Warning to anyone taking their house off market

QTPie

People aren't saying you are stupid, they are explaining why what happened, happened... (mainly for those other posters who feel that you were unfairly treated - yes it wasn't nice, but you were treated as per the terms of the contract that you signed).

It might have been worth running the contract past your solicitor before/when you pulled out of the sale - s/he could have saved you the hassle of the small claims court.

QT

dave11thnun wrote: »

sorry if I sound upset, but I wrote this to try to help prevent people from screwing up like me in the future - not to receive endless smart comments on how stupid I was for "misunderstanding" my contract (I bow down to your superior intelligence), what I should have done, and how nasty I was to waste the poor esate agent's time by selfishly losing so much work last year that I ended up unable to afford to move house.

I just hope that the £2K loan I now have to take out to pay them will help to heal their emotional scars formed over what must have been a traumatic 9 months for them. Maybe they could use the money to redesign their contract so that it's even MORE confusing to catch more of "us thickos" out!

hazyjo

Was the initial contract for about 12 weeks? I'm surprised it still stood then seeing as it would no doubt have expired by the time they found you a buyer! Surely you could have claimed there was no valid contract actually in place... If your buyer was found in the inital 12 weeks, fair enough, but it seems odd that they can sue you based on an out of date contract. Mind you, I've never had to renew a contract when the EAs have taken longer than the contract period to find me a buyer so maybe these things have clauses for that sort of thing.

Thanks for the heads up. Not something I'd have been worrying about before reading this. The market has a lot to answer for.

Jx

sonastin

hazyjo wrote: »

Was the initial contract for about 12 weeks? I'm surprised it still stood then seeing as it would no doubt have expired by the time they found you a buyer! Surely you could have claimed there was no valid contract actually in place... If your buyer was found in the inital 12 weeks, fair enough, but it seems odd that they can sue you based on an out of date contract. Mind you, I've never had to renew a contract when the EAs have taken longer than the contract period to find me a buyer so maybe these things have clauses for that sort of thing.

Thanks for the heads up. Not something I'd have been worrying about before reading this. The market has a lot to answer for.

Jx

EA contracts rarely terminate automatically at the end of the 12 weeks, its just that the arrangements under the contract change slightly once the initial period is over (e.g. you can now give notice to terminate the contract)

geoffky

I think you are very lucky because if i was the buyer and spent money i would of tried the small claims as well..i might not of won but i would of risked £30 in finding out..

GDB2222

You wouldn't have won, and I doubt that the court would have allowed the case to go to trial.

GDB2222

sonastin wrote: »

EA contracts rarely terminate automatically at the end of the 12 weeks, its just that the arrangements under the contract change slightly once the initial period is over (e.g. you can now give notice to terminate the contract)

I have in the past given the required notice long before the end of the 12 weeks.

purplefox

OP, thank you for trying to warn others of this clause.
I think that instead of being blamed for 'wasting' the EA's time (which is a joke when I have just spent a year trying to buy a property and am still waiting on a good 50+ EA's to call me back with details!), we should be applauding you for trying to help your buyer, I'm just sorry it has ended up so costly for you.

FATBALLZ

purplefox wrote: »

we should be applauding you for trying to help your buyer

Why? I am confused why they think pulling out of a sale completely without warning is helpful to a buyer. Why not just apologise to the buyer and ask them if they are prepared to wait as you are having trouble finding a place? The buyer could have been perfectly happy for all the OP knew. This just seems odd to me.

mufi

FATBALLZ wrote: »

Why? I am confused why they think pulling out of a sale completely without warning is helpful to a buyer. Why not just apologise to the buyer and ask them if they are prepared to wait as you are having trouble finding a place? The buyer could have been perfectly happy for all the OP knew. This just seems odd to me.

Agreed. I have reservations as the OP initially gave this as the reason then, in a later post, cited financial reasons for pulling out. I'd also be interested to know if the OP took advice before deciding not to pay the EA; if so, then the solicitor should be shot:).

olly300

dave11thnun wrote: »

Oh my God there are some real losers on this site!

No they are just telling you how they see it, which oddly enough agrees with the judge.

If you don't like it you don't have to reply.

Contracts generally aren't that hard to read.

However if you find a particular contract difficult it's always worth taking it to a solicitor for advice. Yes it would have cost you money but spending a £100 would have been cheaper then paying out £2,000.