I believe R A Bennett are in breach of the estate agents act, they call me today and advised that if I didn't have a mortgage appointment with their in-house team that 'I would lose out on properties' as they would prefer to pass on offers from people they had met. The law says that the estate agent MUST pass on all offers to the vendor, they don't have the right to withhold offers just because they won't make mortgage commission on it. Estate agents get away with this because there is next to no enforcement. As well as this, previously I had arranged to view a property on three occassions. First two occassions the estate agent didn't show up (world cup game was on for the second viewing so the guy went home instead of showing me round), but the vendor showed me round. Third viewing was cancelled as vendor had accepted an offer, even though we had advised we were interested in making an offer. Surely if they wanted the best price for the vendor they would have entertained the second offer on the table - but I suspect they didn't even tell the vendor (when the vendor showed us round, she wasn't aware R A Bennett had arranged the viewing, and the third viewing was only 72 hours later).