Can any legal experts offer me any advice re EA contract....?

FireWyrm

The way that you know they dont have a leg to stand on is that the EA lowered the offer to 50%.

Let's take this down the worst case scenrio shall we, they take you to court, which you attend with all your documents :

Judge : So, what are the facts....
EA : We introduced a potential buyer to the vendor
Judge : What happened next?
EA : An offer was made but was rejected by the vendor
Judge : And....
EA : well, the vendor then severed the contract with us giving the correct amount of notice and we went our seperate ways.
Judge : ok, so what are you basing your claim on?
EA : We introduced the vendor to the buyer within 6 months according to the contract.
Judge : So, when did the contract end?
You : on such a date....
Judge : And what happened with the buyer?
You : We met this bloke in the street 6 months later, we thought he was familiar, but it didnt twig until later he was the same fella (because we never actually met him) and he said he would actually quite like to buy our house after-all and offered a better price which we accepted.
Judge : So, when was the sale completed? When did exchange/completion take place?
You : 6 months + 2 weeks and some days after we last spoke to the EA and severed the contract.
Judge : I see no reason why the EA should be awarded their fee. Case dismissed.

The EA knows they dont have any case, they are just trying to frighten you into paying. The truth is that they had their chance and were unable to action a legal sale WITHIN 6 months covered by the contract and you managed it MORE THAN 6 months after you last had dealings with the EA.

moneybunny123

OK, but what if the offer was accepted WITHIN the six months of severing the EA contract? And, hypothetically what would happen if it could be proven that we knew about the smallprint of the contract and purposely waited until the six months expired before exchanging contracts, thinking we would be home and dry?

DVardysShadow

moneybunny123 wrote: »

Hi DVardysShadow - thanks for your reply. We actually did this yesterday. We wrote to him asking exactly what the invoice was for. The senior partner of the company replied asking us to telephone him (handy that, so nothing is in writing!). We didn't, but again wrote to him asking to reply. His reply was:

1. The buyer was introduced during the period of our agency. (which we've never denied and IS true)
2. A sale was agreed and placed into the hands of solicitors within 6 months of the termination of the agency. (not sure the contract mentions anything to do with solicitors becoming involved during the 6 month cooling off period?!)

What do you make of that?!!

It is a try on. The 50% offer, as bait not to pursue the complaints procedure really does take the biscuit.

The sentence "The obligation to pay fees arises on exchange of contracts for the sale of the property and the fees must be paid whether or not the sale completes." seems quite definitive, but there is a weasel way of reading the clause as a whole, if 'sale' could mean 'acceptable offer negotiated'. So the 'sale' might have arisen within the 6 months, meaning there would be liability to pay the fee. And the fee then becomes due at exchange, even though this is after 6 months. I don't like that argument, but it might stand given the wrong judge.

I think I would be writing back after a week or 2, acknowledging their letter refusing to give the complaints procedure [acknowledge by date , rather than content] and state that as the complaints procedure is not forthcoming, you intend to take no further action. Puts the ball back in their court.

FireWyrm

moneybunny123 wrote: »

OK, but what if the offer was accepted WITHIN the six months of severing the EA contract? And, hypothetically what would happen if it could be proven that we knew about the smallprint of the contract and purposely waited until the six months expired before exchanging contracts, thinking we would be home and dry?

An offer accepted does not a sale make. Sales do not become final until the exchange of legal papers takes place. I could 'agree' to buy Buckingham Palace, but if I dont have the funds and the contract cannot be arranged, it means absolutely nothing legally....and this is what this all hinges on...legality. They have issued you with a contract which clearly says 'sale complete', not sale talked about in the bloody pub. As for proving you knew about the small print, I suppose there might be a small argument there, but then, we are talking legality here...not hearsay. Anyone worth their salt would point out that we are discussing legality here, not what you may or may not have 'known' at the time.

Section 3 of the contract states this :

if at any time unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged:-

The operative word here is CONTRACT EXCHANGED. When or if you knew about the small print is irrelevant, contracts were NOT EXCHANGED until AFTER 6 months had passed.

moneybunny123

Firewrym, you seem confident and knowledgeable about this and you're very helpful. Are you a man/woman of legal nouse then?

MissMotivation

As long as contracts were not exchanged on the sale within 6 months of termination of the Sole Agency then no fees are due to the EA.

Are you absolutely sure of the dates? Do you have the termination letter and confirmation from the EA?

moneybunny123

I'm certain of the dates. However, we received no written confirmation back from the EA (although I still have my email to them giving the termination which obviously shows the date & time)

FireWyrm

moneybunny123 wrote: »

Firewrym, you seem confident and knowledgeable about this and you're very helpful. Are you a man/woman of legal nouse then?

No legal knowledge, but native wit and charm.

The contract as you have quoted it is quite specific in mine and various other opinions on here. Legally, a sale is not real until contracts are exchanged and this cannot be disputed.

What you talk about in a pub, the promises you make, what you may or may not have known are irrelevant here. The EA is trying to get you to pay under the terms of the contract, but the terms of the contract specifically state 'exchange' and THAT is when the sale is truly agreed. Anything else is sophistry and the EA knows it demonstrated by the offer of 50% and the unwillingness to give you a written answer.

Now, what you decide to ultimately do about this is entirely up to you. In my opinion, they havnt got a legal leg to stand on and if it were me I would have no hesitation in telling him where to shove his invoice. However, if he has succeeded in his aim to frighten you, then you are entirely at liberty to either pay his 50%, or negotiate some other amount you are happy with just for peace of mind. My vingette with the judge was entirely fictitious and you are reminded that I do not have the entire facts of the story to hand, only what you have told us. It is very possible that he has something up his sleevies besides his armies....but that is for you to decide and to judge whether the risk is worth the reward.

MissMotivation

moneybunny123 wrote: »

I'm certain of the dates. However, we received no written confirmation back from the EA (although I still have my email to them giving the termination which obviously shows the date & time)

They are definitely trying it on which is why they have offered to reduce the bill by 50%.

I would send them an email stating the facts and dates and that yo will not, under any circumstances, be paying them a fee....reduced or otherwise.

They are trying to frighten you in the hope that you will just pay up. If they do progress this and you end up going to court then as long as you have your evidence then they will not win.

Good luck!

sonastin

Pursuing you through the courts will cost them a heckuva lot more money than sending you letters. Its worth the price of a stamp or two to try it on and hope that you bite. It isn't worth the court costs unless they are absolutely 100% certain that they are owed the money. Their behaviour to date suggests that they don't believe they are entitled but they are just flying a kite.

And if they did take it to court, you could pay up when the summons came through if you don't want to fight them. In your shoes, I would stand firm and wait until you get the court papers through your letter box. If you ever do.

Remember, the sale is not agreed until the contracts are exchanged - major details are liable to change right up until that moment. The EA has no idea when the terms of your contract were finalised and until they were, there was no "agreement". You could have been negotiating on price right up until exchange date which is outside their 6 month window.