Unhappy with Estate Agent but stuck with them

Stephen1969

We have had our house on the market for approximately 2 months. When a gentleman came from the Estate Agents to value our property he sounded very professional and told us we would receive a first rate service, updates every month and would be well looked after and they would do the utmost to get the best price possible for our property.

However what we were told and what we have received have been very much different. A few of our gripes include the following. Of 5 viewings we only had feedback for the first one. On the other occasions we have had to phone 3 to 5 days later to get a response. We bumped into the last couple 4 days after they viewed our house and they had never even received a call from the Estate Agent to find out what they thought about our property. We never got a monthly update. Promised phone calls have never materialized when chasing up viewing feedback. Other niggles include been told when the 'For Sale' sign would go up and when updates to the website and description would take place, only when these did not happen to be told by another employee that we should not have been told what we had as it was incorrect?? Alarm bells should have rung when our house appeared in the local paper and we had not even signed an agreement with them by then??

It's all these annoyances and a few others and a poor customer service that have made us take the property off the market with them. I just do not wish to pay a penny to this company, who I cannot decide are lazy, liers or just inept - or perhaps all three. The problem arises that in the small print that should we sell our property within 6 month, with or without another Estate Agent, we still have to pay them their fees. I have no problem paying the fees but I really begrudge paying them a penny. Am I been harsh? Is it a case of we signed the agreement with them and therefore we have to abide by their rules? I just feel that our hands are tied and they can get away with a sub-standard service and there's nothing we can do but either pay them or wait 6 months. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks for listening.

DRP

Stephen1969 wrote: »

The problem arises that in the small print that should we sell our property within 6 month, with or without another Estate Agent, we still have to pay them their fees. I have no problem paying the fees but I really begrudge paying them a penny. Am I been harsh? Is it a case of we signed the agreement with them and therefore we have to abide by their rules? I just feel that our hands are tied and they can get away with a sub-standard service and there's nothing we can do but either pay them or wait 6 months. Any advice would be most welcome. Thanks for listening.

#
Give your notice ASAP unless you are desperate to sell.

What does contract actually say? Does it say 6 months from the date you cancel your contract to the date when you actually sell (complete) ?

If you sell the day after you part company with the EA, then it'll likely be months until you exchange - if there's a chain, it could be a lot longer.

Stephen1969

This is the part that I believe concerns us should we take our property off the market.

In accordance with the Code of Practice (TPO), following the termination of our agreement, if a purchaser is introduced by us or with whom we have negotiated goes on to buy the property through another agency (and you have paid that other agent a selling fee), we will still be entitled to our fee but we will give up our fee if exchange of contracts through the other agency occurs more than 6 (six) months after termination (at the end of the 28 (twenty eight) days' notice) of our agreement. In all other cases, we will still be entitled to our fee for an exchange of contracts occurring up to 2 (two) calendar years from termination (at the end of the 28 (twenty eight) days' notice of our agreement.

From what I understand if we use another agent then we have to pay both agents anywhere up to 6 months and 28 days after the termination of the contract if contracts are exchanged. Anything else (I assume selling privately) there is a 2 year period.

I understand why agents do this, to make sure that people can't use their facilities, then sell privately to save on agents fees. However it seems that this rule also allows agents to give a poor service and still claim their fees regardless, and tie the hands of the customer for up to 2 years. A case of like it or lump it I guess.

silk_2

Looks like it only applies if your buyer was introduced to you by them though? Or am I reading it wrong.

Stephen1969

That is how I read it but if we sell to someone they haven't introduced, with or without another agent, then they can claim their fees up to 2 years later. I think??????

silk_2

I'm guessing they mean listing fees and not selling fees? Listing fees can't be that much can they?

eddddy

Stephen1969 wrote: »

That is how I read it but if we sell to someone they haven't introduced, with or without another agent, then they can claim their fees up to 2 years later. I think??????

Hi Stephen

Your EA appears to be a member of TPO. It looks like your EA has paraphrased the TPO Code of Practice rather badly.

I'd be pretty sure your EA means they would claim commission if you sold privately (without an agent) to somebody they introduced within two years. But not if you sold to anyone else.

See para 3q in the TPO Code of Practice here, which says the same thing but slightly more clearly:

http://www.tpos.co.uk/downloads/TPOE27-1%20Code%20of%20Practice%20for%20Residential%20Estate%20Agents%20(Effective%20from%201%20August%202011).PDF

Stephen1969

Thanks for the pointers. We do not have problems in paying any fees, I would just rather pay someone who has at least made an effort to sell our property. I just wish that there was a clause that if the EA didn't perform certain basic tasks that the agreement was null and void. It seems that an EA can get away with providing a sub-par service and still be entitled to full payment and there's nothing you can do about it.

RAS

When can you give notice?

Ivana_Tinkle

I'm no fan of estate agents, but these do sound like very minor complaints. IME feedback is almost never of any use to the vendor. (It might help the agent to work out what the buyer wants and find them a more suitable property, but it doesn't do you much good to hear a dozen variations on, "Not quite right for us.") Are you sure the agent you're going to be moving to is going to be any better?

Andy84Leeds

We are trying to buy a house and it took 3 attempts by email and then in the end we phoned to try and get a viewing which took a further 4 days. The agent is useless and the Sellers are aware of this. As a result we have told the Estate Agent we want to buy the house - The buyer was only made aware of this 5 days later when we phoned them directly as the Estate Agent hadn't contacted them (a breach of the TPO Code of Practice I belive in that any offer is to be sent in writing within 2 days to buyer and seller???).
The seller is keen for us to buy theirs, once ours is sold, and want to take it off the market to allow this to happed but the T's and C's of the Agent say they would have to pay their fee's regardless, if sold within a period of 2 years + 28 days notice. Is this right and do we have a fair complaint for the sellers to withdraw without this enforcing due to the possible breach by the E/Agent?
Thanks.