CHARGING TO COME OFF THE MARKET?? advice needed please

gembagemba

roughly 3y ago we got the local estate agent (not sure if i can mention) to come and give us a valuation, the friendly lady told us they usually sell them quick and we should put ours on for £105000 if nothing happens its free to come off after 8months which suited us because we were after buying my dads house at the time

after roughly 10months my dads house sold so we asked about coming off the market, we were told thats fine but have to pay £250 exit fee its in the contract so we checked the contract and it is in there

after almost 3years of trying to sell our house and having reduced the price to £97000 after 4mths and watching houses come and go up and down the steet at similar prices and condition we want to come off the market, i know i should of read the contract through before signing but feel reluctant to pay the £250 fee after been lied too by the valuer and the terrible effort to sell our house

its seems like they cant go wrong sending a valuer around with a pack of lies sign you up and then they get the money wether you sell or not

is this fair? should i just pay it? are these contracts valid forever? what else can i do? would be very gratefull for any help on this

G_M

What exactly does the contract say? I doubt there is not a way out, and if there is not t may well constitute an unfair term.

Alternatively just leave the property on the market with them at the originalpro=ice they suggested - £105,000

They'll never get anyone to view so you will effectively be off the market!

googler

The way of looking it is that you've had the benefit of the EA's services and advertising for 3 years, and you want to walk away without paying them anything, even though you said you would and signed a contract to that effect.......?

I don't get how the valuer 'lied' to you. Care to elaborate?

Loopgames

googler wrote: »

The way of looking it is that you've had the benefit of the EA's services and advertising for 3 years, and you want to walk away without paying them anything, even though you said you would and signed a contract to that effect.......?

I don't get how the valuer 'lied' to you. Care to elaborate?

The part where they said it was free to come off the market after 8 months..that constitutes a lie on anyone's book. And I think the no win no fee process applies with most agents. That's prety much normal..round my way..;)

gembagemba

g_m - thanks, and the contract got had written in a box £250withdraw fee applies

googler - thanks also, i see your point but when we signed we were under the impression from the valuer its was free to come off if they cant sell it after 8 mths which seemed fair enough at the time or i would of shopped about for a more suitable deal

mallada

If this was me, I would tell them you wish to raise it to £500,000 or withdraw it from the market, with no charge. They can choose to advertise it at a highly unachievable price, or remove it. Either way your not going to get disrupted by viewings

gembagemba

loopgames - thanks i didnt know the wo win no fee applied for agents i'll look into it after bank hol.

pinkshoes

gembagemba wrote: »

loopgames - thanks i didnt know the wo win no fee applied for agents i'll look into it after bank hol.

I don't think loopgames was referring to the ambulance chaser companies! I think he just meant that MOST agents don't expect you to pay anything if it doesn't sell and you want to remove it from the market.


I think I'd question their fee, and demand a full investigation and written report into why their sales person told you there was no exit fee if it didn't sell.

I did this for a car sales place who told me there'd be no fee to cancel the finance and I could cancel after 1 payment (my dad witnessed this), and I then found out it was about £300 and after several payments! They coughed up and admitted they'd "made a mistake"! (aka lied!)

gembagemba

thanks pinkshoes, good to hear about you beating the car sales place, i have no witness though so its kind of my word against theirs

vax2002

Just put the price up to what you want, say £125,000 and leave it in the window and forget about it.