Sole agency agreement and private sale. Help asap please

rpc

kerrydan wrote: »

thanks guys, it's definitely a sole agency agreement.

In which case they would only be entitled if the buyer had come from another agency. Private sales aren't covered.

The EA may be chancing it or they may believe that you have another agent and are hiding it because of the sole agency contract.

Tell them it is a private sale, quote the contract back at them. Do it in writing. Then ignore. When EA's get a whiff of a fee, it's like feeding time at the zoo. Clearly state your case and then be done with them unless and until there is talk of court.

kerrydan

I have read the contract again and it does not mention a 7 day cooling off period at all. I understand that under the Goods and services in own home regulation 2008 that consumers have 7 days cooling off however there are a lot of conflicting advice on the internet that it does not cover estate agents? on the contract it just says that they will be sole agent for a minimum of 16 weeks from date of agreement and will continue until unconditional contracts have been exchanged for the sale (if that was with them ) or until 14 days written notice was given to terminate. I am still within the 7 days though although they have marketed the property and I had an low offer after I had informed them by phone of my private offer.

eddddy

kerrydan wrote: »

I have read the contract again and it does not mention a 7 day cooling off period at all. I understand that under the Goods and services in own home regulation 2008 that consumers have 7 days cooling off
...

Hi kerrydan

Don't pursue the 7 day cooling-off period - it's not relevant here.

Look for a paragraph in your contract that reads something like this:

You will be liable to pay remuneration (commission) to us in addition to any other agreed costs or charges, if at any time unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged:-
with a purchaser introduced by us during the period of our sole/joint sole agency or with whom we had negotiations about the property during that period; or with a purchaser introduced by another agent during that period.

The key point is that your cousin was not introduced by the agent and your cousin did not negotiate with the agent. That is all you need to tell the EA.

(Don't even mention a 7 day cooling off period. It will confuse things. Even if the 7 day cooling off period exists, if the EA had actually introduced or negotiated with your cousin during that 7 day period you would be liable for fees.)

kerrydan

eddddy wrote: »

Hi kerrydan

Don't pursue the 7 day cooling-off period - it's not relevant here.

Look for a paragraph in your contract that reads something like this:




The key point is that your cousin was not introduced by the agent and your cousin did not negotiate with the agent. That is all you need to tell the EA.

(Don't even mention a 7 day cooling off period. It will confuse things. Even if the 7 day cooling off period exists, if the EA had actually introduced or negotiated with your cousin during that 7 day period you would be liable for fees.)

Thanks for the advise. I just thought that because they basically told me that I was lying and I had an offer before signing the contract (why would I sign for god sake). In the contract it' states that the vendor confirms that at the date of agreement there is no perspective purchaser who has expressed an interest in purchasing the property.'
I thought the 7 day cooling period would stop it going any further because the contract would not have started really. I have just found a line in the contract stating that marketing will commence forthwith in accordance with the terms of the agreement anyway. Sorry I put it on the market full stop now .

eddddy

Hi kerrydan

It sounds like you feel bad about the situation. You absolutely shouldn't.

The EA has chosen to follow a 'no sale, no fee' business model. So they get a big fee when they sell, and lose some money when they don't sell. Nobody forced that business model on them.

In your case, they 'worked on' selling your property for 5 days and will be earning nothing. There will be others that they have 'worked on' for 6 months, and they earn nothing.

If they don't like it, they should move out of the commission based EA business!

googler

eddddy wrote: »

(Don't even mention a 7 day cooling off period. It will confuse things. Even if the 7 day cooling off period exists, if the EA had actually introduced or negotiated with your cousin during that 7 day period you would be liable for fees.)

Only if the OP had explicitly waived the cooling-off period, surely?

rpc

kerrydan wrote: »

Thanks for the advise. I just thought that because they basically told me that I was lying and I had an offer before signing the contract (why would I sign for god sake).

And they may well believe that, or they may be fishing for an easy fee. Even if you did have an offer, a private sale still wouldn't be covered.

WRITE and very simply lay out the timeline and source of the offer. Tell them that they are not due a fee as none of the conditions in clause X have been satisfied. Then forget about them.

Set it out in black and white for them. Then ignore them.

kerrydan

Just to say thank you for all your advice. I emailed the estate agent and he apoligised if he upset me and said that he now believed I was telling the truth and they would not be chasing any fee's from me . So all good in the end