of someone who had agreed to take out an in-house mortgage.
That mortgage was said to be worth about £2,000 to the agent, while the company potentially stood to make £10,000 total by arranging add-on services and selling the buyer’s property.
The vendor sat with the agent, who claimed to be working for her, however it turned out that she was working for the companies means. This was simply inexcusable.
Panorama decided to investigate the company after speaking to more than 20 independent financial advisers (IFAs) and mortgage advisers from across England and Wales who had concerns about how the company operated.
One of the biggest estate agencies in the UK, with 80 chains with more than 1,200 branches. BBC’s undercover reporter, Lucy Vallance, got a job in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in an own-brand office.
During her time in February and March 2025, she found evidence that the branch manager favoured prospective buyers, if they were planning to take out in-house services, like conveyancing or mortgages that made more money for the company.
The agency claimed it was “committed to treating all customers and prospective buyers fairly.”
In Abingdon, an undercover reporter found that trying to arrange mortgages could be as important as selling houses and that the aforementioned agency staff felt under pressure to get people signed up.
Many other estate agencies have an in-house mortgage-brokering team.
The independent financial advisers that BBC Panorama spoke with said they compete for customers with estate agents’ in-house services say this pressure can lead to some agents in the industry playing fast and loose with the rules.
One practice known as “conditional selling” is forbidden by the Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents, of which many companies across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are signatories.
This is when an estate agent suggests, implies or tells you that you must arrange things like mortgages or conveyancing services through their in-house teams or there will be negative consequences for a deal.
It means estate agents signed up to the code know they should not discriminate against prospective buyers who don’t use their in-house services.
Conditional selling was not allowed
Estate agents are supposed to work in the best interests of their clients, however pressure for profit shaped decisions at the agency in BBC’s Panorama showed this was not the case for them.
The undercover reporter hosted an open-house viewing for a three-bedroom house on a Saturday, which was on the market at £300,000 (offer over) creating a lot of interest. Fifteen people attended and others also wanted to book separate viewings.
On Monday, the branch manager was only interested in two possible buyers speaking their in-house brokers. Staff were told not to arrange any more viewings on the house.
Another buyer interested in the house appeared to have deeper pockets, however buying with cash therefore not taking out a mortgage through the company.
The company said they spoke to the cash buyer after the open house and that they were undecided about putting in an offer. A call from the cash buyer later the same day was missed and not followed up.
When the undercover reporter told the office administrator about the cash buyer, who might have offered more, the reporter was told that “just a sale” was “not good enough” for them.
Overvaluing properties massively
Panorama also investigated the online estate agency Purplebricks, after concerns it had been trying to attract sellers by overvaluing properties.
Once a customer was signed up, staff then tried to convince them to cut the asking price, earning commission if successful. The whistleblower, who worked for the company between June and October 2024, also filmed online meetings for Panorama.
Purplebricks explained price reductions were once a target for rewarding staff, this is no longer the case and it does not overvalue properties to win instructions.
Staff were being incentivised to get price reductions on properties, many of which appeared to have been put on the market for more than they were worth.
“We are overvaluing properties massively just to gain instructions,” said the agent.
Estate agents often use property valuations to attract customers and subsequently dropping the asking price is not unusual. The estate agents’ code tells companies they “must never deliberately misrepresent the market value of a property”.
Purplebricks staff could earn commission if they persuaded sellers to drop their asking prices.
The same agent suggested that 18 price drops per month could earn staff £900 in commission.
He said, when properties go live, sellers can be told that if there aren’t many viewings or offers within the first four weeks then they should “have a conversation about price reduction”.
“So they won’t necessarily push the reduction there and then, but they will plant the seed,” he added.
Purplebricks staff were also under pressure to sell financial products like mortgages and conveyancing.
During the time she worked there, she said the company encouraged customers to get their conveyancing done through companies it had deals with, rather than look elsewhere.
“We don’t want them to get a quote for comparison because we are by far and away very expensive,” said her team leader during an online meeting.
A customer paid £2,820 last summer. Using price comparison websites, Panorama found that was nearly three times more than the current cheapest quote for the same property. For comparison conveyancing services often cost in the region of £800-£1200 dependent on the size of the property and the complexity of the transaction alongside other factors like the firms resources to each transaction. Note there are often other costs involved which can incur further conveyancing fees, such as local searches, lease extensions, checks and property packs etc.
Many solicitors will also have their base fees available on their website.
“We were none the wiser having never done all this before. I certainly felt like maybe Purplebricks had taken advantage of us a bit because we were first-time buyers.”
The Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents which says: “You should provide a service to both buyers and sellers consistent with fairness, integrity and best practice.”
Source: BBC
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