Petition Sale by Tender

We feel this is bad practice and there is need for urgent review for a few reasons:

If the buyer is paying the fee how can the estate agent represent the seller – surely this is a conflict of interest?

Often the buyers are forced into this scheme after visiting open days, whereby the agent does very little often leaving the potential buyers to wander the property themselves. What is the fee for?

If the seller pays the fee, as via the standard process, the fee is normally 1% + VAT or less however when done via Sale by Tender the fee is doubled to 2% + VAT – why is it double?

Often the seller is not aware of the pit falls of such a scheme and is simply sold on the ‘Sell your home for £195 + VAT’ headline. The seller should be made aware of the potential issues and pitfalls of such a scheme.