Taking Estate Agent to Court: Admin Fees

MrsC_5

plane_boy2000 wrote:

possible outcome:- you rent direct from the landlord and agree a rent reduction to ofset the agents fees he wont be paying thus you have got one over on the agent

Another possible outcome.....the agent would then sue the landlord for his commission. Come to think of it, not a "possible" outcome, more likely a "definite" outcome. Beware.....you can never "get one over" on an estate agent.

distilled

And they say housebuying is a stressful time?? Can't for one minute think why!

mummytofour

I think the OP is prob very stressed by the whole business and I can see why and totally understand why, its really pees me off too when ppl dont work as quickly as they could do, but sometimes as others have said one just has to wait..

Ho humm hope the EA comes good in the end.

galileo

You will not recover money for inconvenience - this is not permitted in contract law.

You essentially have a contract with the agent, and they are in breach. The idea of contacting the Landlord is a good one - if you want the property, get hold of him and deal with him direct. If you don't know how to contact him, do a search at the Land Registry and find out hios address from their records.

You will only be entitled to recover actual loss. So, if you were to secure the house after having contacted the landlord, your loss may be, for example extra rent that you had to pay in respect of your current property (assuming the rent was dearer) that you would not have had to pay had the agents performed the contract expeditiously and properly (because you would have moved into the cheaper property sooner.

The other point is check if the agents are a member of a voluntary body eg ARLA. If so, consider complaining to them. This may be a siound alternative to going to court (which would be costly, time consuming, full of hassle, and not guaranteed to produce the result you want).

Good luck!