23rd November 2010: Ask a Fletchers Agent

I would like to find out more on after sales policy and practice. If I purchase a brand new built house, do we communicate to builder and developer directly? Or the agent will act as a messenger? At which point the agent will no longer be involved? After signed the contract or after settlement?

There are two stages when a property is sold: the time prior to settlement (when you take possession) and then after the settlement has gone through. It is also important to point out that an estate agent's legal obligations are very different to policies they may have in place to assist.

One of the most important things to do is to ensure you arrange a pre-settlement inspection with your estate agent/builder and developer where any potential problems can be quickly addressed.

We cannot speak for all estate agents but we always try to go that extra mile by assisting purchasers as much as possible after the contracts have been signed by liaising with vendors/builders/solicitors, etc., to help the process to settlement go smoothly. Should a disagreement arise, whilst we give advice and endeavour to resolve an issue to the satisfaction of both parties, if stalemate is reached then the only sensible course of action to recommend is that the parties communicate through their solicitors.

After settlement is very different. There is no legal obligation for us to be involved although we always try to help if we can. At this point the onus is on the buyer to communicate with the builder/developer directly and, if a satisfactory resolution is not reached, they should request assistance through their solicitor.

Please understand that we can only answer this question in very general terms, which may or may not be appropriate to your circumstances.

If you have any real estate questions that you would like answered, you can submit them via our "Ask an Agent" page by clicking here.