Advice re sacking agents and fees

googler

Gemmai wrote: »

In the event of the termination of this aggreement as provided for the above (clause 7) prior to the renumeration becoming payable the following charges will become payable by you within 14 days of the date of our account.
(a) The deferred set up fee as described overleaf plus VAT is to cover initial set up costs of work provided i.e. market appraisal appointment, board, adverts, photos, brochures, floor plans and virtual tours etc. The set up costs are defferred until the property is sold and are included in the sale fee. Should you decide to withdraw the property off the market then the set up fee becomes payable within 14 days.

The deferred set up fee is £150 + VAT. This is what we have been charged.

The above seems to fairly clearly state that the EA isn't charging you for what they've 'earned', merely for their out-of-pocket expenses and work done.

You seem to be arguing that the EA should shoulder these and essentially be out of pocket, having paid for whichever of "market appraisal appointment, board, adverts, photos, brochures, floor plans and virtual tours" is applicable on your behalf. Is this what you're suggesting, that you shouldn't pay anything, and that the agent essentially makes a loss on your contract to the tune of £150+VAT?

I don't see how you can argue that this was 'mis-sold' to you when the EA 'over-valued' your house, as the terms described above aren't related to the valuation, asking price, etc. All issues of the agent's performance, etc are likewise irrelevant, since this clause clearly requires you to only pay their out-of-pocket expenses, not any fee based on performance.

G_M

Valuation of a property is not a science. And there is never a 'right' figure.

It is always a guess or best estimate. OK - agents who do this all the time should be in a better position than the man in the street, but the fact that if you get 3 agents in they will all quote different figures, always, just proves there is no right answer.

You cannot use their apparantly erroneous valuation as a justification, legal or moral, to negate the contract you signed.

Gemmai

All issues of the agent's performance, etc are likewise irrelevant, since this clause clearly requires you to only pay their out-of-pocket expenses, not any fee based on performance.

OK, am I being unreasonable for feeling mugged because if they had 'performed' I wouldn't be in this position of having to sack them?

Realistically, is that all an estate agent does? Stick properties on rightmove, paper, on the wall in their agency and then wait for buyers to come to them? Maybe I am naive, I thought we were employing them as 'experts' to guide us and tell us what to do to sell our house, whether that be lower the price, do work etc....we've done everything they told us to do and still no viewings. I know things are slow, but I keep reading that if properties are marketed well and priced right they will sell.

I'm not sacking them because I've changed my mind, I'm sacking them because they haven't helped us sell our house, you argue why should they be out of pocket, I argue why should I be out of pocket? All I asked them to do was help me sell my house, is that too much to ask of an estate agent nowdays!? Apparently yes! :wall:

jimjames

Gemmai wrote: »

I'm not sure why we've stayed with them so long to be honest...ever hopeful that one day the perfect buyer would come along I guess.

They've taken us off rightmove now, but if you go to zoopla and search wf93jn under current values, it is number 10. Those are the photos taken by the EA, what do you think?

It won't let me post a direct link as I am a new user.

We are west yorkshire, just south of pontefract. the market is slow, very slow, but from what I keep reading on here houses WILL sell if they are priced right? Is that really true? I know very little about house prices, hense why we enlisted the help of an EA to guide us on the price and I feel they have let us down drastically!

Is this the one? The price doesn't look correct based on what you said?

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/15479584?search_identifier=20fb9934bd107844508b978fd373dc3a

googler

Gemmai wrote: »

I know things are slow, but I keep reading that if properties are marketed well and priced right they will sell.

Nobody who says that, on here, or anywhere else, will guarantee it, though.....

you argue why should they be out of pocket, I argue why should I be out of pocket?

Because you explicitly agreed under contract that you would be (out of pocket), in the circumstances in which you find yourself.

I argue that the EA shouldn't, because the contract is structured such that if you terminate, the agent recoups some or all of their expenses, so that they're not out of pocket; surely you can see that any business which doesn't at least attempt to do this would be committing financial suicide....?

Gemmai

No that's not the right link, it's not listed for sale on zoopla. You will have to go through the 'current values' to find it, and it shows the info I put on with the 'tempt me' price of £90K (zoopla valuation is actually around £92K I think).

The general feeling seems to be that I should just pay this money. I have taken legal advise and been told to to ask for a full itemised list of everything they have done to try and sell the property before I pay it, which I am going to do.

I guess that is my lesson learned for not researching agents properly and choosing one who wasn't going to do anything other than stick an add in the paper (if they did) and put a listing up on right move, then sit on their !!!!!! and wait! I've also learned my lesson about signing unreasonable contracts, I will not assume that they are all the same next time!

Out of interest, what would you recomend looking for when choosing a new agent? I've got one in mind, the other one we had in to do a valuation, they have called us to see how we are getting on more times than our own estate agent has so I know they are pro-active in making contact with people.
They also do a 360 virtual tour which the other agent didn't.

Is there any way to access EA selling figures? For example somewhere that shows hown many properties and agent has on their books and average selling times etc?

DRP

Gemmai wrote: »

No that's not the right link, it's not listed for sale on zoopla. You will have to go through the 'current values' to find it, and it shows the info I put on with the 'tempt me' price of £90K (zoopla valuation is actually around £92K I think).

The general feeling seems to be that I should just pay this money. I have taken legal advise and been told to to ask for a full itemised list of everything they have done to try and sell the property before I pay it, which I am going to do.

I guess that is my lesson learned for not researching agents properly and choosing one who wasn't going to do anything other than stick an add in the paper (if they did) and put a listing up on right move, then sit on their !!!!!! and wait! I've also learned my lesson about signing unreasonable contracts, I will not assume that they are all the same next time!

Out of interest, what would you recomend looking for when choosing a new agent? I've got one in mind, the other one we had in to do a valuation, they have called us to see how we are getting on more times than our own estate agent has so I know they are pro-active in making contact with people.
They also do a 360 virtual tour which the other agent didn't.

Is there any way to access EA selling figures? For example somewhere that shows hown many properties and agent has on their books and average selling times etc?

Certainly I would check the contract of any potential EA.

A lot of the terms you quoted from your contract seem rather unreasonable to me and are certainly not normal in my experience.

Do some homework on rightmove (and install property bee), compare agenst for how many they have for sale, how many SSTC, how long they generally took to go SSTC and whether they have had to reduce their price... all good indicators

shiny76

Gemmai wrote: »

Out of interest, what would you recomend looking for when choosing a new agent?

One where fees won't be payable should you decide to withdraw it from the market (for whatever reason). EA round here ask for min 8 weeks to try to sell your property, if they don't and you want to go elsewhere then there is no fee to pay.

Think long and hard before putting it back on the market, especially if you've got an absolute bottom line on price. In my experience most viewers dome via the internet (Right Move) so if your previous EA had your property on there and you weren't getting any viewings then there is something else wrong.

Best of luck!

googler

shiny76 wrote: »

In my experience most viewers dome via the internet (Right Move) so if your previous EA had your property on there and you weren't getting any viewings then there is something else wrong.

....or the OP is in an area where Rightmove doesn't dominate ....

HellsGranny

Please always read the Terms and Conditions when instructing an Estate Agent.

Sole Selling Rights means that no matter who buys your house, that particular EA can claim fees from you if they want to be awkward.This was a common problem in the 80s and 90s with less than scrupulous EAs.

They are, IMO, letting you off the hook by presenting this bill, pay it and you should be out of the contract, but make sure that it really does close their book on your property.

If you don't pay it and instruct another Agent, you could be faced with two sets of fees.

There is a great difference between Sole Agency and Sole Selling Rights.

Please be careful.

Cheers, HG