An acquaintance of ours recently said that they had received what looked like a hand-written note from a local estate agent. In actual fact it was just another flyer. They wanted to know if this was allowed, and is there any way to stop agents' junk mail?
Over the years there has been various typical estate agency marketing techniques - even just the scribbling of a message on the back of a business card, with something like "Ring me about your home, right away!"
The Property Ombudsman state that an estate agent should not seek business by methods which could be considered deceitful, dishonest or harassing. So the question is, does an apparently hand-written note of this kind qualify?
Well, that's a bit of a tricky one... Some would class it as bordering on deceit. Which if that is deemed the case then you could try reporting the agent concerned to Trading Standards. Or likewise, contact the redress scheme the agent has signed up to (either, The Property Ombudsman, Ombudsman Services, or Property Redress Scheme). Please note that you will have had to exhaust the agent's own complaints handling procedure before taking it to a redress scheme. This however rather defeats the object, since you probably don't want to talk to the agent at all!
So, in this instance, I think you just have to accept that this is simply a case of an agent sailing a bit close to the wind in the pursuit of new instructions. After all, although it may be a minor irritant, there's no real harm done. Even if an agent does talk you into signing a contract, you're still entitled to a 14-day cooling off period before it becomes binding. Besides which, of course, you're hardly likely to agree to sell your home against your own will!
As for the wider question of stopping all agents' junk mail; ideally the simplest thing to do is give the agent a quick call asking them to not contact you in this way/remove you from their mailing list. Unfortunately this may not work as many larger corporations have various marketing suites internally and externally so you may not be removed from all of their databases. Another option would be to put up a "No Junk Mail" sign, but this can easily be ignored by delivery people or agents, since even in this electronic age, many still swear by this form of marketing. Besides, the truth is, such signs have no legal standing. Please note that if you have your property on the market with an estate agent and you are being annoyingly touted by other agents please speak to your agent for further advice and that is a different issue and one to discuss further another time.
In the meantime if the generic marketing leaflets from various agents really annoy you, there is always one last resort... You could try posting the flyers back to the agents concerned, along with a polite note, in unstamped envelopes... (Although we'd say this probably isn't the best option!)
