Danish Mortgages

Danish Estate Agents

Estate agents exercise considerable power and influence in the Danish property market. Virtually all property purchases and sales are handled by estate agents, many requiring no additional involvement from any other professional person or organisation.

The Danish estate agency sector is dominated by a number of chains of estate agents, some owned by financial institutions, others being groups of independent estate agents that have come together to form marketing consortia. These chains have embraced internet technology in a big way and offer potential property purchasers online access to details including prices, photographs, dimensions, location and property tax information for the properties that they have on offer.

Danish Association of Chartered Estate Agents
In addition, the Danish Association of Chartered Estate Agents, which represents 95 percent of Danish estate agents, runs a website (www.boligsiden.dk) that contains details of all residential property on sale in Denmark and links to the estate agents responsible for marketing the properties. This website often lists more than 50,000 properties for sale throughout Denmark, making it an amazing resource for both native and overseas property buyers. Even though the site is in the Danish language, it is simple to navigate and easy to search by property type, region, price, floor area or post code.

The Role of the Estate Agent
The Danish estate agent¡¦s responsibilities are laid down in the Danish Property Transaction Act and in other associated laws. These responsibilities are considerably more onerous than those expected of estate agents in most other countries. As well as valuing the property for the vendor, the agent is expected to calculate the gross and the net cost of owning the property, to prepare a sales brochure including key figures that allow the purchaser to make correct decisions regarding the purchase and to prepare the draft sales contract.

In addition, the estate agent has to arrange a survey to identify any faults in the property and to arrange indemnity insurance to cover any hidden defects. If this is not undertaken, the vendor is liable for all faults not disclosed to the purchaser for the 20 years following the sale.

Summary
Estate agents wield considerable power in the Danish property market;
major chains of estate agents control most of the property market;
the Danish Association of Chartered Estate Agents¡¦ website (www.boligsiden.dk) lists all residential properties for sale in Denmark;
Danish estate agents have greater responsibilities than their counterparts in most other countries.