Where do I stand?

scooterdaft

Currently selling my property in Scotland when engaging the estate agent/solicitor(combined firm) I was told by their rep who came to the house and followed up by email that the commission they would take for the sale of my house would be 1.75% .

Now I'm in dispute with them as they say the minimum commission they take is £1750 if the % of the sale price would be less than that. Now I've checked the paper work which I have signed and it does say the above.

But if I have been told the sale price is 1.75% then surely this is a binding agreement and they should honor it? Plus I feel that the level of service we have been given from them does not warrant full payment.

gb12345

You signed a contract saying a minimum of £1,750, so that is what you contractually have to pay. The time to query it would have been when you read through the contract before signing (you did read it before signing didn't you?).

bod1467

Did you get the email (about it being 1.75% and no mention of minimum fee) before or after signing the contract? (I presume before, but if it was after then you'd have an argument to support your case).

Hintza

Sounds like you have agreed to a sale below what you wanted if the £1,750 is only becoming an issue now. There is nothing you can do especially if you have agreed the sale.

bod1467

I'm reading that the OP was unaware of the £1750 minimum fee (i.e. didn't fully read the T&Cs), rather than complaining now because the house sale value is lower than expected. As you'll be aware, house prices <£100k is not all that unusual up here.

Only the OP can clarify though.

scooterdaft

bod1467 wrote: »

Did you get the email (about it being 1.75% and no mention of minimum fee) before or after signing the contract? (I presume before, but if it was after then you'd have an argument to support your case).

I got the email stating the sale price of 1.75% before I signed the contact as I got a deal with them as my now wife had also engaged them to sell her property.

There was no mention on the email of the minimum sale fee whilst I accept it states that on the contract I assumed I was getting the 1.75% rate when selling.

unholyangel

Hmmm not sure about arguing whether the email constitutes a contract amendment.

Do you have legal cover on your insurance at all ?

pinkshoes

If your property is worth less than £175k, then they should have clearly stated the minimum fee, as this is misleading. Obviously they knew it would be more as soon as they valued your home.

scooterdaft

Will need to check if I have legal cover. Surely if in the quote they state sale price is 1.75% then this is what they will have to charge? IE they have given the quotation to get my businessnes

gb12345

scooterdaft wrote: »

Will need to check if I have legal cover. Surely if in the quote they state sale price is 1.75% then this is what they will have to charge? IE they have given the quotation to get my businessnes

Regardless of what they quoted you, you then signed contract agreeing to the minimum fee.

InsideInsurance

Generally the contract will supersede the "quote" as it was given afterwards and signed by you. Obviously lesson one is to read what you sign.

What was the value of your property? Did the estate agents have enough information at the time to know it was certainly going to be selling below the minimum threashold?