Withdrawal fee's removing property from market?

clairewithgoldenhair

Can anyone give me some advice about selling a house in Scotland as I put my house on the market genuinely intending to move, but as the house has not sold ten months on (I know that's not unusual or very long), but our circumstances have changed and we are both worried as we face redundancy notices possibly losing our jobs soon due to government cuts, we are both children support workers for different children's charities funded by the local authority, the government cuts are causing huge cuts to services commissioned like our service.

Now of course, getting a new mortgage if we are made redundant is not possible, so we told the estate agent to hold on any viewings until our jobs are secure and we are in a position to move. The very next day I received a letter from the estate agent charging me £750 for marketing the property in the local newspaper and printing costs of the property spec.

I telephoned them to express how upsetting this was but was told a withdrawal fee is on the original contract signed and if I am not allowing viewings then they are not to market property any more and it would be withdrawn.

I was so disappointed about this, but wonder what the legal bit is here about having to pay this company for NOT selling my house?

What is their incentive to sell my property if they get £750 for doing nothing?? Surely this is completely wrong. Anyone can say they will sell my house, sit on it, do nothing and then when the customer gets fed up waiting the company pockets £750 for doing nothing!!!

I went to citizens advice bureau - I saw a nice chap and don't want to sound unkind but he didn't really seem to know about the subject he seemed to think I would have to pay this fee as it was in a signed contract.

Of course when I signed the contract I intended to sell my house and not withdraw it so overlooked that issue, but should we need to stay in same home and not be able to move due to changing circumstances can anyone tell me legally where we now stand? Do I have to pay a lot of money for not moving home?

Huge thanks for anyone bothering to read this - I imagine it affects more people out there than just us, as houses aren't selling and personal circumstances change in that time.

Claire

Fire_Fox

Welcome! What did CAB say that you did not agree with? How is marketing the property in the local newspaper and printing costs of the property spec doing nothing?

You are bound by whatever the contract you signed says. How long is the duration of the contract and when can you terminate it without penalty? Just keep the house on the market, be a bit awkward (busy) about viewings and then cancel at the appropriate time.

clairewithgoldenhair

Hi Fire Fox, thanks for speedy response, no time on the contract - EEEK let this warn others to always have a time limit. CAB was nice old chap, but he just said it looks like you have to pay it as you signed it, although he agreed with me it was astonishingly bad service and he suggested a letter to agree to pay part now and rest later. I just have learnt the hard way I guess. Its just stressful thinking of losing a job and moving being impossible if that happened and then getting into more debt by a house no longer being up for sale! grrrr

hcb42

having sold a few houses in Scotland in the past, it was always the case I agreed to marketing expenses even without a sale.

clairewithgoldenhair

ps) also in scotland if you keep house on market and get an offer at asking price or more you have to sell, you cannot back out. this is why I suggested to hold on viewings as don't want to sell home and lose job making getting another mortgage impossible, at least losing job in current home there are some helpful ways forward in suspending mortgage payments until new job etc...

On balance I probably want to take house off market but really feel unhappy paying £750 to do this. :-(

clairewithgoldenhair

thanks hcb42, I think I have to just accept it but its not great. Its the first sale of mine in Scotland. Sold a few houses in England but totally different ball game here. thanks for your reply

Fire_Fox

Increase the asking price and make viewings difficult to book. Any that do view tell them about your nightmare neighbours, possible dry rot, previous occupant that was a murderer and child killer, prohibitive utility bills ....

zappahey

clairewithgoldenhair wrote: »

ps) also in scotland if you keep house on market and get an offer at asking price or more you have to sell,

I don't know who told you that, but it's not true. You can reject any offer for any reason.

googler

The 'legal bit' is whatever the contract says. If you're refusing viewings and refusing to have the EA promote the property because of a change in your circumstances, you're effectively tying their hands and removing any possibility of them selling it -equivalent to taking it off the market. They're working on the basis that if the property DOES sell, their full fee is payable. You're pulling the rug out from underneath this, so the withdrawal fee is there to defray their costs over the 10 months that they've been promoting your property.

Why would they work to bring in viewers/buyers who may be interested in exactly the type of property that yours is, only to be unable to actually show them your house?

How does the advertising cost of putting your property in the paper, plus the printing costs of the schedules, plus (if applicable) installation cost of sale board, plus the agent's time in doing the groundwork for these, and any other time the agent has spent on you and your property, equate to nothing at all?

Do you see the above as a trivial expense that the agent should write off, just because you changed your mind, and didn't actually consider the full content of the contract you signed?

clairewithgoldenhair wrote: »

Of course when I signed the contract I intended to sell my house and not withdraw it so overlooked that issue

googler

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Increase the asking price and make viewings difficult to book. Any that do view tell them about your nightmare neighbours, possible dry rot, previous occupant that was a murderer and child killer, prohibitive utility bills ....

Seriously - your solution is for the OP to tell bare-faced lies?

googler

The other thing that the OP needs to bear in mind is that, having taken the property off the market for more than ... 4 weeks, I think it is, a new Home Report will be required when returning to the market. The house cannot be marketed with the current Home Report if there's been a break in marketing.