‘In general terms, if the agent has shown the property and has the full keys and full access to the property they have a duty of care.
Estate agents could be liable for £500,000 of jewellery missing from Petra Ecclestone’s £32million mansion if they were negligent when showing round buyers, a property expert claimed today.
MailOnline revealed yesterday how a pair of diamond earrings and a Rolex watch were swiped from the home of the 24-year-old daughter of billionaire Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.
She had put the property in London’s Belgravia on the market and discovered the jewellery had gone after a viewing by a potential buyer said to have been posing as a Kazakh millionaire called Oleg.
Today, Mark Hayward, managing director of the National Association of Estate Agents, said that estate agents would have insurance for such eventualities.
If they were found to be negligent the loss could be put down to them, he said, adding: ‘I don’t know the specifics of this case so I can’t comment on what happened here.
‘But in general terms, if the agent has shown the property and has the full keys and full access to the property they have a duty of care.’
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