The reality behind ‘sale agreed’ signs

Auctioneers suggest necessary reforms

A COUNTY Cavan auctioneer has put his head above the parapet in an online post to not only explain the delay in getting property sales over the line but also the strain the process puts on agents like him.

Raymond Smith of Smith Property, Ballyjamesduff, says a common misconception is that estate agents “have a handy number” or “must be flying” as people base an agent’s success on the number of ‘Sale Agreed’ signs they see going up around the country.

However, the experienced auctioneer says getting the sale agreed is the easy part. From there on, auctioneers deal with the vendor, the buyer and both sets of solicitors.

“The irony is that the fee we charge is earned not by putting up the sign, but by managing the entire process from start to finish,” Mr Smith said in an online post. “We become planners, consultants, therapists, counsellors, and problem-solvers — wearing many hats to guide the sale to completion.”

He made the comments on LinkedIn last week. The Celt spoke to other Co Cavan auctioneers who “wholly” supported and agreed with the “very fair” points raised by their Ballyjamesduff counterpart.

In his online post, Raymond Smith made it clear that auctioneers share “genuine empathy” with their clients; the sellers and buyers who, in most cases, are dealing with one of the biggest transactions of their lives.

“Unfortunately, the agent also becomes the go-to person for every issue that arises,” he wrote, “We’re the ones who get the calls when there’s a delay or confusion — the ones asked to find the solution, explain the problem, or smooth things over.

“And more often than not, the finger of blame is pointed at the agent because we’re the easiest target.”

As to what is causing the “delay or confusion” Raymond Smith says it’s obvious. “From speaking with other agents, it’s clear we’re all experiencing the same issue. The common denominator in almost every delayed sale isn’t finance — it’s the legal process.”

According to IPAV, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, 81 per cent of auctioneers are “either frustrated or very frustrated by the delays caused by the current conveyancing process” and 79 per cent are experiencing conveyancing delays from the time the property has gone ‘sale agreed’ to when the sale closes.

Other perspectives

Donal Keenan of Keenan’s Auctioneers in Kingscourt knows the process from both positions because before he worked as an auctioneer, he worked as a solicitor in Ireland and Australia.

“I’ve seen the pressures from both sides,” Mr Keenan told the Celt. He says the reality for solicitor’s firms that also handle litigation cases, is that conveyancing files “can easily slip down” the priority list as they work to court and other deadlines. “It’s not neglect, it’s the structure of how legal workloads are managed,” Mr Keenan explained.

On the estate agent’s side, the challenge is just as real as they are expected to liaise with everyone without full access to either side.

“We then find ourselves chasing all parties for answers, often from solicitors who don’t see communication with agents as part of their brief,” he says from experience.

“The truth is, the conveyancing system itself hasn’t evolved fast enough,” Mr Keenan asserts. “It’s still a process built for another era—paper-heavy, sequential, and slow.

“Reform remains overdue,” he adds.

Mr Keenan points to the Sellers’ Legal Pack for Property Buyers Bill first championed by IPAV in 2021. He also points to the Australian model where licensed conveyancers handle property transfers exclusively.

The auctioneer praised his counterpart Raymond Smith for “open communication” on the long-standing issue of delayed property sales.

“At the end of the day, everyone wants smoother and faster sales but still done right, and happier clients,” Mr Keenan said. “Honest discussions like this one are where real change starts.”

New law

Meanwhile, Declan Woods auctioneer of Sherry Fitzgerald, Cavan Town, also highlighted the need for the Sellers’ Legal Pack to be brought into law.

A sellers’ legal pack is a collection of documents relating to an individual property. It provides the buyers with key information relating to the purchase like architect’s certificate of compliance for planning permission and building regs, local property tax history, BER cert, contracts of sale and letter confirming evidence of rights of way.

IPAV says a Sellers’ Legal Pack could speed up conveyancing time by up to 50% and mean consumers will be fully informed and better protected.

“Raymond Smith is wholly correct about long delays,” Mr Woods told the Celt. “There are sales that are started at the beginning of the year that don’t close until the end of it. No wonder people are fraught at the edges.”

Mr Woods explains: “It takes two weeks to get a property listed on the market by the time you agree terms of engagement, take photos and get BER ratings; then it takes a further four to six weeks on average to get ‘sale agreed’ on the property.

“But then it takes another 10 to 12 weeks to get completion as the purchaser’s solicitor must do due diligence, and that is with a lot of work and, shall we say, hand-holding, by the agent.”

When asked if IPAV developed the Sellers’ Legal Pack idea in response to the housing crisis, Mr Woods said: “IPAV are reacting to their members who are dealing with this on a daily basis. Everyone accepts this is a problem.”

IPAV first brought the idea of the Sellers’ Pack to the Dáil in 2021 but its progress through both Houses of the Oireachtas has been stalled by the change in government. All the Cavan auctioneers who spoke to the Celt agree “the majority of cases involve straightforward issues that could be dealt with simply and efficiently if addressed in good time” and until something like the Sellers’ Legal Pack becomes law “we’ll keep seeing months lost doing work that could have been tackled upfront.”