Sacking an Estate Agent

starlitegaize

My mother bought a new build 4 years ago. She now wants to sell it. She had marketed it with this agent last year. The house was put on the market in February (without me checking the contract with her)
First problem we are locked in until July 12th :mad:
Second problem they have a Sole Selling rights clause in their contract which means even if I sold it privately they'd come after their fees. (One reason I detest estate agents!!).:mad:
After a month on the market, and NO viewings whatsoever, we, at their suggestion (which I hate doing) lowered the price.
Still no viewings. :eek:
Can we write to them and give them notice (ie sack 'em) then instruct another agent without the original agent demanding their fees? They won't let us go multi, as my mother signed a Sole Agency agreement.
I am named on the mortgage - so I just wondered if they needed both people's signature on their sale document...

andy.m_2

Give them notice and dont sell until that notice expires.
Or,
Tell them of your plan, insist that they put the price up and then offer multi agency again.

richardw

Do you have joint ownership/liability for the mortgage on this house?

or is it more your's or her's?

starlitegaize

richardw wrote: »

Do you have joint ownership/liability for the mortgage on this house?

or is it more your's or her's?

It's joint - we are "tenants in common" (a phrase used by my solicitor)

DVardysShadow

richardw wrote: »

Do you have joint ownership/liability for the mortgage on this house?

or is it more your's or her's?

Good point. If OP has a stake in the ownership of this house, then OP could conceivably employ another agent. This might leave mother in a spot of bother for representing that she had authority to grant a contract. But I think that by going about it in the right way, this issue could be addressed.

OP do you have a stake in the ownership of this house?

starlitegaize

andy.m wrote: »

Give them notice and dont sell until that notice expires.
Or,
Tell them of your plan, insist that they put the price up and then offer multi agency again.

Oh dear, that means we'll have to wait 4 months. They will only offer multi agency by still referring to the terms in the contract - signed as sole agent - which means we'd land up paying 2 sets of fees - I'd do better selling it to national homebuyers in that case!!

GAH

Your locked into this contract unfortunately, but you can tell the agent to take it off their books, but then you can't sell until July.

Of course we don't know the full story here, and the agent could well be useless, but then on the other hand if they can't get viewers out then maybe price is still too high.

Do some further research (if you haven't already) and have a look and see what similar properties have sold for.

Most of the time the stumbling block is the price if houses aren't selling.

But other side to that, I do hate sole selling contract, especially 5 months, valuing high and then chipping away at price. In fact I can see a bit of a pattern here, is it being marketed by haart?

richardw

Did your mum sign an agreement with the agent?

starlitegaize

richardw wrote: »

Did your mum sign an agreement with the agent?

Yes, she did..

starlitegaize

GAH wrote: »

Your locked into this contract unfortunately, but you can tell the agent to take it off their books, but then you can't sell until July.

Of course we don't know the full story here, and the agent could well be useless, but then on the other hand if they can't get viewers out then maybe price is still too high.

Do some further research (if you haven't already) and have a look and see what similar properties have sold for.

Most of the time the stumbling block is the price if houses aren't selling.

But other side to that, I do hate sole selling contract, especially 5 months, valuing high and then chipping away at price. In fact I can see a bit of a pattern here, is it being marketed by haart?

No, they aren't in the area. But I checked the area on Rightmove and there are currently 14 houses for sale similar from 180-190K with 3 to 4 beds - the agent has 124 properties up to 250K of which 46 are SSTC - about 37%

sonastin

Is it sole selling rights or sole agency? Sole selling rights means that you'd have to pay their fees, even if you sold to national homebuyers or through another agent. Sole agency means you can't get another agent involved but if you sold privately (say to national homebuyers - but don't go there) then no fees would be due. You need to be clear what the contract says if you are going to get the right advice.

You need to be sure why you are sacking this agent though. In the current climate, no viewers in a month isn't that unusual. Have you asked the agent about the interest their adverts are getting? Have you done your own research to find out what similar houses in the area are selling for? Have you a clear idea what these guys are doing wrong, or aren't doing, that another agent would do/do better once you move agent?

With the reputation that estate agents have, it is all too easy to blame them if a house doesn't sell as fast as you'd like. While in many many instances that reputation is entirely deserved, sometimes the agents are doing everything the should and there just aren't enough buyers to go around. Make sure you are doing your part (by letting them advertise it at the right price - even if it isn't the price they advised initially) before you blame them entirely for it not selling.