taking house off the market and being charged??

takethat

help!! took my house off the market an offer had been excepted but i took it down 1 wk later, no soliceters were put in place or surveys done. today i recieved a bill from the estate agents asking for £978.00 for selling the property??? do i really have to pay this much for nothing??

withabix

You accepted an offer, presumably after introduction by the Estate Agents.

You signed a contract with the Estate Agents to find buyer for your house, presumably for a fee that equates to £978.

They did that.

Why don't you think you owe them the money?

Mummy81

Hi Takethat,

You need to check the agreement you signed when you instructed your estate agent. It will outline in there what there fees are, i.e no sale no fee etc. You need to ask the estate agents to break it down as to what you are paying for. Is it just what you would have paid if the sale had completed or are they charging specifics, i.e £200 for brochures, £100 per newspaper advert, things like that.

Dependant upon what your agreement says and what they are charging you for depend on how you progress. I'm sorry I can't be more help.

Once you've found out your agreement I'll try to help some more.

PasturesNew

Often, a contract with an EA will be that they find you a "proceedable buyer". They did, you pulled out. That's why you got the bill.

The bill isn't "for nothing". They prepared details, advertised it, presumably sent viewers round, maybe spent time doing the viewings, etc etc.

Their job is to find you a buyer .... they did that. You pulled out. Kerching!

googler

OK, let's review - you marketed your home through this agent, a buyer was found who made you an offer.

You accepted that offer, then you decided one week later that you weren't going to accept it? You then rejected the offer, and decided not to market your home anymore?

If your contract with the EA says that their fee of £978 is payable if they find a 'ready, willing and able' purchaser - as they seem to have done, you owe them the £978

john85

Hi,
We accepted an offer on our house but the process has dragged on for absolutely ages. It took 2 months for the buyer to arrange a survey, its been 2 months since and we are still being promised by the estate agent that the mortgage will be sorted "within days".

Another agency (it was multi-agency basis) knew the situation and suggested we let another viewer round. They put a (higher) offer in the next same day, we said o.k. and the survey was done within a week.:T

But if we continue and exchange with these 2nd, serious buyers, are we going to get stung as well by the first agent for their fees? And if there is some liability how long can you be strung along by a time-wasting buyer, months, years?
Any help will be gratefully received!

princeofpounds

It all depends on the contract. We cannot answer your question accurately without a full account of the contract.

Write back to the original EA asking them what clause in the contract they believe entitles them to their fee. When you get an idea of that you will have more clue of whether to accept or refute it.