Negotiating a reduction in EA fees after sale

eddddy

mgarl10024 wrote: »

...

i.e. misplacing the first invoice and making them send a second; refusing to talk to them on the phone; insisting on detailed breakdowns of costs before payments...
...

EAs' fees are generally paid direct by your solicitor on completion (to avoid this kind of thing). You solicitor will ask you to check the EA's bill prior to completion.

I guess you can instruct your solicitor not to pay them. But then the EA's contract usually specifies that interest will be payable.

mgarl10024

eddddy wrote: »

EAs' fees are generally paid direct by your solicitor on completion (to avoid this kind of thing). You solicitor will ask you to check the EA's bill prior to completion.

I guess you can instruct your solicitor not to pay them. But then the EA's contract usually specifies that interest will be payable.

Hi Eddddy - I understand that, but the OPs original post said:

phoenix_w wrote: »

I've already told my conveyancer to not pay the fees direct as I'll settle with a cheque upon completion, .

Thrugelmir

phoenix_w wrote: »

The serious ones are that they've tried to rip us off over their conveyancing recommendation (trying to earn themselves two lots of commission),

That's an unrelated issue to them receiving a fee for selling your property as contracted.

Their fees were very expensive compared to the competition in our area, but we accepted them because we thought they'd sell our house reasonably quickly.

So now is not the time to start arguing about the cost. You entered a legally binding contract with your eyes open.

phoenix_w

Thrugelmir wrote: »

So now is not the time to start arguing about the cost. You entered a legally binding contract with your eyes open.

For the price we're paying, we expected a premium service. What we've received is a slipshod service which has frustrated us and, more importantly, our buyers.

ali_hire

You're not paying for a service, you're paying for them to introduce a buyer, which they've done.

AdrianC

phoenix_w wrote: »

For the price we're paying, we expected a premium service.

Did any of the paperwork you agreed to by taking them on define this "premium" service which they were promising?

What we've received is ... our buyers.

Which is exactly what you agreed to pay for.

DRP

rpc wrote: »

Contractually, you are paying the EA to get you a sale. I doubt their terms bind them to deliver "good and honest service."

If your contract with them is house sale = full fee then that is what you pay. The route to get there is largely irrelevant.

If you were not happy with the service and wanted to renegotiate the fee, that should have been dealt with at the time.

ali_hire wrote: »

You're not paying for a service, you're paying for them to introduce a buyer, which they've done.

Depends what's in the contract and what they've delivered.

Our contract specified extras in addition to introducing a buyer, such as advertising.

If they hadn't have provided those, they wouldn't have fulfilled their contract with us.

Thrugelmir

AdrianC wrote: »

Did any of the paperwork you agreed to by taking them on define this "premium" service which they were promising?

You've asked the question that I was going to.

JimmyTheWig

Are you staying in the same area once you move?
If so, at least you'll know who to avoid next time you move - and who to suggest friends and family in the same area avoid too.

Sounds like you've had poor service but there's probably nothing specific in the contract where they've failed so best hope is probably a goodwill gesture.

Thrugelmir

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Sounds like you've had poor service

If I was refunded money when a service didn't match my expectations I would be rich!