Tecnocasa charges buyer €3,000 just to submit an offer

Tecnocasa charges the buyer €3,000 just to submit an offer

Paying to buy. At most estate agencies, the buyer doesn't part with a single euro until the notary; at Tecnocasa, according to one specific case, you have to shell out €3,000 plus VAT for the agency to deign to read your offer to the owner. That money is also handed over upon signing a deposit contract (contrato de arras), meaning the step immediately before completion. The complaint, posted on a consumer forum, describes a practice that breaks the industry's usual script: view, offer and negotiate with no tolls upfront.

What you sign and what you lose with the €3,000

The mechanism described is as trinc: the interested party views the flat, submits an offer, and the agency demands payment to forward it. There is only a refund if Tecnocasa or the seller backs out. If the disagreement arises over the clauses of the private contract —something that in a normal property sale is settled with a handshake and each party going home—, the €3,000 plus VAT stay in the agency's till. The buyer has paid to negotiate. And for nothing, if the negotiation stalls.

On top of that comes the commission: 3% on a €65,000 property, plus the initial €3,000. The calculation made by the person affected puts the total cost at nearly 10% of the price for a flat that, given its age and condition, needs the kitchen and bathroom renovated. In other words: the estate agency commission eats up the renovation budget. And if the buyer finances the purchase with the mortgage arranged by the agency itself, there's another commission through the back door.

The €5,000 price hike that says it all

The episode has a revealing ending. After the back-and-forth, the price of the property goes up €5,000, on the grounds that the agency would pass that amount on to the client as a favour, without charging its commission for the time being and without signing anything. Translated: the buyer pays the commission inside the price, without seeing it and without it being documented. An industry classic, but here with the added twist that he had already handed over €3,000 for the privilege of having his offer read.

Listings without square metres, without floor level and without a lift

The criticism doesn't stop at the money. The listings, according to this testimony, omit basic details: street number, floor level, whether it faces the street or an interior courtyard, lift, heating and, most importantly, the actual square metres. At the viewing there is no scale floor plan of the flat. The agency justifies its fees as representation and web advertising costs; the buyer finds that the added value is conspicuously absent. Some call it a legal loophole. Others, simply and plainly, a business.

The majority response from those consulted is unanimous in one direction: if the buyer is charged a commission, they get up and walk away. The sales commission belongs to the seller, who is the one commissioning the service. The buyer only pays when the brief is to find them a flat. And to bypass the middleman there are old and effective methods: asking the neighbours who the owner is, requesting the property registry note (nota simple) and negotiating face to face.

The question remains of how many transactions can sustain this model. With offices closing and part of the market learning to sidestep the middleman, the question is not whether the buyer should pay to make an offer, but how much longer anyone will.