Help re sole agency agreement

ronpickering

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, used search but couldn't find anything that specifically related to my query.

I put my house up for sale in Mid March and signed up to sole agent agreement for the sale of my property for a period of 24 weeks....in the contract it states if the property is withdrawn from the market an admin fee of £150 is payable....there are the usual additional clauses about agent fees being payable if a sale agreed with a buyer during that period directly or indirectly etc...

I'm looking for any help/advice on where I stand on being able to terminate the contract early, I've had one viewing in the 4 months, that in itself I can't blame the agent for, they can't magic interested people out of thin air. However the lamentable lack of communication (calls/emails to the agent not being returned) and complete lack of feedback on the one viewing I've had has frustrated me immensely.

Moreover, and the overriding cause of my annoyance and frustration, I wasn't in the house for the viewing that occurred, it happened on a Saturday morning and I didn't return to the property until Sunday evening, when I returned I discovered the patio doors to the rear of the property had been left unlocked, I raised this with the agent by email who said they though they had locked it but apologised if that was the case.

There is nothing in the contract about what, if any grounds they would be in breach of the agreement, therefore I would be grateful if anyone could advise if their negligence in leaving my property unsecured would constitute a breach of contract and/or what leverage I could use with this in terminating the contract early.

Thanks in advance

thesaint

Forget about the patio doors. You are clutching at straws.

Pay the £150 and move on.

eddddy

thesaint wrote: »

Pay the £150 and move on.

Unfortunately, I suspect the contract actually says:

1) Wait the full 24 weeks
2) Give 4 weeks written notice (that may or may not be in addition to the 24 weeks)
3) Then pay the £150 withdrawal fee

It's very unlikely that you will have grounds to cancel the contract early.

I guess it's easy to say this in hindsight - but you should never have agreed to a contract like that. I would always negotiate the min contract period down to 8 weeks. I would never agree to a withdrawal fee (i.e. a payment for failure).


Sadly, some EAs use the following strategy:

- Give a high valuation
- Tie you in for 20+ weeks
- Use the 20+ weeks to bully you into dramatically dropping the price


(Edit to add - if their negligence had resulted in a loss to you - e.g. a thief stole something - you could claim against the EA. But since you suffered no loss, you have no claim.)

ronpickering

thanks for the replies, albeit not what I wanted to hear.

stator

If you feel you have been given a crappy service it's always worth trying to negotiate to end the contract early. They might waive the 4 week notice period but I suspect they will not waive the fee!

G_M

Why on earth did you sign up to a 24 week sole agency....:eek:

I'm afraid you are locked in.

For the next time, the way to negotiate is:

You: so are you confidant you can find a buyer for my house at this price?

agent (naturally): yes we have a number of interested buyers on our books looking for this kind of property (they always say this so you sign up with you!)

You: in that case, you should be able to find a buyer withig a couple of weeks. Let's agree a 6 week sole agency contract

Agent: (backtracking): That's not our standard policy (or similar)

You: But since you are confidant the sale price is right, and you have buyers waiting, a non-standard policy should be no problem. What about 7 weeks. My final offer!


If they're as good as they claim, they'll find you a buyer in 7 weeks. If they fail, you are free to move to another agent.