Estate Agent charging additional marketing fees

theroller

I have recently received an invoice from a well known chain of estate agents in Scotland (they are known Country wide). I had been trying to sell my house using them for over 8 months. I paid an upfront marketing fee of £238 and agreed a 1% fee upon sale of the house. I did not agree to any additional marketing which would incur a charge.

I instructed the company to take my house off the market last week after ageeing a part exchange with a builder to which the estate agent had referred me. I categorically asked the estate agent if I would be liable for any further costs and I was told no that there was no charge.

I have now been sent a bill for £120 for a 'marketing fee'. I called the local branch with whom I have been dealing and they had no idea why I was being asked for this money. I was advised that there had been several complaints about the same matter from other customers and the lady called the head office.

I received a reply today that this was a quarterly charge for further marketing which is added automatically if after 6 months there has been no sale. The staff at the local branch conceded that they did not inform me of the charge at the outset but having studied the initial contract I signed there is one line in the terms and conditions which state that there is a prepayment charge of £100 + VAT for marketing after a 6 month period and every 13 weeks thereafter.

I am angry that this charge was not highlighted to me when I signed on with the estate agent. The agent asked me questions and filled out all other parts of the contract and explained it as he went along. He made no reference to the additional marketing charge before I added my signature and paid the initial £238 marketing fee in cash.

I think they have been very underhand and unethical in doing this and I have refused to pay them because the charge was in my opinion hidden. It does not surprise me that many others have complained about the same thing.

I expect I will get chased for the money. Should I continue to refuse to pay and ignore all correspondence or should I go through their complaints procedure. I am loathe to converse with them again and doubt they will take it to a civil court.

Advice welcome and be warned anyone else. Read the small print and dont believe a word that comes out the mouth of an estate agent.

Raggie

As you "doubt they will take it to a civil court"... Just relax

If you on the other hand think you may have signed a legally binding contract without reading it thoroughly, and are going to base your defence on "they didn't tell me what I was signing m'lord" I would go for a "good will" reduction in the fee and chalk it up to experience.

G_M

Well, either they will take you to court, in which case, having signed the contract, you have no defence (not reading a contract is no defence).

Or as you suspect, they won't, in which case you have nothing to fear.

googler

So basically, you're saying that the fee IS in the contract, you didn't read the contract fully before you signed it, and in the course of the 8 months you were on the market, you still didn't read it ...?