as far as i understand the law 39/89 the role of the mediator constitutes an activity which is reserved and non delegable...
obviously an estate agency can and does have secretaries and house scouts even clients scouts... eg marketting has to be allowed ... but the actual person that shows a client a house if i am reading the law correctly has to be a person legally qualified and enrolled as a mediator, if that person is doing it as a profession and requiring a fee for the sale/purchase of the house... from the client...
otherwise what you find is and this is why i believe so many people are running into house purchase problems ... you are visiting a house or houses with someone ...
... who is working on a very small percentage of the estate agents fee...generally less than half a per cent... so they are desperate to get you back to the office and get the sale.... not for the just for the half per cent... that is incidental... but they will have made arrangements with the owner of the house they sell you.. privately...
the estate agent will get his 3 per cent from the seller and the buyer
... but the house scout person will have this private arrangement with the seller for a fixed fee ... but only some of these houses will have this extra hidden bit....
why because they will be ones where the owner knows they will be hard to sell... so he is willing to give a scout quite a big chunk to get rid of it... hence the reason you dont get shown houses that are easy... they could even sell these to italians... you get shown the houses that the scout will get the biggest chunk out of.... and are persuaded to choose it...
apart from often these are properties with the most problems ... they will have taken you around other properties first at worse conditions and they will tell you the prices ... .. generally very high made up prices for that day only... so that when you arrive at the one they want you to buy it will almost seem like a bargain...
that way the next day when they go back and tell the owners of the other houses that their house didnt sell but that another one did they can then tell the owner look give us an extra few thousand and it will be your house that sells next...
now if an estate agent does this sort of work he is liable and punishable under law and you as a buyer have a protection as does the seller ... but no one controls the proffesional desperate to earn house scout... so you have to remember when buying from an agency operating in this way ... to be doubly careful...
so it seems to me the definitive answer is to say when you want to go around houses that at least one of the people accompanying you has to be registered and qualified to show houses for gain... this person then is legally responaible and punishable if he tells you direct lies or even withholds anything he knows of the property..... good or bad ...
now if you deal with a reputable agency that last part is very important..
because most reputable and honest agents will before they sign a contract to sell the house make the seller provide all the legal documentation on the house... who owns it,how many, what building is legal , what part isnt, certificates ... they will then visit the house and check the house against the documentation and at that stage they will agree to sell it or not ... which is why here in italy there is a perception that people dont like using estate agents to sell their houses much... its the ones that dont like too much checking that tell this story... because in reallity which registered agent that can earn a few hundred thousand euro a year is going to ruin it all over a house sale involving a few thousand.. in truth most registered agents if the seller tries to hide something from them will not even take on the sale of the house... it is not worth the penalties involved if something does go wrong...
SO THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER IS ...
make sure the person showing you a house is the registered agent that before he even gets on the road to show you the house he is carrying the full file of the house with him with all its legal details... a reputable agent will already have quite a thick file of papers on a house from the seller
and that you carry a voice activated recorder to all discussions regarding the house in full view of the agent...
these two little things will be the surest way of starting off on the right foot at least ... and anyone that cannot provide someone registered to show you the house should be avoided ... dont forget its your money and they should be following your little whims and your rules if they want to take it from you...
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