What on earth have estate agents done to annoy the Daily Mail’s star columnist, Sarah Vine?
In an extraordinary attack in yesterday’s paper, she did not mince her words, accusing agents of making empty promises, and being double-dealing granny-gazumpers.
Vine will undoubtedly say that her views are entirely her own. However, the fact is that they look decidedly intemperate, particularly given that she is married to Michael Gove, shadow housing minister when his party was in opposition.
Furthermore, in her curiously effusive welcome to Poundland founder Steve Smith as he ventures into estate agency, Vine does not produce one single scrap of evidence to substantiate why she is so anti-agents.
Do her views accurately reflect the sort of conversations she might have with her husband over the breakfast table?
Can any of our readers shed any light on this? Indeed, are any of the estate agents she has dealt with going to sue? There do seem to have been three fairly recent dealings.
As far as we can make out, Vine and Gove bought a house in Kensington for £430,000 in 2002. They then bought a second home, outside their Surrey Heath constituency, and in 2006 bought one in the constituency for £395,000.
There was a fair bit of publicity, in connection with the MPs’ expenses scandal, which makes you think that maybe Vine should have been a bit more careful about training her sights on agents.
A thoroughly unwise column, perhaps.
But anyway, in case you missed it, here in full is what she wrote in yesterday’s Daily Mail:
“Not content with taking on the supermarkets, Poundland founder Steve Smith is setting up a new venture to tackle yet another set of High Street sharks: estate agents.
“His new website, estatesdirect.com, offers homeowners the chance to sell their property for as little as £395 plus VAT.
“As far as I can see, it offers pretty much the same as any smooth-talking property jockey I’ve met, but without all the empty promises — and without charging 1.5 per cent for the privilege.
“Most successful businessmen tend to be ruthless. But it seems to me that Mr Smith has something of the moral crusader about him.
“If the man who gave us bargain washing powder can rid the world of this double-dealing, granny-gazumping, stress-inducing plague then he deserves not just a knighthood, but a sainthood, too.”
Here, for the record, is what the Telegraph reported in 2009 about Gove’s property moves and his expenses:
And here is how the local paper reported a meeting Gove had when he faced angry constituents in 2009 over his expenses claims:
For more detail of the Gove moves, here is a critical blog from last year:
So were you an agent who assisted the Goves in any of their house sales? And if you were, what could you possibly have done to bring down the anger of Ms Vine on the profession as a whole?
Comments (9)
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It's nothing more than the bandwagonesque overview that a number of the general public apply to estate agents. It's lazy, ill informed and outdated. There are poor agents and agents who charge too much. There are also poor mechanics who charge too much, poor dentists, poor builders etc. etc. etc. The list is infinite. Agents are a soft target for weak minds looking to cause a ripple and frankly, Sarah Vine comes across as a buffoon, aimlessly taking shots for anyone that will listen.
Another good reason for any one involved in estate agency not to buy the “Daily Maul”!
Its a shame the Misdescriptions Act has been replaced or I would be reporting the ‘Star Columnist’ label. 😉
It is a surprise when people throw stones from glass houses.