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Estate Agent illegal practises?
rila75
Posts: 13 Forumite
Hi,
I am selling my property through an Estate Agent based on the terms of a "No-sale-no-fee" and for a fixed fee. It is a Sole Agency agreement. The agent is selling my property with a "informal tender", which implies that the buyer will cover the sale fee. To my surprise I have become aware that the agent is charging my buyers 2%+VAT of the sale price of the property, which is several thousand pound more of what would be the agreed Fixed Price sale fee. Is this legal and what rights do I have as a seller as this is putting off and prising out a lot of my buyers?
I am selling my property through an Estate Agent based on the terms of a "No-sale-no-fee" and for a fixed fee. It is a Sole Agency agreement. The agent is selling my property with a "informal tender", which implies that the buyer will cover the sale fee. To my surprise I have become aware that the agent is charging my buyers 2%+VAT of the sale price of the property, which is several thousand pound more of what would be the agreed Fixed Price sale fee. Is this legal and what rights do I have as a seller as this is putting off and prising out a lot of my buyers?
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Comments
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Change estate agents then to one that suits your needs.0
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Hi,
I am selling my property through an Estate Agent based on the terms of a "No-sale-no-fee" and for a fixed fee. It is a Sole Agency agreement. The agent is selling my property with a "informal tender", which implies that the buyer will cover the sale fee. To my surprise I have become aware that the agent is charging my buyers 2%+VAT of the sale price of the property, which is several thousand pound more of what would be the agreed Fixed Price sale fee. Is this legal and what rights do I have as a seller as this is putting off and prising out a lot of my buyers?
Is this mentioned in your contract?0 -
Well done for working it out, even if you signed up before you did. Plenty of vendors think they are getting a free service, when in fact they pay one price through a lower offer, and typically another price through the fact that buyers will just be plain put off.
Tell the agent you have realised this is a bad deal and disinstruct them at the earliest opportunity.
(This sort of thing goes on all the time in the letting space, I've never understood why LLs don't pay more attention to the total cost of letting agents as it comes out of the tenant's accommodation budget that could be paying rent)0 -
Thanks for the people comments. Very valuable hopefully for everyone in the same both.
This has never been advised to me. The estate agent never disclosed what they will charge the buyer. My expectation naturally was that buyer will cover the sellers fee. Now I will miss on the purchase I have agreed due to the sale of my property failing. What can I do?0 -
When you say, "this has never been advised to me," do you mean that this sale by tender is not in the contract you signed with the estate agent?0
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Sale by tender is not in the contract, but it has been advised to me over an e-mail as the initial marketing strategy.0
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It seems a strange way of doing things, (buyers paying EAs fees) as the EA ostensibly works for the seller not the buyer.0
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As a buyer I would avoid anyone using this method to sell a house. It creates the conflict of interest and just feels like a complete scam. If the seller is trying to avoid paying their estate agent fees, what else are they going to try on?Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0
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