Ethical Estate agent

Personally the thing that bothered me the most while looking for a place on Malta was that every agent tried to rent of the most expensive they could find, despite the fact that I had very specific needs/demands.

The fact that they seemed to ignore what I was actually looking for, and I was on several occasions driven all over the island to look at fancy places that had no interest, only ended up making me furious.

luckily I found a nice guy at Bernards that managed to find great place in less than 1 hour!!! respect for that.....and I have to admit I prefer the "no bullshit" way he handled the matter.

one who keeps their website up to date !

keep them coming

Remove properties from the window once they are let or at least mark them as let.

georgeingozo wrote:

one who keeps their website up to date !

sign!

But i.e. I had 2 appartments rented through Remax and I felt quite good with them. They always showed me what they had available and which ones I have maybe seen beforehands.

Budetwise they showed me Appartments under my Budget and also slightly above it.

I the end I took the ones which were exactly my budget.

one who gives full disclosure to the renter about the billing of the let - residential or domestic and whether or not the owner will allow them on the bills....

and maybe a code of conduct for both renters and owners.

tearnet wrote:

Remove properties from the window once they are let or at least mark them as let.

This is a BIG issue Tearnet, it does seem that the Agents have LOADS of property for rent but dont bother removing the ones that are let therefore you see one you like and its not actually available.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

one who gives full disclosure to the renter about the billing of the let - residential or domestic and whether or not the owner will allow them on the bills....

Toon he has already said that this is a must and as mentioned he will refuse to take people on his books as landlords that will not be declaring the earnings.


J

Here's one: if the agent is unable to find a property for someone, recommendations for other agencies to contact would be very welcome.

pgl wrote:

Here's one: if the agent is unable to find a property for someone, recommendations for other agencies to contact would be very welcome.

as long as they take the same stance in terms of ethics.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

as long as they take the same stance in terms of ethics.

Absolutely.

Sole agent of the property! Our problem was that multiple agents where working with the same property, and some one else got it without telling the other agents! Our latest agent was perfect, a couple of gin n tonics and then sign the contract!

I don't have a problem with the agent not being the sole agent -- I think that would severely limit the number of properties they were able to view otherwise -- but it's good if the agent is up front about the situation.

The agents never send you to the properties you look for.

Maybe the new e-agent can supply a tick list of the specific selections criteria for properties that the client would like to look at - things like budget,location,number of rooms,number of bathrooms,lift,pool,a view, ground floor, mid floor, top floor, house, maisonette, flat, penthouse, townhouse etc, furnished part furnished unfurnished, etc -

maybe thats to be part of their website tho - but if there was a downloadable form to fill in-the clients could take it with them   .

That's a nice feature, but one that's almost always poorly implemented - most of the time if you're too specific about the t type of property you're looking for, you end up with no options at all. I reckon the way to do it is to have a "required" and "desirable" option for each thing. (eg, I might require insect blinds, but it might only be desirable to have three bedrooms.)

yep pgl good idea... want and need are two very different things for sure

Hello everyone, what bothers me are the long conversations in Maltese between agent and landlord while viewing the properties. I know that I am the foreigner in their country and I should respect the fact that they want to talk in their language ecc ecc but while we are viewing a property not understanding what they are talking about makes me doubt a lot. What do you think?
Giuseppina

I have not experienced that, giusidda. But if I had, I would most probably agree with you.

This is a great idea Julian and there has been some good responses.  For me I would like to see quality photographs of the property on the website and/or in the shop.  How many times I have seen photo's of the interior of an 'unfinished' property with a different and poor description.  There is hardly any idea what the outside of the property looks like and maybe the addition of the new '360 degree' or 'virtual tour' method of showing it off would make it easier for potential customers to make decisions.  A quick look at the major UK websites, to see how they present their properties, would be an idea.

Like anything, if it is poorly presented, then expect poor service.

Mike

giusidda wrote:

Hello everyone, what bothers me are the long conversations in Maltese between agent and landlord while viewing the properties. I know that I am the foreigner in their country and I should respect the fact that they want to talk in their language ecc ecc but while we are viewing a property not understanding what they are talking about makes me doubt a lot. What do you think?
Giuseppina

spot on Giuseppina - i have experienced this many many times - and i think its very rude - putting aside it is their language and it may be easier for them - but when discussing my potential contract with them then they should accomodate me, anything other than that i find suspicious.

MikeInPoulton wrote:

For me I would like to see quality photographs of the property on the website and/or in the shop.

Haha, too true! This works both ways: after we'd moved into our flat, my girlfriend realised that we'd seen this place before, but the photos were so bad we instantly dismissed it. Once we'd walked into the place we took it almost immediately.

I really don't understand why agents allow property owners to submit photos of their flats that are so bad. I mean, some of them... come on, at least empty the rubbish bin before taking a picture of the kitchen... and would it really hurt to empty the washing basket? Honestly.

scubaboy wrote:

So what would everyone want from an Ethical Estate Agent ?

It would be great if the agent wouldn't just ignore your query if your requirements are a bit out of the ordinary - e.g. in our case looking for a pet-friendly place. Most agencies didn't even bother replying not alone checking with landlords if they would consider tenants with a pet.

1. an agent that sticks to your budget

2. an agent that doesn't try to persuade you to live 5km further away than where you intend to stay

3. Multiple agents for one property is another pain.In Our previous flat, we had just spent our first night there. 8.30am next morning, I was in the shower, other half in bed and an agent just walked into our apartment with 2 clients and start looking around. very embarrassing for everyone. It wasn't their fault.The landlady hadn't had time to call and say the place was taken.
 
4. I like to see a sense of urgency and to feel that I can call the agent with any problem at anytime (within working hours of course), no matter how small the issue and not be patronized. e.g I was in Atrium shopping and couldn't remember if there was cutlery in the apartment we were about to sign the lease on. Agent had the inventory and I couldn't go out shopping again for a week or more, so I needed to call and check. I felt really silly asking. But I would have felt more silly buying a load of knives and forks I didn't need.   

5. I don't need my hand holding when I'm looking at a 2 bed flat. I won't get lost. All I want from the agent is to open the front door,stand back and let me be nosy for 5 minutes. If I have questions I'll ask. I don't need to be told useless info like how old the kitchen/cooker/bedroom cupboards are. it has no bearing on whether I like the design/layout or not.

6. This one is for landlords really... two words: direct debit
From my experience, most landlords insist on calling over in the middle of your day to collect rent in cash. I know exactly why. but their tax avoidance is not my problem. Oh well, At least it's a motivation to do the dishes before they call up!

Many Maltese men and not just agents take a very old fashioned, bigoted and patronising view of women and their abilities. Sometimes their attitudes verge on being misogynistic.
They are not used to women being intelligent, independent managing their own financial affairs and capable of making decisions.
By saying that I am not insulting Maltese women just pointing out that some men's attitudes here towards women are similar to those held by many previous to 1900.

redmik wrote:

Many Maltese men and not just agents take a very old fashioned, bigoted and patronising view of women and their abilities. Sometimes their attitudes verge on being misogynistic.
They are not used to women being intelligent, independent managing their own financial affairs and capable of making decisions.
By saying that I am not insulting Maltese women just pointing out that some men's attitudes here towards women are similar to those held by many previous to 1900.

totally agree Red.