Estate agents, how involved should they be?

[Troubled buyer]

Hello

I am in the process of buying a property, my offer was accepted at the end of October and I was told that the vendor was extending the lease from 74 years to 125. So I was pretty pleased and my offer was made on that basis.

Earlier this month the estate agent called me to say that the vendor didn't want to extend the lease, that they would take money off the purchase price for me to do it and we could conclude a sale within a week.

I have since found out that it was in fact the estate agent who suggested this approach to the vendor and that the vendor has just gone along with it. Just not sure why they would meddle in such a way and I feel like they are holding up the process of me exchanging and concluding.

Can I exclude the estate agents from further discussion and just liaise with my lawyer to ensure that the sale goes through? Or are they a necessary evil?

N

[brian]

It does sound odd - would definitely seek professional advice on this, because if the estate agent is knocking money off your property value for no real reason, then they may well not be serving your interests very well!