House on market, but no longer want to sell

MandyG_3

hi all

we have had our house on the market for 5 weeks now, but we want to take it off.

Long story, but we have 2 bedrooms and 4 kids (we all manage fine as both bedrooms are good sizes and fit 3 singles beds in the 3 girls' room), my husband has been out of work for 5 years as he developed narcolepsy and cataplexy and cannot work. I am self employed not earning much so we would never get another mortgage (unless some miracle happens)

we were going to sell as we were told we MIGHT get LHA, but we have just been told we might not get a house and might not get past credit checks etc.

we really dont want to risk our secure house (mortgage only £250 a mont) to find out once its sold that we cant get anywhere. We went to council a few years ago and they said they wouldn't house us as we had a home and would be classed as making ourselves intentionally homeless

so my question is - will we incurr any charges from withdrawing the house? I am worried the estate agent will say he wants his fee of 1% - I cannot see anything on the terms to suggest this would happen but I have heard of it before. All the terms says is that we have to give them sole agency in first 12 weeks.

Or would it be better to wait til the 12 weeks are up then tell him we no longer need his services? And hope an offer doesnt come in.

My dad is an architect and he has done a drawing for an extension to give us a 3rd bedroom. I think he was also granted planning for it too. We will be saving hard to get this done.

thanks for any advice or replies

Mandy

Zeitgeist

If you cancel before the 12 weeks are up then you'll have to pay. You can of course reject any offer that comes in, and be somewhat unavailable when people want to view your property.

jjlandlord

I think that your agent will ask for his work and expenses (e.g. ads) to be paid for.
Check your contract and T&Cs.

SailorSam

The way the market is the chances are you want get an offer, but to be on the safe side and not pay charges all you could do if anyone comes to view is leave the place in a mess and tell them about the bad neighbours , and refuse to take a penny less than the asking price.

Werdnal

If the agent has been actively marketing the property, they will have incurred costs already? Have you paid any fees to cover their services, ie meauring up/writing up sale details, photographs, sending out to mailing list members etc. If you have paid for this already, then I don't think they can chase you for anything else, but if you haven't covered their admin fees so far, expect them to bill you accordingly.

We had our flat on the market for 8 months last year, without it selling, and eventually found a tenant to re-let it. Our EA had already charged us an admin and registration fee (and unforuntately for a HIP which 6 weeks later were abolished!), so we just cancelled and no further to pay.

Did you sign any agreement with them? If so, what does it say?

GAH

You can terminate your contract now. What you wouldn't be able to do is put it on with another estate agent now, but you aren't going to do that anyway.

Check you terms of business you signed, some agents have a withdrawl fee for marketing etc, but this will be clearly explained in your terms

MandyG_3

thanks so much

I should have said we already paid £295 for marketing and £360 for home report (we are in scotland and apparently it's still legal up here which is pants lol)

Paid £295 when we were never given any particulars incase we had people knocking, but anyway. Not bothered about the home report as it's told us everything that needs attention so to speak.

The terms dont say much at all, but my dad thinks we just need to get to the 12 weeks then say we no longer want that estate agent and we wont need to pay anything extra

Unfortunately we do have a possible buyer - BUT they are offering a lot under the valued price and want us to fix certain things.

My dad told us to just tell them we need their offer in formally then we will discuss it with lawyer and my family (which will buy us 2 weeks hopefully ) then just say we wont accept it.

Just not sure whether to terminate now or try and get to 12 weeks. These buyers have mulled about for 3 weeks and have not wanted to go to lawyer to submit an offer as they didn't want to waste their time if we said no.

I am aware we might have some lawyer fees to pay.

We have been told they can only get a mortgage for this low offer so cant go any higher.

thanks again

x

sunshinetours

Your last post changed the situation quite possibly - if the agent has introduced a willing and able buyer to you then you may have to pay - your agreement should specify this

GDB2222

Put the price up by £200k, and the agent will get the message.

MandyG_3

Can anyone advise us as to what to do?

do we stay put and try our best to save up for extensions etc

or do we move and risk our secure home?

we live solely on benefits as my husband cannot work and I look after him and the 4 kids (3 have medical problems) and I am self employed

we dont know if we would get a rented place or pass their credit checks - we dont have a gaurantor

The only positive about moving is we would have a little extra money so we could afford to take our children to their Great ormond street appointments
if we stay we would still own our own house.

we just dont know what to do!

martindow

sunshinetours wrote: »

Your last post changed the situation quite possibly - if the agent has introduced a willing and able buyer to you then you may have to pay - your agreement should specify this

It not as black and white as that though is it? The OP says they have offered well under the asking price. If the offer was for the asking price I agree it could be very tricky.