House selling through estate agent (but recieved private offer)

TheHamill3

Hello,

I am in the process of selling my dads house. I agreed to a company Countywide to help me find an estate agent to sell the property.

They sent out 2 estate agents, which both valued the house roughly the same price, they advised me to go with a company called Beresford Adams, which over the phone i agreed to it.

Before Beresford adams put their sign up in the garden i was in the process of talking to somebody about buying the house (a friend of a friend type thing), they offered us £60,000 which we declined, Beresford Adams then put there sign up and began marketing the property. After a couple of days, that "friend of a friend" person come back and upped his offer to £70,000 (the house was valued at £75,000) me and my brother and sister thought the offer was quite reasonable given the state of the property and decided we would sell to the guy once we got the probate side of things dealt with.

Anyway, i rang up Beresford Adams to ask if there was any get out clause with themselves, or any fee's i would have to pay if i found a private buyer. They told me that because i agreed to let them deal with the sale of the house then i need to point the private buyer in there direction (meaning we stand to lose atleast £2,000+ in fees)

My question is, because i only agreed over the phone with the company Countywide, and havent signed anything or even had any paperwork through from Beresford Adams, do i really have to sell through them? or can i tell them where to go, and proceed with the private buyer?

Any help on this would be great.
Thank You,
Mike

Greatgimp

Check your contract. Are they 'sole agents' or do they have 'sole selling rights'?

TheHamill3

Hi Greatgimp,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't actually recieved any information via post or email, or anything in written form. I havent signed anything and only agreed to let them market the house over the phone.

When i agreed to let Beresford Adams market the property, it was through the company Countywide, thats who i had the conversation with. But obviously Countywide is Beresford adams parent company?

sonastin

Has anything more been done other than they stick up a sign in the garden? Has someone been round to take pictures and have they advertised the property? Has anyone been round to view the property?

Even though you haven't signed anything yet, it is possible to create a contract by your actions - i.e. by letting them show people round the property. If all they have done so far is take the pictures, you can argue that they are still touting for the business because you want to see their marketing style before you're willing to enter into the contract. Once punters are coming through the door, it gets a lot harder to argue that you haven't agreed to them being your agent.

If it happens that you have inadvertantly created a contract with them, next step is to determine what the terms of that contract say. They will try to argue that their standard terms apply - still not necessarily a problem as, as greatgimp says, it depends whether it involves sole selling rights or sole agency. (here is where I confess I always get them mixed up and can't remember which you need!) However, you have NOT agreed that that is a term of the contract so you need to stand firm that, had they bothered to send the paperwork, you would have insisted that the relevant term was changed to the one that means you can sell privately without incurring costs. Gets much harder for them to prove that you have to pay them if they haven't got a contract with your signature on it. (the contract I had with a countrywide agent didn't insist I pay if I sold privately so could be that their standard terms are OK but you need to make sure you get it the right way round - my memory is broken today!)

An easy way out if you can get them to agree is to make them an offer of a payment towards their marketing costs in full and final settlement (e.g. £200) might be unnecessary but if it gets you out of having to fight to avoid paying £2k, it could be worth it. My experience is that the countrywide group work harder to get the fees that they think they are owed than they do to actually sell houses.

Good luck with it...

pinkshoes

If you haven't signed anything, then just tell them that you've changed your mind, and you no longer want them to market your property.

They're not a very professional EA if they start marketing your property before getting you to sign any agreement of any sort!

Niowrtt

pinkshoes wrote: »

They're not a very professional EA if they start marketing your property before getting you to sign any agreement of any sort!

Beresford Adams did indeed do that with my property, and at a price nearly 10% under what we'd agreed.

TheHamill3 wrote: »

When i agreed to let Beresford Adams market the property, it was through the company Countywide, thats who i had the conversation with. But obviously Countywide is Beresford adams parent company?

Yes, Beresford Adams is CountryWide. The other estate agent you mentioned would have been another arm of CountryWide also.

TheHamill3 wrote:

Anyway, i rang up Beresford Adams to ask if there was any get out clause with themselves, or any fee's i would have to pay if i found a private buyer. They told me that because i agreed to let them deal with the sale of the house then i need to point the private buyer in there direction (meaning we stand to lose atleast £2,000+ in fees)

Untrue, but expected. As long as they did not introduce the buyer, they can not collect fees. Make SURE your private buyer does not visit the estate agents! In the absolute worst case (and I am sure this will not apply), tell them not to market your property and sell to your private buyer after the sole-agency agreement has ended.

Have a quick search through these forums for 'CountryWide' for previous experiences by other members. Then call them up to cancel, sell your property privately, and thank your lucky stars that you've saved many thousands of pounds.

By the way, I see you got suckered in on the fees too - you realise you'd be paying 3.1% after tax, IF you managed to get the asking price?

kingstreet

For those reading this thread later (and no offence intended to the OP) if you have someone who may be interested in your home before you put it on the market, make it clear to the agent you use, in writing, that a sale to Mr XYZ has not occurred due to their efforts and would be excluded from your agreement.

Back on topic - Countrywide recommended Beresford Adams? I bet they did! :mad: