Listing fake properties and lying about price reductions: Estate agent reveals shocking tricks of the trade routinely used by industry to fool buyers
- Anonymous property expert claimed industry agents routinely flout regulations
- The estate agent writes a blog where they claim to reveal the tricks of the trade
- The blog claims to show how agents trick buyers into thinking price has reduced
A property expert, who has worked in the industry for more than 15 years, has revealed the shocking tricks used by estate agents to fool buyers.
The anonymous estate agent claimed the industry routinely flouts regulations and tricks those looking at properties, in an interview with The Times.
On their blog, the property expert also claimed online agent Purple Bricks often changed the prices of properties so it appeared as a price reduction.
Describing how lying about price reductions was rife in the industry, the secret blogger has written a number of posts claiming to lift a lid on the hidden truths of the property market.
An anonymous property expert from London has revealed that estate agents routinely flout regulations and fool buyers
The blogger claimed they had seen first hand how the industry routinely breaks the rules when advertising properties
On their most recent blog the secret writer described how lettings was an unregulated industry.
The blogger writes: ‘Having worked in the letting industry for over 15 years. I have seen at first hand how the industry routinely breaks the rules when advertising properties mainly in Lettings but also Sales.’
Claiming to have carried out research on more than 60 per cent of north London agents, the blogger also says: ‘Agents do this to increase the number of inquiries and to make themselves look busier to any prospective landlords.’
In an earlier post, the expert also claimed how they once worked for a company that uploaded fake properties on its site.
The expert claimed the trick was likely to deceive anyone looking at the properties.
Speaking anonymously to The Times, the blogger claimed: ‘Part of the problem, particularly in lettings, is that there is no one policing the industry. There is no sheriff in town.
The property expert has claimed that the industry tricks those looking at properties
‘Some of these practices may not appear the worst thing in the world but if people are prepared to do them when they can easily be found out, you have to wonder what else they are doing behind closed doors?’
A Purple Bricks spokesperson told The Times: ‘We’re disappointed to see these isolated examples, which are a tiny proportion of the thousands of changes made by Purplebricks and our customers every day.
‘This is not a practice we adopt or accept and, in line with our commitment to higher standards of transparency in our industry, we will actively prevent this kind of behaviour as soon as it’s pointed out.’