Are the estate agents right?

hodders

My parents are selling their house, they had a buyer then a couple of weeks from exchange the buyer pulled out, because further down the line, the mortgage hadn't been approved.

Anyway, I then asked my friend if she wanted to look as she was originally interested but wasn't in a position to move, but now is. She went and looked, without going through EA and made an offer direct to my Dad.

The EA have told my Dad their fee still stands. My friends did ring up EA about another property and they did happen to mention my parents property, but didn't arrange a viewing or anything.

My Dad is going to go along with it and pay their fee, but is that right?

googler

Depends on the contract your folks had with the EA.

What did that say on the topic of sole agency, sole selling rights, or circumstances in which their fee would be payable?

hodders

I'm not sure I would have to have a look

jbainbridge

I would be very surprised if they didn't have to pay. Sorry.

cte1111

I wouldn't have thought that your Dad had to pay the estate agents' fee. The fee usually becomes payable if the EA introduces a buyer, who wants to buy the property and is in a position to proceed. They did not introduce the buyer in this case.

The fact that they previously introduced a buyer is irrelevant, as they did not proceed.

G_M

jbainbridge wrote: »

I would be very surprised if they didn't have to pay. Sorry.

I wouldn't have thought that your Dad had to pay the estate agents' fee.

Pure speculation.

Until the OP reads the contract it is impossible to answer this question!

thelem

cte1111 wrote: »

The fact that they previously introduced a buyer is irrelevant, as they did not proceed.

Except there will usually be a clause in the contract saying that if you sell it within a certain period of listing it with a particular agent then you need to pay the agent's fee whatever. It protects them against people who they have introduced claiming they found the property some other way. Introduced could mean they saw the property online or saw the for sale board.

melanieconway

As was mentioned before, the contract needs to be looked at so tell your Dad to hold fire. A previous poster is right, a lot of contracts say no sale no fee, so therefore as you haven't sold...Another poster was also right that if the agency introduces someone, and that someone then come back 2 months after you took your house off the market and buys it, there's usually a clause with a time limit so they would get commission on that.

There may be a number of other clauses to get fees ie it may not be no sale/no fee in which case you'll need to pay up, but I haven't seen many of those around in todays times, there may be a back out clause e.g. £200 towards advertising costs (I have that in mine).

The crucial thing is that your Dad does not pay until he's checked the contract thoroughly and perhaps got advice off the back of that. Don't assume the EA is right as a number of businesses rely on people not checking their contracts thoroughly enough!

But apart from that an EA cannot take commission for a buyer they didn't introduce.

Paramount

It depends on what the contract says.