Estate Agents commission for private sale.

NotTodaySatan

Hi, new here and just searching for some advice. Apologies in advance for the long post.

We've recently listed our house since having our offer accepted on a property. The owner of this property was interested in a part exchange with us, were upsizing, they're downsizing so it seems ideal. Their estate agent arranged a viewing and he said he was very interested and would be in touch as his estate agent had mentioned to us a private sale.

They put in an offer through our estate agents that was really as low as we could reasonably go without the agents fees, but having put in the offer through the estate agents we didn't know where we stood. We spoke to the estate agent who basically said that whatever we decide to do (accept the offer or sell privately to this party) we'd be liable to pay their full commission.

Having looked over the contract we had signed (we're still in the cooling off period) it states we're liable to the fees IF they introduced us to a buyer. Which, in theory, they didn't. We'd arranged the viewing, and they didn't know of any interest until the offer was put through.

Obviously the grey area is that they took the offer. But essentially all they have done is answered a phone call, not really warranting the £2,500 fee they'd claim. Not to mention we're generally unhappy with their performance this far. We generated more viewings from posting about our property on our current estates Facebook group in one day than they have over the 9 days they've had since we signed the dotted line.

We explained that we'd be aiming for a little bit more in terms of an offer and to see how that stood with the potential buyer. We heard back that that was all he could afford so we did some maths and with the help of family, we'd be able to cover the fees, put it back to the buyer that we'd accept and all of a sudden the offer is off the table and it's a no go.

Having spoken to the estate agent we're hoping to buy from, they seem to think our estate agent could have done it purposely to mess the sale - presumably because we'd questioned the fees.

Chances are it's too late and we've missed the opportunity and frankly wouldn't be surprised if it all falls through but I'm just curious to see people's opinions on the commission and estate agent behaviour in this.

We've had no viewings arranged this week despite having two interested parties trying to fit in last week for this. We'd happily cut our ties but are we really legally bound to pay fees if we left and ended up part exchanging anyway?

Thanks in advance

hazyjo

I suppose it all begs the question why did they put the offer through your EA? Negotiating is part of the service you're paying them for, so I don't see a reason for no commission.


We get many people here asking similar questions and they nearly always add in a line pretty much saying 'our EAs have been useless and we've not been happy with them'. What I don't get is why everyone seems to stay with them. Mind you, you say it's only been 9 days - that's way too soon to make a judgement. Did any of your FB enquiries show serious interest? If they're serious buyers, they'll be looking on RM. I wouldn't want a bunch of nosy FB group members popping round for a look.


If they have decided they no longer want the house and you were taking their lower offer, I doubt it's the EA who has put them off. What reason have they given? (So the first half of your post is hypothetical now, or am I missing something.)


Never advisable to offer on a property before having a firm offer on yours.

saajan_12

That's a lot of words for a simple point. If I understand correctly, you offered to buy a house, your vendors want to buy your house privately but put in an offer through your EA.

If you knew your vendors were also viewing / possibly buying your house, why didn't you either
a. tell vendors to offer to you directly or
b. tell your EA that this person was a potential private buyer so agree to exclude them from any potential commission (similar to what you do when you've already had offers and change EA).

Please quote the exact terms in your agreement with the EA regarding on what basis you owe their commission (e.g. sole selling rights / sole agency / buyer they introduced etc) and the cooling off period.

Even if you're within the cooling off period, you may have signed something waiving this right for them to start marketing immediately, and in any case if you cancel you'd still owe their costs so far.

NotTodaySatan

Interesting. I mean, no negoting has taken place, in fact we've lost the offer? We don't get given reasons for the offers so hard to know what exactly is going on.

Yes, one of them was interested. In fact, it's the only other interest we've had but she's got a few more properties to view and will get back to us. Another made a ridiculously low offer. Nothing from any EA viewings other than the drive being too small. Also, people on rightmove can be just as nosey. I work in marketing so don't worry about that.

I see your point but you can't really begrudge people for staying with them and in the same breath saying 9 days is too short time to make a judgement? The cooling off period is 14 days, pretty limited to making a decision in the next couple of days.

Not really sure why you think it's hypothetical? I'd say we're in with a good chance of this going belly up, so it probably could be over. We've not had any reasoning other than not accepting the offer straight away put him off. Only then did the EA say we should have accepted the offer being in our position.

But, I'm not really after judgement of myself, I'm after some insight into where we stand legally with the 'introducing' us to a buyer and opinions on the actions of the estate agents. Apologies if the back story made you think otherwise.

Not really sure what your last point is, we did, it was going on our favour and one side seems to hit a wall when the estate agent got involved? They accepted the offer knowing our position and it's still in place. We're in no rush to move, it'd be great if it all worked out but if it didn't it's not the end of the world. I'm more bothered about what I'd be paying the EA for if it did?

NotTodaySatan

This is our first time selling, and we dont know the industry as well as others. So, to us, this isn't a simple point.

We've been led to believe that they'd take the comm for the sale regardless, so certainly didn't know we could tell them not to charge?

I get the feeling there's a few estate agents on here?

hazyjo

So you didn't go back with a counteroffer via your EA? They made one offer and you accepted? Again, why use them then? They should have offered straight to you and you should have told your EA you had a private buyer (although depending on what your contract says, you may still owe them).

If your EA sold to someone on their books without spending a penny on advertising, would you begrudge them their fee? Sometimes they appear to do very little for their fee. It's hard to get a balance. If they take 9 days, some think they've not done anything. If they get an offer in a day, they get moaned about, if they take 3 months, they get moaned about even louder. You get my gist? And absolutely not, no, I am not an estate agent and am often front of the queue to slate them. Not my favourite people, I could do a far better job than most. I just play fair, even if I don't agree with it.

The EA will lie - you not taking their first offer will absolutely not put them off. If anything, if you accept anyone's first offer they will be thinking oh b*ll*x, we offered too high, should have gone in lower. For whatever reason, it doesn't sound like they want your house now.

I think we may be at cross purposes - you offered on a house, they offered on yours. And you said they have withdrawn that offer? Or am I misunderstanding. That is why I said it's all hypothetical now anyway - are they buying or not? It's really not that clear.

Loads of viewers say they're interested. Until they offer, it's usually just politeness. I've literally have people tell me they're ringing the EA the second they step out the door.

Yes, you may get people viewing houses for the fun of it via RM, but you miss my point. Not sure why Facebook would generate serious viewers - they would definitely be looking on RM. Only the timewasters would be on both.

You can't pick and choose what bits of your post people respond to I'm not judging you, nor are others.

Legally - it depends on your contract. They are all different. You have involved the EA re the offer so yes you are contractually obliged to use them to a certain degree. Too late now but you should have said you had a private buyer (no need to mention it's the person whose house you want to buy) and asked about their fee. If they said it all still applied, then you should have tried to negotiate it down. Saying this as it's a forum and this post will stay up for people searching the internet who may stumble on it in a similar situation. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I know you don't want to hear the 'should have dones', but it's important you or others know if there's a next time.

Not sure what you're confused about re the last point. It can work, but it is not advised. Reasons in this post: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5695667

PS only one ex-EA on here that I can think of!

NotTodaySatan

Sorry if it's a bit disjointed. I'm on my phone and between logging me off and having a pretty awful mobile layout, it's hard to see what's been said.

Basically, he put in an offer, say 1k for sake of arguement. Our mortgage in principle was worst case scenario 1k without fees so said offer would leave us short. Relaid this to EA, who supposedly spoke to vendor and came back to us saying that's all he could afford. We scrape the penny tin, cobble together enough to cover fees and accept the offer. Next thing we know it's off the table. No real reason, all we heard was that he was 'put off' that we didn't accept the offer and has retracted it. So, we're here having accepted an offer then having the rug pulled from under is.

This isn't to do with us putting in an offer before ours was on the market. We had nothing to lose, the offer was accepted understanding our circumstances. The vendor wants a quick sale, needed somewhere to live, really liked our house and put in an offer that we accepted.

The issue lies with the estate agent. We queried the fees yesterday saying that this is a potential buyer that we found. We got told flat out that regardless of what happens, we have to pay the full fees. Now between this and us accepting the offer (a couple of hours) the offer has gone. But why would someone looking for a quick move with everything in place decide to pull that offer and extend the chain? Call me synical.

But, from a consumer point of view, I can't see how any blame can be laid at our door. We've instructed property experts to sell our home. We're not property experts but given that we'd handed them a sale on a plate, what's gone wrong? Even playing devils advocate, I don't see how this is down to anything we've done?

Having looked through the contract, the cooling off period seems to void us if any liability if we drop out in this time frame. Could it be because we uttered the word private sale that's panicked them into doing the best for them? I don't know.

I wouldn't want to sensor responses but the issue is our agents, not what we should or shouldn't have done in hindsight nor how our offer got accepted on the property initially. I appreciate your input and it has been useful but, as I've said, from a consumer point of view, I can't see how we can shoulder the blame.

If an agent was to sell straight away from their books, of course I wouldn't begrudge the fees, they'd put in the groundwork previously. That's not the case here. We brought them an almost guaranteed sale, that when they got involved, it fell through. So I do begrudge that, picking up the phone and still managing to f it up isn't really worth 1.5% of my house sale, really.

In terms of Facebook, the estate we live on, without sounding pompous, is 'sought-after'. The group is frequently used to ask about sale or rental properties coming up on the horizon. But, given that the EA's sales pitch to us was about the power of FB advertising and how they utilise it (and speaking to someone who works in that industry) it's a very viable marketing tool. Also there's a reason the most viewed properties on RM are multi-million pound mansions...

But, given that one party who came to view via EA couldn't afford it, openly admitted that, and that they'd also viewed a detached on for £40k more. These people will find you regardless. Any internet facility isn't exclusive, and more eyes the better, but as an agent they shouldn't be so careless to allow time wasters who can't afford the property. Sure, people can lie about their affordability, but these people weren't shy about it. Seems like first weekend on the market, they would get anyone in. But that's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things.

But, hey! Well done on finding the one honest estate agent there! ��