Who gets the commission?

gmang

I'll keep this hypothetical so as not to arouse any suspicion with the actual estate agents!

Lets say a house is listed for sale with a number of different estate agents, all of which are advertising the sale on Rightmove. The house looks interesting so I go around to look at the exterior. The owners are still in residence and happen to come out while I am looking at the place. I say that I might be interested in buying and they show me around. So, if I now make an offer direct to the vendor, who gets the commission on the sale? Strictly speaking I did find the house on Rightmove but honestly I read all the agents profiles so no one has any more claim than the others.

It's not a problem for me I guess because if a sale was going to go through then I would use my own solicitors and the vendor is using separate solicitors to the estate agent.

-G

cabbage

depends on the contract they have with the estate agents. Most will be tied up pretty tightly to say that no matter how the buyer was introduced they get the commission. Some might add a clause that if xxxxx buys then no fee is to be charged. this is useful for people who have an interested buyer prior to putting the house on the market.

If the seller has listed with more than one agent then I think the agreement is the fee is shared between them or they could have an agreement to say whoever introlduced the buyer would get the sale. I don't think the vendor could get away without paying a commission to the estate agents unless he took it off the market and then sold it to you privately.

googler

It's not a problem for you, as you say.

But hypothetically, you MUST have read one of the agent's adverts on RM before the others....... and since it makes no difference to you, you could, if you can't recall which, just pick one for the sake of it.

evoke

None of the EAs would get a commission in this instance.

grimsalve

Ask the vendor which EA is offering the cheapest commission and then you make your offer through them The vendor can then tell all the other EAs that the offer has been made through that EA... otherwise, IMO, the vendor is in breach of contract with all the EAs.

BornAtTheRightTime

Does the vendor have a board up? If so, that is the agent that should get the contract. If not, let the vendor tell the agents they found the buyer themselves, 'friend of a friend' kind of thing.