Hi Jerezhot. Being an estate agent is a frustrating business, I know only to well! If you have not signed anything with the original agent then he should not be entitled to any fee. I would not worry about this too much.

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Thank you got your reply.
Yes I am sure it is but to earn 3000 euro from the seller and another 3000 from the buyer it can be lucrative. The agent has my NEI recept and is holding this as ransom until I pay..he said services were free up to the sale .seems to have changed his mind .another case of buyer beware .sadly

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Jerezhot, I am not sure what you mean by your NEI receipt? Do you mean the receipt to collect your NIE number? As far as I know the large majority of estate agents do not charge the buyer purely the seller who pays a commission to the agent for selling their house. The Agent goes and takes photos and spends a lot on advertising the house on portals or newspapers and so, it then also has to cover the costs of driving clients out to the property, it all mounts up! If the Agent who has your receipt helped you to obtain the NIE number then you do need to pay for that service. If not then I would suggest you go to his office and ask for the complaint's book. He should have one in his office at all times if he is a legal company/business. Write the details of your complaint in this, they don't like it as it will have to be looked into.

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Good advice from Sal1y.The complaints book is called the'Hoja de Quejas y Reclamaciones' and every business should have one .If the agent gives you the complaints book,complete the form and take your copy to the local OMIC office.(Oficina Municipal de Informacion al Consumidor)You must take your copy to the OMIC office otherwise they will be unaware of the complaint.If the agent doesn't give you the complaints book report this to the OMIC.If as you say the agent is holding your NIE receipt hostage he may very well be committing an infraction of the penal code and you should report the facts to the Municipal Police.I understand it is frustrating for the agent to show properties and not make a sale as it has happened to myself when I had a property and showed it to over 40 clients before it sold but this agent seems rather unscrupulous and you should not be afraid to name and shame him.

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What does, ".I changed my mind at the last minute and went to buy a small property from a different agent .", mean exactly?

You can change your mind up until you sign the deeds of purchase (escritura). A real estate agent has no comeback on you in that regard. Showing properties, spending their time etc. with prospective buyers and ending up with no sale is all part of the job.

I am wondering however WHY you went to another agent at the last minute. How exactly did that happen?

I suspect that the first agent feels that YOU screwed him in some way.

It's not even clear to me that you aren't saying you went to another agent to buy the same property the first agent had shown you.

As for the NIE, are you saying you applied for it personally and then gave it to the agent to prepare to close the deal that you backed out of or are you saying that you authorized the agent to apply for the NIE on your behalf and he is now asking for payment for that service he rendered on your behalf?

It's fine to register a complaint but only if you have a basis on which to complain. I don't see where you have shown that is the case at all.

If you got the NIE yourself and then handed it to him, he cannot hold it to ransom. Call a cop, it's theft.

If he got the NIE on your behalf, it is a service for which he is entitled to charge you. If you did not agree on how much that charge would be beforehand, more fool you obviously. But complaining he is going to charge you isn't going to go very far with anyone in that case.

So, who applied for the NIE, you personally or the agent on your behalf?

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