House on with estate agent but we have found a buyer - not them

richleeds

Hi


We found the house of our dreams a few months back and put our house on the market - right at the start of the housing slump.

A few months later we got a call saying the house we wanted had sold - the Mrs was gutted! Anyway 2 more months pass and the sale has fallen through.

We got on well with the sellers and knew they wanted to downsize and they also a a few properties to rent etc.

Anyway to cut a long story short we put an offer to them that they buy ours and we buy thiers with some additional cash, they will then either live in ours or rent it out.

But the question is....Do we have to still pay our estate agent anything?

They have had no contact with the other couple, they have not been involved in anyway and to be honest what they promised us when they took our house on to sell as regards advertising etc hasnt materialised (they have just sacked the local branch manager) and we have not really had much of a service from them, though we appreicate times are tough and agents are cutting back on advertising spends etc.

We would have no issue giving them a token amount for the brochures etc they printed and a video they made, but do we owe them 1%?

Thanks

Rich

meester

richleeds wrote: »

Hi


We found the house of our dreams a few months back and put our house on the market - right at the start of the housing slump.

A few months later we got a call saying the house we wanted had sold - the Mrs was gutted! Anyway 2 more months pass and the sale has fallen through.

We got on well with the sellers and knew they wanted to downsize and they also a a few properties to rent etc.

Anyway to cut a long story short we put an offer to them that they buy ours and we buy thiers with some additional cash, they will then either live in ours or rent it out.

But the question is....Do we have to still pay our estate agent anything?

They have had no contact with the other couple, they have not been involved in anyway and to be honest what they promised us when they took our house on to sell as regards advertising etc hasnt materialised (they have just sacked the local branch manager) and we have not really had much of a service from them, though we appreicate times are tough and agents are cutting back on advertising spends etc.

We would have no issue giving them a token amount for the brochures etc they printed and a video they made, but do we owe them 1%?

Thanks

Rich

Don't give them a penny, estate agents work on no-sale, no-fee, and in the event they do sell they get FAR more than the cost of the brochures, so it would be wrong in this case to stump up the cost of the brochures etc. Shed not a tear.

It's easy for you to prove they had no part in the sale (e.g., from their advertising on rightmove etc.), because your buyer is also selling you their house.

chartreuse_2

It depends on your contract with them. If it's sole or multi agency, then you're fine and will pay nothing.

If it's a sole selling rights agreement, then you'd need to see if you could break it in some other way, to avoid paying.

chickmug

chartreuse wrote: »

It depends on your contract with them. If it's sole or multi agency, then you're fine and will pay nothing.

If it's a sole selling rights agreement, then you'd need to see if you could break it in some other way, to avoid paying.

Don't you mean to evade paying.

chartreuse_2

chickmug wrote: »

Don't you mean to evade paying.

Nope, I mean avoid.

It would be evasion if the EA had sold the house or, in the case of SSR, provided the service they had contracted to provide. But they didn't. The OP sold it privately and, by the sound of it, the EA failed to provide the agreed upon services (although I'll concede that we've only heard one side of the story).

chickmug

meester wrote: »

Don't give them a penny, estate agents work on no-sale, no-fee, and in the event they do sell they get FAR more than the cost of the brochures, so it would be wrong in this case to stump up the cost of the brochures etc. Shed not a tear.

It's easy for you to prove they had no part in the sale (e.g., from their advertising on rightmove etc.), because your buyer is also selling you their house.

No Sale No Fee is fine BUT making sure that is the case.

And if they do sell they get far more than the cost of the brochures --- you really don't have a clue as to the cost of maintaining and running an EA's business. Unlike the CAB the EA's are not charities.

If everyone that tried to shaft an EA didn't the EA's fees would fall.

richleeds

We are not trying to "shaft" anyone and if they had of sold our house of course we would have happily paid thier 1% commision. However if all goes to plan they will not have sold our house or had any involvement in the process.

Thanks for all the replies though

lincroft1710

Chickmug - if OP waits till his tie in period has finished, is he not then able to sell to whom he wants without incurring a claim for fee from EA? Providing of course EA didn't introduce buyer, which in this case he didn't. I also think a lot of EAs are "shafted" because of vendors' perceptions that their actions (or lack of them) don't match the promises.

chickmug

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Chickmug - if OP waits till his tie in period has finished, is he not then able to sell to whom he wants without incurring a claim for fee from EA? Providing of course EA didn't introduce buyer, which in this case he didn't. I also think a lot of EAs are "shafted" because of vendors' perceptions that their actions (or lack of them) don't match the promises.

I hear what you say but am feeling grumpy today!

I am the first to help if I feel a person on the forum has genuinely been shafted by an EA as I have done many times. But I am on here to give another point of view as sometimes I do feel people are trying to 'evade' paying. (Not saying this about the OP on this thread as I don't know the details) Often people don't have a clue as to the costs being incurred and there IS another point of view.

chartreuse_2

chickmug wrote: »

I hear what you say but am feeling grumpy today!

I am the first to help if I feel a person on the forum has genuinely been shafted by an EA as I have done many times. But I am on here to give another point of view as sometimes I do feel people are trying to 'evade' paying. (Not saying this about the OP on this thread as I don't know the details) Often people don't have a clue as to the costs being incurred and there IS another point of view.

Actually, that's a fair point. Fair play to you. As it happens though, much of this is probably hypothetical anyway. Chances are the OP didn't have a SSR contract, in which case it's all very straightforward.

chickmug

lincroft1710 wrote: »

Chickmug - if OP waits till his tie in period has finished, is he not then able to sell to whom he wants without incurring a claim for fee from EA? Providing of course EA didn't introduce buyer, which in this case he didn't. I also think a lot of EAs are "shafted" because of vendors' perceptions that their actions (or lack of them) don't match the promises.

Sorry just replied and hit the send button too quick.

The OP's liability depends on the contract with the EA. Some have quoted court cases and infered it is more clear cut, on when fees are owed, but according to my body, the NAEA, it is still not as clear cut, as posters feel, and they (the NAEA) are taking their own legal advice.