It happened again. An English couple found a nice country house in the Jalon valley and made an offer.
When the buyers solicitor made his inspection, he found out that the owner "forgot" to tell them that there is a plan in the town hall to convert that rural land into urban and the property will lose part of its garden.
A private seller is only interested in selling his house. A professional has many houses for sale and does not care which one you choose. The seller pays his agents fee and buyers think that this fee will go to them, but this never happens and instead they can lose a lot of money.
I think that business habits in the UK and Europe are outdated and obsolete. In other cultures such as China, nobody does business without a good intermediary because they know that the "Good deals are made with a good intermediary".