Help on where I stand if I pull out of house sale

solorize

Hi,

We currently have a buyer for our house and have had a mortgage offer agreed to enable us to purchase the house we want. The vendors are sill looking for their next house, so the chain is not closed as yet.

But sadly due to personal reasons we are going to have to take our house of the market.

I just wanted to know where we stand and if we will have to pay the estate agent or mortgage lender any monies for work they have done so far. (With regard to the solicitors I do not think they have carried out any searches, which we gave them monies up front for, so hopefully this will be refundable).

Please see information below.

1. Estate Agent
We have 16 week 'Sole Selling Agreement' contract with our estate agent with a 2 week notice period.
There is nothing in the contract to state anything about 'Ready, willing and able purchaser' So as I understand we will not have to pay the agent for finding a buyer.

But am not sure if the agent will charge us for marketing our property, I can't see anything in the contract stating such.

2. Mortgage Lender
We recently got a mortgage offer in place with Santander and this included a free valuation (which has been carried out).

If we pull out of the sale and no longer require the mortgage will we be charged any monies for not taking out the mortgage and we just inform them that we no longer require the mortgage. Also would we have to pay them back for the valuation?

Any help would be appreciated.

foxy-stoat

Dont worry about the Estate Agent, unless there is something in the contract stating what happens if you pull out of the sale before exchange of contracts.

The lender may well charge you a fee, but again this should be stated in the Key Facts information you would of received with your offer.

eddddy

It sounds like you've read the EA contract pretty thoroughly - if there's no mention of "withdrawal fees" and "marketing fees", you're probably ok (as you've already checked for "ready willing and able")

Although, if there really were no fees, I would have expected them to mention "no sale, no fee" very prominently in their marketing literature and contract.

Make sure you give written notice of cancellation after 12 weeks, or the contract will roll on indefinitely.

solorize

Hi,

Thanks to you both for your replies.
Hopefully we will be OK then.

dc197

If the agents did a good job it might be nice to buy them a bottle of wine or something.
They get a raw deal on this website but for once they have done nothing wrong yet are out of pocket.

kinger101

dc197 wrote: »

If the agents did a good job it might be nice to buy them a bottle of wine or something.

Don't go mad though. A bottle of Lambrini will do.

solorize

Lol, we had already decided to send them some flowers and a bottle of champagne to thank them for their help.

moneyman1295

It would be better if you access real state agent because they have the strong access through the buyer or it's agency.

eddddy

moneyman1295 wrote: »

It would be better if you access real state agent because they have the strong access through the buyer or it's agency.

I guess it depends on the EA.

Many of the ones I deal with would be busy...
- calculating the impact on their monthly salary
- working out whether they can still achieve their quarterly target
- if not... whether they might get a written warning from the boss
- preparing their excuses for why the sale "went south" for the Thursday morning team meeting

I'd wonder if they thought I was taking the mickey, if I sent them flowers and chocolates. I'd tend to opt for a polite business email.

Dan-Dan

Flowers, Chocs and Lambrini for an estate agent who just saw cash slip through their fingers?

You guys crack me up

DRP

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Flowers, Chocs and Lambrini for an estate agent who just saw cash slip through their fingers?

You guys crack me up

Yep^

I'd give them a ring to tell them the situation, and confirm there'll be no fees.

If you're happy with their service & feeling generous, tell them you will consider them to market your house when your personal situation changes in the future.