Will/can the estate agent demand a fee?

Mantrahalos

H all - hope someone can help.

We had our house up for sale with an agent and had a few viewings. (Summer 2011) Not enough serious interest so we took it off the market. 3 months or so later we got a letter from a couple saying they saw our property (though the agent) but were not in a position to make an offer due to them expecting a baby. We emailed back saying we'd taken it off but were likely to advertise it again in the summer (2012) - we did put it back on the market and had a few offers we nearly accepted, but decided against- and took the house off the market again.
We got an email from the couple again saying they wanted to re- view our property. That went well and they have made an offer that is acceptable to us.
Not planning on letting the agent know-

We've agreed with the potential buyers to split the fees if we had to pay them (about 4k) - as the offer we accepted was based on not having to make this payment.

Any opinions? Also we have now started to seriously look at buying a property, we may need to arrange a viewing thought the same EA- as we are not moving far- could be difficult i think.

Thanks for any advice

Mantrahalos.

googler

Was it listed with the same agent both times you had it on the market?

What do the contract(s) say with regard to when the EA's fee is payable? Have you read them/it?

Mantrahalos

Hi Googler- yes same agent on both occasions- so when they viewed in summer 2011 it would have been through the same agent.

Will see if I can locate the contract and have a read.

googler

The fee you may or not pay is governed by the terms of your contract(s), not by the views of anyone posting here.

By all means let us know what the relevant paras in the contract say...

kingstreet

As googler says, it is your contract which will determine if the fee is payable.

Pay particular attention to the section about sales post-termination.

Mantrahalos

Ok. Have had a read- I thought there would be more about this subject but it says the following-

We would be entitled to fees if you terminate the agreement and within 6 months of the date of termination exchange unconditional contracts for the sale of the property to a buyer Introduced by us during the period of the agreement. However, we will give up our rights to the fees if a buyer first introduced by us goes on to buy the property through another estate agent, in circumstances where that buyer was introduced by the other estate agent more than 6 months after the date our agreement is terminated. If no other estate agent is involved, this time limit will not apply.

That says to me if a buyer is introduced by them, to us, and we complete on the sale of the property within 6 months of the contract terminating then fees are due- otherwise not. Which is good news.

Anyone else have a different opinion on what the above wording means?

Thanks

ValHaller

Mantrahalos wrote: »

Anyone else have a different opinion on what the above wording means?

Yes, you will have an almighty argument.

You will rely on

We would be entitled to fees if you terminate the agreement and within 6 months of the date of termination exchange unconditional contracts for the sale of the property to a buyer Introduced by us during the period of the agreement. However, we will give up our rights to the fees if a buyer first introduced by us goes on to buy the property through another estate agent, in circumstances where that buyer was introduced by the other estate agent more than 6 months after the date our agreement is terminated.

Your agent will rely on
If no other estate agent is involved, this time limit will not apply.

However, I think (no promises) your agent would probably lose if it went to court, because without a time limit, the clause could be deemed unfair. I suspect that whoever drafted the contract would know this and has introduced the clause to give ambiguity to allow the agent to browbeat you into paying up to avoid going to court.

If you had a mate who wanted to have a go at being an Estate Agent for £100 with ready buyer, you could consider getting him to put a small classified ad in the paper and let him deal with your buyers .....

SuzieSue

EAs are wise to the fact that people will try to do that and all they need to do is to download the deeds to your property to see who the new owners are if they are suspicious which they will be as they will see that your property has sold and will be able to see that you haven't put it up for sales with another EA. They would do this even if you weren't going to buy your new property from them, but if you are then you have no chance of getting away with it.

ha-ha-lol

I don't know about the agent 'demanding' the fees; I think you should 'offer' them to them.

I can't fathom this train of thought that people have, that they can use an estate agent, have them market the property, advertise online, in the papers, in their window, submit details to interested parties, spend time with people in their shop who are interested, potentially email multiple dozens of people, and generally work for the client.........And then pull it off the market willy-nilly, for no particular reason (just usually that they still haven't sold it after a few months....) And someone who was interested - because it was on sale with an estate agent in the first place - leaves their details with you "just in case" you change your mind, which people often do, in a sly, manipulative, devious way of avoiding paying the Estate Agent fees.

Honestly, people slate Estate Agents and run them into the ground, when some buyers are far more sly and sneaky and devious. No wonder Estate Agents have clauses in the contracts. If it was my Estate Agents, I would have a clause that says if you sell within a YEAR after dispensing with our services, you have to pay the full amount, and if you dispense with our services within TWO years, you pay half! People take the biscuit, honestly. If it wasn't for the Estate Agents, the buyer would not even have known you wanted to sell your property!

So YES I think they should be paid. If you DO go ahead and sell to the interested party, and don't tell the Estate Agent, and pay them the fee you agreed to pay in the contract you SIGNED; then I hope you get found out.

cool_dude_2000

ha-ha-lol, you're not an estate agent yourself are you?

HPsauce63

cool_dude_2000 wrote: »

ha-ha-lol, you're not an estate agent yourself are you?

Why ask this? Why assume he/she is an estate agent too? You don't have to be an estate agent yourself to think it's wrong and bad, for people to USE an estate agent for a few months, take their house off the market with the estate agent, pay them NOTHING, and then slyly sell it to someone who viewed it through the estate agent some months before; getting away without paying ANYthing to the estate agent. It's a pretty nasty thing to do actually, and I agree that they deserve to be caught.

What were they doing taking personal details of potential buyers anyway? All correspondence is supposed to go through the estate agent ... Did the OP actually say 'give us your contact number, as we may take it off the market soon, and in a few months, we'll contact you and you can buy it.' Do they say 'don't say anything to the estate agent, and we'll give you five hundred quid' or something. Surely there has to be something in it for the buyer.

Moreover, if they want to put the house on the market again, why not go back to the estate agent? How come they're sneakily contacting previous 'interested parties?'

I agree with hahalol. Anyone who does this, deserves to sued for the Estate Agent fees. It's a dirty trick, and too many people seem to do it.

And FTR, NO, I am NOT an estate agent. I just think that it's a nasty, sly thing to do.