Advice for First time seller please

SurreyGuy26

On Saturday just gone, my partner and i signed a Sole Agency agreement with an EA to market our property.

Following a conversation with our neighbours to out of courtesy inform them we are looking to sale they have since come back and said they would actually like to buy it.

Do i have to go through the agency or can i consider this a private sale?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i don't want to incur fees later on down the line for something i do wrong now.

Many Thanks

Doozergirl

As long as the agreement is sole agency then you are allowed to sell privately.

As of the beginning of the month, they aren't actually able to start marketing a property until the HIP is in hand, therefore they can't have introduced anyone and won't really be able to argue that.

Considering you only signed on Saturday and it usually takes time to get things up and running then I think you will be fine - even a termination fee would probably be inappropriate.

Richard_Webster

Unless you have agreed to give the estate agent "sole selling rights", whihc is not the same as a "sole agency", then you should not have to pay the agents commission.

Obviously however:

1. Don't either you or the neighbour get involved in using the agents for nay negotiations. You simply tell them you have found a private buyer.

2. Check the agreement you signed to make sure it does not give them "sole selling rights". This is most unusual and only the less scrupulous agents would have such a an agreement.

SurreyGuy26

excellent advice, thank you very much!!

chickmug

SurreyGuy26 wrote: »

On Saturday just gone, my partner and i signed a Sole Agency agreement with an EA to market our property.

Following a conversation with our neighbours to out of courtesy inform them we are looking to sale they have since come back and said they would actually like to buy it.

Do i have to go through the agency or can i consider this a private sale?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i don't want to incur fees later on down the line for something i do wrong now.

Many Thanks

I may sound biased, from my position as an agent, but do make sure your neighbour has the money and really is in a position to proceed. Regularly we had sellers who came to us that had agreed to sell privately to friends neighbours but many months on realised they just had not got the right sort of money.

If I had a person with a possible private sale I would offer to see the sale through for a much lower fee - a thought?