Illegal Chats

I'm selling my house. The estate agent is the link between my buyer and me, and they assert that GDPR prevents them from putting us in direct contact with each other.

I asked them to give my contact details to my buyer, so she could contact me with a question she had, which they did.

She phoned me and said,

"I don't think it's legal for us to be speaking directly to each other, we'd better make this quick."

She meant it's actually illegal for a house buyer to talk directly to the seller - those are the rules. I asked if the same might be true if she was selling a car to me, and an agent or solicitor wasn't involved? She said she didn't think so.

A single example, but I wonder if we're sleepwalking down a rather insidious path. Have we really reached such a stage of subservience, or perhaps a fear of reprimand, that two consenting adults don't think they can legally talk to each other about a transaction, and they need to ask for permission?

We live in a society where we are rightly governed by rules of behaviour - designed to created a more civilised environment. Are we reaching a point where we are imposing imagined, and even more restrictive rules upon ourselves through fear and uncertainty?

What has happened to the idea of asking for forgiveness, not for permission?

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