Will I owe the Estate Agent any fees

moneybunny123

Ok, I'm adding another question to this post.

We've found out that we are definitely not liable to pay EA No 1 any fees - but EA No 2 are insisting that we pay them their fee because they have sole agency rights (even though we've done all the negotiations ourselves with the buyer, and got in touch with them ourselves, etc, etc).

Our contract states that EA No 2 have sole agency rights for "a minimum of 12 weeks and then until otherwise agreed". Does this mean that if we terminated their contract NOW, and then agreed a sale with the buyer, EA No 2 wouldn't be able to lay claim on their fee because they no longer have sole agency?

EA No 2 haven't introduced the buyer to us, and haven't done any negotiations. It seems hugely unfair that they're entitled to any fee.

annie123

1st.........sole agency rights means nothing, other than you agree not to show other people around the property via other agents (multi agency)
sole selling rights is another thing all together, you'd have to pay them even if your brother/parents/best friend said they wanted to buy it.

2nd.......stop trying to not pay the 1st agent. They introduced the potential buyer to your home, without them you wouldn't have any buyers.
Best practice says:
The 2nd agent should have called you buyers to say 'hay we have a property that we think you should view on day 1 of the instruction, poor show for them not doing that.
The first agent should have given the 2nd agent and yourself a list of viewers and offerers along with how long they would expect to have a claim on the fee after dis instruction.

3rd.....you went behind the back of both agents to try and get your buyer back and asked agent 2 to get involved by asking them if they had the buyers on their books.

Tell agent 1 and 2 to make a fee agreement between them, tell 1 of them to do the sales progression.

If things go belly up with these buyers you will find yourself blacklisted with the other local agents, all agents know each other.

taxsaver

Google 'Sole Agency' and 'Sole Selling Rights'..... there is a HUGE difference between the two and it seems to me that the agents are trying to suggest that they have the latter.

Once you've read up on the differences then read your EA contract again and establish which you have.... I hope it's the former in which case you might have a fighting chance of not paying the fees. Should it be the latter then I'm afraid that you are dead in the water.

cjmumto2

I think you will need to pay EA2, you asked for the details and they made the call. You can maybe ask for a reduced fee but they will know now and most agents have their own solicitors and generally win. If EA1 hears about this before their 6 months is up then then they are going to want their money too.

moneybunny123

But the six months with EA1 WILL be up before we exchange contracts.

The contract with EA2 DEFINITELY says (i have it in front of me) Sole AGENCY. This is why I can't understand why they're trying to tell us that even if we sold to a friend or relative they'd STILL be entitled to fees.

Annie123 - your post confuses me. Why should I not try and get out of paying EA1 when I'm literally days away from not having to legally?!?

annie123

moneybunny123 wrote: »

But the six months with EA1 WILL be up before we exchange contracts.

Does the contract say exchange or introduce a buyer within 6 months of the sole agency ending?

The contract with EA2 DEFINITELY says (i have it in front of me) Sole AGENCY. This is why I can't understand why they're trying to tell us that even if we sold to a friend or relative they'd STILL be entitled to fees.

Many EA don't know the difference, especially if they are young, they get confused. Tell them you have checked with trading standards.....and do so if you wish, then ignore any further mention of it for friends and family, but not if this buyer goes ahead as they were introduced by another agent. Contact either agent and find out if a list of names from agent 1 was sent/received as per my previous post

Annie123 - your post confuses me. Why should I not try and get out of paying EA1 when I'm literally days away from not having to legally?!?
Depends on answer the the first bit in red above.

Have to type something here or it won't let me post red replies.

moneybunny123

EA2 know all about the buyer now - sorry if I hadn't previously mentioned this (I know I have in another post). EA2 know about them, admit that they did nothing, but still want their share. I doubt that the estate agents are young or naive - they're a family business with over 40 years experience between them and work for a VERY well known agency. The contract for EA1 says they are still liable for fees 6 months if contracts are exchanged within 6 months of our contract ending. We will be exchanging contracts well outside of their 6 months (it will actually have been closer to 8 or 9 months since EA1 INTRODUCED them to us).

Our buyers REFUSE to have anything to do with EA2 (our current agent) because of the rude manner in which they have been spoken to since EA2 realised that we were in negotiations with them. Our buyers want to only work through us, and it's US (my hubby and I) that are making/receiving endless phone calls/messages/texts to reach an agreement that suits us all. The estate agents are doing nothing! I tried to ask them to accept a reduced, fixed fee based on their minimal involvement but was pretty much shown the door.

moneybunny123

cjmumto2 wrote: »

I think you will need to pay EA2, you asked for the details and they made the call. You can maybe ask for a reduced fee but they will know now and most agents have their own solicitors and generally win. If EA1 hears about this before their 6 months is up then then they are going to want their money too.

Doesn't matter if they hear about it before the 6 months is up, surely? If contracts are exchanged AFTER the 6 months, legally they don't have a leg to stand on.

pinkshoes

Am I right in thinking that EA2 didn't "introduce" the buyers as such; they just had them on their books (i.e. contact details) as people looking to buy a house, and hadn't mentioned or shown them your property?

If so, then surely you can use the time of your Facebook message to show that you contacted them off your own steam, well before you asked them if they had any contact details for them? It was unfortunate that you then asked the EA if they had the contact details, but as you contacted them before the EA did, then surely YOU found the buyer, and not them?

moneybunny123

pinkshoes wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that EA2 didn't "introduce" the buyers as such; they just had them on their books (i.e. contact details) as people looking to buy a house, and hadn't mentioned or shown them your property?

If so, then surely you can use the time of your Facebook message to show that you contacted them off your own steam, well before you asked them if they had any contact details for them? It was unfortunate that you then asked the EA if they had the contact details, but as you contacted them before the EA did, then surely YOU found the buyer, and not them?

That's exactly the way we see it too - and we're just hoping that there is a loophole in the contract that gets us out of having to pay on this technicality. EA2 have done NOTHING. WE have done it all and it seems so unfair that they should get anything.