Should I Pay Estate Agent Fees??

onedaymyfriend

Hi, thanks for your input.

My Solicitor is advising me not to pay.

D#

Ste7ieBoy

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

Hi, thanks for your input.

My Solicitor is advising me not to pay.

D#

Yeah right, I'm sure they've got your best interests at heart and isn't at all thinking of all the fees they'll be charging you when you get taken to court!

Listen to the advice given here by fellow MSEers and just pay up, we have no bias in this.

onedaymyfriend

Ok guys,

I didn't mean to lie or try to fool anyone & I hope you understand why I did what I did...I'll try to explain.

This thread isn't as it seems, I made out that I was the owner of the property...when I am in fact a relative of the Estate Agent involved, who is in this situation & looking for advice. I didn't want to ask the question as the EA, as I know that EA's are exactly liked & I didn't want any negative comments, there are some very hateful people out there.

Once again I appologise for lying...

The property owner has his brother (who is a employment Solicitor) acting on his behalf, he has sent letters claiming that my relatives claim is totally ficticious, yet the brother was a 2nd contact on the property file & my relative has spoken to him many times before.

If you would like me to give you guys the full story I can, but then again I will totally understand if you don't want to know. I do really regret going about it the way I did, I just wanted a none bias opinion.

Thanks again for all your input,

D#

mattwallisuk

Well as the EA there is only two choices:

1. Persue this legally.
2. Write it off as a lesson learnt.

RabbitMad

Well the way I see it the EA transfered the benefits of the contract (To recieve the fee) to the new EA. The vendor agreed to the transfer of the liability (to perform the service to sell the house) from the old EA to the new EA by using the new EA to progress the sale through*.

If the vendor is saying the liability under the contract is to pay the EA and this cannot be assigned without consent on both parties he is correct, in that he must perform it, but not on who must receive it.

If I were the EA I'd be giving 14 days for payment before court action.


*thinking about this the fee was payable upon exchange of contracts but is not collected until completion. From this point of view the liability had already been satified and the transfer was a transfer of the debt only.

macaque_2

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

The original EA is now Bankrupt and therefore cannot lawfully receive the fee.
D#

If you had declared yourself to be a self confessed liar and cheat, I could have retained a vestige of respect for you. As it is, I don't.

onedaymyfriend

This has been ongoing now since October 2007. The vendor was fully aware of the fee and even told the conveyancer that he would pay my rele himself.

The brother (the solicitor), who has spoken to my rele many times, even said "if my brother can get away without paying your fee he will", now the brother is claiming that the whole thing is ficticious?

How unfair!

All advice is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

D#

mattwallisuk

To be honest you need proper legal advise. Nobody on this forum is going to come up with an answer for you, only opinions and without knowing the details. Get some proper legal advise or write it off.

RabbitMad

Other options are available:

1 - paint stripper. Its getting dark earlier now so plenty of opportunity to acidentally spill some over the blokes car and not be noticed.
2 - A "no questions asked" debt collection agency. They would probably expect to keep 50% themselves but if the vendor likes his knee caps about half way up his legs he's likely to pay up quite quickly.

Other than that small claims court. It really isn't that daunting (I've just successfully sued MFI). If your relative isn't willing to pursue this debt then he won't be in business much longer.

macaque_2

onedaymyfriend wrote: »

This has been ongoing now since October 2007. The vendor was fully aware of the fee and even told the conveyancer that he would pay my rele himself.

The brother (the solicitor), who has spoken to my rele many times, even said "if my brother can get away without paying your fee he will", now the brother is claiming that the whole thing is ficticious?

How unfair!

All advice is very much appreciated.

Thanks,

D#

Hang on a minute, have I missed something? You contracted for a job to be done. The job was completed by a different party and and you now looking for ways to avoid paying the bill. What is the 'unfair' bit?