Estate Agent - when does cooling off period end?

dwill1503

We signed a contract with an EA on 18th April but the house didn't go live until 6th May (the had to take photos etc). We now want to cancel and will give them 21 days if needed as stated in the contract but when did our cooling off period end - 14 days from signing or 14 days from going live?

Guest101

14 days from signing.

dwill1503

Ok. As I thought. Which is a bit naughty as they only took photos on day 12 after signing! thank you though

Guest101

dwill1503 wrote: »

Ok. As I thought. Which is a bit naughty as they only took photos on day 12 after signing! thank you though

Well they probably didnt want to commit resources incase you wanted to pull out.

In hindsight, you want to pull out, so perhaps correct to do so?

Anyway no real harm done

eddddy

Is there is no minimum contract period?

The big chains tend to ask for 12 or even 20 weeks.

But a few of the small independents seem to have no minimum period at all, just a notice period. So hopefully that's what you have.

pinkteapot

eddddy wrote: »

Is there is no minimum contract period?

The big chains tend to ask for 12 or even 20 weeks.

But a few of the small independents seem to have no minimum period at all, just a notice period. So hopefully that's what you have.

If you want to cancel because you no longer want to sell, the minimum period doesn't matter. The EA can't force you to sell if you don't want to, and they'll be happy to pull it even in a contract period as there's no point them marketing a house that won't be sold.

If you want to cancel because you want to use a different EA, that's a different kettle of fish.

eddddy

pinkteapot wrote: »

If you want to cancel because you no longer want to sell, the minimum period doesn't matter. The EA can't force you to sell if you don't want to, and they'll be happy to pull it even in a contract period as there's no point them marketing a house that won't be sold.

If you want to cancel because you want to use a different EA, that's a different kettle of fish.

Absolutely.

But the OP asked about a cooling off period. So that suggests they want to cancel the contract to go with another agent. Otherwise, as you say, the cooling off period is irrelevant.

... Unless it is a fee related issue - perhaps the EA charges an upfront fee or a withdrawal fee.

jjlandlord

The 14 day cooling off period means that they shouldn't start any work until the period has expired.
If you ask them to start work earlier or agree that they start earlier then you lose your right to cancel 'free of charge'.

DaftyDuck

Exactly as JJ. Some agent contracts have an extra clause for you to sign to accept that, by starting immediately, your cooling off rights are lost, whilst others (more honestly, in my humble) retain the right to cancel, but only on payment of (£350) exit fee to cover out-of-pocket expenses, like photography, printing, newspaper advert and Audi TT...

kirtondm

I cancelled during cooling off peroid with sequence because after 1 week they had not come to take photo's despite selling me the contract on the basis they would come the next day as I wanted a quick sale.

Returned and signed the paperwork served it on the branch and to head office never had any problems.

sold it through another firm 2 days alter. ( They took photos the same day )

dwill1503

Well they didn't come back to me yesterday so it is now in the 21 days notice period, which we can live with. To clarify, we signed up with the EA - full of charm, patter and seemed wonderful. After signing, photos weren't taken - only one of the outside as they said the tenants were too messy for it be photo'd inside (some photos are beer than no photos - to at least show nice floor, decor and brand new bathroom). They also did not set the price we had wanted. They said offers "around XXX" but we wanted a min of £5k more. We've had an offer of below and the guide price but we won't get the £5k more unless we have a bidding scenario. We have decided to wait a while and remarket for the £5k more in a few months.