Your Move Withdrawal fee - please help

emmap77

Hi I have just read a story similar to mine about Connells EA.
I too apparently (I am awaiting a copy of the agreement) signed an agreement which means I am liable for a withdrawal fee of £250 + vat after attempting to withdraw the property from the market. The service we have received from the outset has been dreadful. It took from October 2010 to January 2011 to market the property and there has not been one single viewing. I was never called back when I asked to speak to someone. Half the time they never answer the telephone.
At no point was I made aware of these fees or told anything about them. Even when I rang to withdraw the property I was told that as I was outside the initial period I did not need to give notice, I was able to just call in and collect the key at my convenience. I did so and around ten days later I received a bill for £250 + vat.
I have not paid the bill yet. I am wondering if I have a case to complain or not.
Basically the property is my father's property which is being sold by myself and my brother. I saw the agent and dealt with them and my brother just emailed them to say he agreed they could sell the property on his behalf. Neither of us has been made aware of the charges/fees and surely both of us should have been asked to sign to agree to them. I know I have signed and must learn from my mistakes but having had such poor service from start to finish I feel like I am being ripped off.
I advised the branch manager that I was unaware of the fees and I also told her that I was not told I would be invoiced when I contacted the office to withdraw the property from the market. I told her I would not have withdrawn the property had I known there was a fee to pay. They have told me that my property can be remarketed and the fee will not be payable however, as I have already investigated marketing the property via another agent, the multi agency fee of £2000 + vat would be applicable and if the property is sold by the other agent then I will still have to pay them £250+vat as a fee.
Please can anybody let me know if they think I have the right to complain. Thank you very much

sharpee

What does your contract say?

emmap77

I have requested a copy of the contract so unfortunately I do not have one to hand but I will let you know as soon as I receive it - sorry!

G_M

Make sure when you receive it that it is actually a copy of the contract you signed - ie that your signature is there.

But chances are that since you didn't have the gumption to get/keep a copy of the contract, you probobly didn't have the gumption to read it before you signed?

So the fee will be in there somewhere!

emmap77

I do actually have all the original paperwork, unfortunately it is at a different address to where I am at the moment, to speed things up I requested a copy of the original as the office is local and I can collect it tomorrow.

Skylark74

I think there'll be a lot of these problems as we've enjoyed no sale no fee in good times but we live in a different world now. I've a similar problem with my late father's property but they're trying to charge us for 3 1/2 years of advertising. If they're a member of the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) you could read on their website to see if they've breached. If they're a member the code is mandatory.

Egg_custard_2

It sounds like you received a poor service, but unfortunately if the fee is in the contract there's nothing you can do and you may as well pay it.

A similar thing happened to me a year ago when I moved house, although it was a fee being charged by a removal company for waiting time. They'd verbally informed me of other charges for cancelling etc so I believed they had told me about all the fees. They didn't tell me about this fee at any point and just invoiced us later. Their service had been poor, I felt we had paid more than enough anyway for what we received, and I refused to pay it. We then received court papers! I worked with a magistrate and he said if the fee was in the contract I had to pay it regardless of whether they communicated it to me, and it was irrelevant that their service was poor. I felt very aggrieved because if I'd known about the fee beforehand it could've been avoided. I ended up paying before the court date and had to pay court fees as well.

I think it was fair of them to offer to drop the fee if you re-marketed the property with them, and unfortunate that you're not able to do that due to the multiple agency fee.

tbs624

emmap77 - welcome as a newbie poster. (Egg_custard too)

You have perhaps jumped the gun by posting here *before* you have thoroughly checked the Ts and Cs of the contract that you signed. It is likely that the fee will be in there somewhere - clearly an EA incurs costs when marketing a property and it is right that a vendor foots the bill but this must be made clear to the vendor.

However, once you get that copy agreement go through the small print and see if there are any specific breaches by the EA, in terms of the level of service you have received. You could then write to the head honcho and point out that had their service been better you would not have felt it necessary to withdraw the property and see if you can negotiate a reduction.

Bear in mind that if you have not had one single viewing it is likely to be because the property price was set too high.

You may find it interesting to read the comments of others at www.allagents.co.uk

emmap77

Thank you for your help everyone. My brother has rung the offices today as soon as he arrived at the office and the call once again went through to the overflow call centre. He has asked them to ring him back by 12pm but so far has not received a reply.

InkZ

Value high to get you on their books and then make money from a withdrawal fee when the property doesn't sell...

In my opinion, Connells have ridiculous valuations compared to other agents around here. Wonder if this is why...