Mr Smith said: "We recognise it is disappointing for any buyer's agent when a purchase fails to go through, especially if it means they will receive little or no commission as a result.
"While we cannot comment on the specific details of this case due to client confidentiality, we can confirm that all procedures were followed correctly.
"We comply with anti-money laundering regulations and our processes are tried and tested with thousands of transactions every year. This includes running an identity check on a purchaser, for which we require their date of birth.
"In order to progress any house sale, it is vital that we check that all prospective purchasers have the means, whether cash or a mortgage, to buy the property in question so that we can advise our sellers as to whether the potential purchasers can afford to proceed with the purchase.
"This is in accordance with the code of conduct operated by The Property Ombudsman Scheme.
"Many transactions fail at the last hurdle because other agents do not go through this process. Even when an agreement in principle is provided from the buyer's mortgage broker, buying agent or lawyer, in some instances we also double check that the buyer has the means to progress because we have found that they often don't, which leads to disappointment all round."
Matthew Fleming-Duffy, director at Bournemouth-based Cherry Finance, said concerns such as Mr Pryor's about large estate agents with broker arms were "really common".
He said: "If you start from an estate agent's perspective, if they put an offer forward, they have to make sure it is a valid offer. There are lots of very good estate agents who do a decent job.
"Unfortunately, this does translate sometimes into aggressive sales tactics."
He added that the issue fed into a wider debate about whether estate agents should be regulated.
"They are the only part of the process that is unregulated," he said, adding that having professional standards would mean "the good guys are being protected by the fact that they are adhering to the rules."
simon.allin@ft.com
