Estate Agents

giddingsno1

Hi All!

We signed up with a very well known EA in Feb 2009 and we agreed to pay for the HIPs once the house was sold but we are in Feb 2010 now and I have decided to take it off the market as we are fed up with it all.

I called the EA to remove our house off the market and now we have a letter to say we owe them £399 + VAT for the HIPS & £150 + VAT for a 'get out fee'.

I believe that the 'get out fee' is a joke as it has been on the market for over a year and although we have had a load of viewings there has been no offers. We did even reduce our house because the EA thought that might help but still no offers, so after alot of thinking we have decided to stay put!

We have to pay the above fees within 14 days or we will get charged a admin fee of £120 and 3% above Barclays bank rate.

Does anyone know how I can get out of the above and what will happen if I decide not to pay?

Also the EA have really annoyed us with promises of new photos, open house etc..

Any help much appreciated!!

Ta

Cannon_Fodder

Read your contract.

Most "pay when sold" HIPs will also need to be paid for if you decide not to sell.

I agree that the "get out" fee is a joke. But if you signed a piece of paper...

Best way to avoid charges is stay on market with them, then re-read your contract for a cost-free way out of it - if you give some notice do you avoid the "get out" fee ?

Doubt you'll avoid the HIP whatever you do. They paid someone to arrange it, should they do that for nothing?

Richard_Webster

First thing is read the terms and conditions you presumably signed.

I It is very likely that you agreed to pay for the HIP if the house did not sell - the agents have to pay someone to produce it, so why shouldn't they charge you?

The get out fee may be in their small print. Compared with the levels of estate agents' charges generally it is not an unreasonable figure.

googler

Did the EA give you the impression that your HIP would be provided for free?

I would imagine the cancellation fee was stated in writing in any terms and conditions that you signed or approved. What does your contract say? Unless it says the cancellation fee is performance-related, I fear you're duty-bound to pay it, else be in breach of contract....

Eric1

I'm afraid they can justify it. If you had a load of viewings, they obviously spent time&fuel and expect to be paid for their work.

adg1

The get-out fee will be in your Ts and Cs somewhere - read them carefully as you will have signed them when you instructed the house.

You won't get out of the HIP payment - they cannot market the property without the HIP so will have had to get one done for your property.

giddingsno1

Thanks for the feedback but I mainly want to know how they will enforce the fees, basically what is the worst that can happen if I refuse to pay?

Cheers

Mouseman

At the end of the day a CCJ.

googler

You already discussed this when you were at the 6 month stage, didn't you?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1848745&highlight=

hamblettamaud

I'm afraid I'm in favour of the estate agent in this one. You said that you got "loads of viewings", so at least they appear to have been promoting your property and showing people round it. It might be different if you had absolutely no viewings and could not be confident the EA was doing his job.

googler

giddingsno1 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback but I mainly want to know how they will enforce the fees, basically what is the worst that can happen if I refuse to pay?

Your debt is passed to a debt collection agency, who may/will send officers to your door to collect it. I wouldn't like to think what will happen to your credit rating after this .....