How much Commission do Estate Agents charge?

carlos1973

I'm looking for a ball park figure as to how much commission an EA charges.
My Mum's house sold for £99995 and we were charged £704 Solicitors fees and £4200 Commission.
Without bogging you down in details, My Mother passed away in July '10 and my Sister was apponinted administratrix of the estate. The house had an offer made in November '10 and was sold in May '11. Relations between us have been strained and it is only now that I been given the estate accounts to sign off. My Sister has been evasive as to the amount of money which has led me to become suspicious.

As I have said a ball park figure is all I need as I feel 4.2% is steep considering it took the agent 4 months to get an offer and 5 months to complete the sale.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and for any answers.

GAH

4.2% is the highest I have ever heard.

An agents fee will depend on the agent and the price of your home.

Round my way their are agents that charge anything from 0.5% upto 2% for more established agents.

I can understand agents charging a little more on a property of £100,000 so they make a better fee for themselves.

googler

Was the Solicitor firm marketing the house themselves, or was it marketed by a separate EA? Was this a sale in Scotland, or E&W?

Whichever it was, did you or your sister sign a contract agreeing an EA fee upfront? If not, on what basis were the selling firm given the instruction to sell?

A year or so ago, an OFT survey concluded average EA fees in Scotland were 1.1%, in E&W 1.6%, but there's bound to be regional variation in those.

carlos1973

Thanks for answers. House was in Harwich, Essex. My sister dealt with everything as I live in Cumbria. I have no idea what was agrred and what contract she signed, all I know is the name of the estate agent she sold through.

hazyjo

Wouldn't have thought it would be more than 1-2%. Stayed there last year and wouldn't say it was the most affluent area so can't see EAs charging a massive premium like they might in pricier areas. Mind you, as above, they might be struggling so might not be so lenient on fees.

Why don't you just ring them and ask them what their selling fee is on a house of around £100k, then, once they've told you, ask if that's the best they can do. Wouldn't hurt to ring a couple of other local ones, get their lowest fees first, then ring the other one last and say such and such will do it cheaper, can they beat that. Not sure if your sister would have negotiated or not, but at least you'll have an idea of their maximum fee along with what they would have gone down to.

Jx

cattie

Wow, I've never paid more than 1.5% in London so 4.2% in Harwich seems an absolute rip off.

Don't be afraid to query prices charged to the estate. A few years ago when my mother died & my sister was executor I queried the amount the solicitor charged for his (I felt shoddy) services by writing to him. The result was a refund to the estate of almost £800.

Speak to the solicitor to see why a red flag wasn't raised at seeing such a high commision charge and as another poster mentioned, try to find out from the estate agent too the reason for such a ridiculous commision. May not hurt to mention you have had a discussion about it on the Moneysavingexpert site & everybody seems to think it way over the top.

carlos1973

Thanks for the replies.
I'm phoning the estate agent this morning, was planning to pretend to be selling a house and ask what the commission would be.
Then phoning the Solicitor to question a few other things too, Going to question their fees of £5.5k and the fact that they have had my money for 9 months but have not included any interest payment!

VfM4meplse

carlos1973 wrote: »

House was in Harwich, Essex.

4.2% is far too much. Something is definitely wrong here!

It wouldn't have taken much imagination for your sister to have marketed it privately, at that price LLs would have snapped it up as there are no shortage of workers at the port.

kingstreet

A certain national chain put my mother-in-law's £100k terrace on the market last year (unbeknown to me!) at a fee of £2,800 + VAT as they claimed that was their minimum fee.

The solicitor's cost for a sale-only appears a bit high too. Saying which, it's around £100 more than I'd expect and that can be put down to regional variation, or type of firm.

tia86

kingstreet wrote: »

A certain national chain put my mother-in-law's £100k terrace on the market last year (unbeknown to me!) at a fee of £2,800 + VAT as they claimed that was their minimum fee.

QUOTE]

Having read this thread I think I have been ripped off by my estate agent - they offered a fixed fee (higher than that quoted in your situation + VAT) and being rather naive as not being in this process before I agreed.
Having looked at what people have said it looks like the rate was around 3%, so guess some agents play on the lack of understanding of some people.

googler

tia86 wrote: »

Having read this thread I think I have been ripped off by my estate agent - they offered a fixed fee (higher than that quoted in your situation + VAT) and being rather naive as not being in this process before I agreed. Having looked at what people have said it looks like the rate was around 3%, so guess some agents play on the lack of understanding of some people.

And you're suggesting.... what?

That the agents shouldn't have a minimum fee?