Does the seller have the right to know who views property for sale?

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gm88

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Auctioneer refuses to reveal who is viewing our property, saying this is private information. As these people are viewing the family home, inside and out, are we not entitled to know who they are?
 
I think data protection law will allow them hold the particulars (names, numbers etc) from you - I'm sure they will tell you who they are in terms of circumstances (young couple, 1st time buyers, moving home from UK etc) - but in terms of giving you names that would mean I guess you could then contact them directly if you had some way of locating them and then cut EA out of the loop etc. Those EAs are very wary of that and so keep it all to themselves... but data protection is at play here anyway and so they are justified in doing so I believe
 
Details are kept to what is required just like the details of the vendor are kept as discreet as possible, its about the property not the people unless thet are known criminals or something along those lines.
 
This has been discussed before, as a viewer of a house, I don't want a vendor knowing who I am unless I decide to purchase. A vendor wanting to know this info is a bit disturbing/creepy/stalkerish - would you plan to ring the viewer up and interrogate them as to why they didn't make an offer, or do you want to restrict who you sell to e.g. no non Irish nationals, no non D4 accents etc?

As these people are viewing the family home, inside and out, are we not entitled to know who they are?
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You choose to put the house on the market, and what do you expect them to do - view a few photos and make a decision based on that?
 
In fairness its hardly a case of snobbery or racism (where did that come out of?) and more likely not wanting nosey neighbours coming around to poke through their house with no intrest inn buying. Some people find it difficult to accept that they have to just get over it really as its part of the process.
 
Perhaps you should be grateful anyone is viewing your house at all? What would you do with this information if you had it? Although the nosey neighbours thing is a factor. At least you could tell the agent that his time is being wasted. If it were me I wouldn't bother using an estate agent at all.Sell it yourself and then you would have all the details.
 
Never thought about data protection, more freedom of information. EA said a register would be kept of all interest in the house. I mistakenly believed it was for us! Now I find it isn't.

Have no intention of contacting viewers directly. And am certainly not vetting the potential buyers! Just wanna know who is going through the house.

And no, I didnt put it on the market - its the old family home and am not the only vendor. Had no choice but to let it go on the market.
 
you could put a web cam on a computer and leave it on, sound and all. That way to would get to see if it is the neighbours / relations / co-workers coming to see the house and pretending to be interested. You might also get to hear what is putting people off your house. If all the people viewing are talking about your awful ornaments then you will know to stick them all in a box in the attic. Information is power !
 
I wouldn't go down the 'spooks' route as I'm sure it infringes on some sort of privacy law. I'm sure the EA will tell you whatever feedback he gets.
 
Ontour!!! And Rmelly thought I was a stalker!

Seriously though, this is a VERY small community and everyone knows everyone's business, i.e. they all know there was a death in the family resulting in this house sale. The viewers certainly know all about me. Just wanted to know who was going through the house. I'm a reluctant vendor as hate seeing the family home going.
 
You're scaring me with your 'viewing the family home, inside and out'.

Take the house off the market if you don't want people looking at it. Otherwise get over yourself.
 
ontour said:
you could put a web cam on a computer and leave it on, sound and all. That way to would get to see if it is the neighbours / relations / co-workers coming to see the house and pretending to be interested. You might also get to hear what is putting people off your house. If all the people viewing are talking about your awful ornaments then you will know to stick them all in a box in the attic. Information is power !
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I know of one couple who recorded all the people the auctioneers showed the house to on their cctv. after each viewing they sat down and watched the tapes. They were particularly interested in finding out which of the neighbours attended the open viewing. They also kept track of who came back for private viewing. Not sure I'd be comfortable with this and I wonder if it breaks any privacy laws? (by the way the day they were leaving the wife had a go at one of the neighbours for coming to view the house)
 
gm88 said:
And no, I didnt put it on the market - its the old family home and am not the only vendor. Had no choice but to let it go on the market.
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Fair enough, but if you're not in a position to purchase it outright then that's life, and presumable majority voting...
 
not to sure about the privacy laws inside your own house re: recording but I find that doing so can really shock you into just how little 'selling' is going on from your agent - even in this bad market its still 'come on in and look around' as opposed to pointing out benefits or location etc. And this from a large national EA - of course they say they are doing all they can - I have evidence to the contrary but can hardly trump them with it ...
 
daddycool said:
not to sure about the privacy laws inside your own house re: recording but I find that doing so can really shock you into just how little 'selling' is going on from your agent - even in this bad market its still 'come on in and look around' as opposed to pointing out benefits or location etc. And this from a large national EA - of course they say they are doing all they can - I have evidence to the contrary but can hardly trump them with it ...
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Funnily enough not a lot of people respond well to the hard sell approach. I find that the best thing is generally to let people see the house and ask you questions. Some people are more receptive to chatter and you can sense that generally from the outset but i believe that most people do not want 101 facts about the area thrown in at the viewing time. The facts and figures should be provided either at the end of the viewing or pre viewing. Obviously I wouldn't walk around silently after people but sometimes (alot of the time) less is more in terms of throwing out spiel.
 
I agree with you Mrman, a house sells itself and most people make the decision within 5 minutes of being in the house (in my opinion). Why would any one care if the neighbours came to view the house, anyway nowadays you can see the inside of most houses by just looking at the pictures in daft.
 
Bronte said:
Why would any one care if the neighbours came to view the house, anyway nowadays you can see the inside of most houses by just looking at the pictures in daft.
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I agree with you. Shouldn't make a bit of difference and in fact the neighbours may be looking at in conjunction with a relative or friend who is interested in moving into the area. Not probable but possible. My attitude is if you have an open viewing the more that turn up the better. Those who are interested in buying won't know whether or not those who are viewing are neighbours - they'll just see them as rival purchasers. Now if no-one at all turned up at a public viewing, then I'd be worried!
 
Bronte said:
I agree with you Mrman, a house sells itself and most people make the decision within 5 minutes of being in the house (in my opinion). Why would any one care if the neighbours came to view the house, anyway nowadays you can see the inside of most houses by just looking at the pictures in daft.
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No need to pay estate agent commissions, so!
 
Hmm I think OP has a bit of a 'small town' mind as well as the viewers! If you put your house up on the web everyone can see it anyway so don't see why this is an issue. As regards neighbours coming to see it a lot of the time they want to see whats been done with the house so they can get ideas for home improvement ! Lock your personal belongings away and get over it !
 
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