Will the EA still charge me? Found my own buyer

Regina.filangie

Had my house up for sale earlier this year and found the perfect house to buy. My buyers then decided to pull out on the morning we were due to exchange - the day before completion. Had a really tough time.
Anyway, the EA put the house straight back on the market and the sold board has been replaced with a ‘For Sale’ one.
A close family member has now offered to buy the house I’m selling so that I can proceed with my purchase. They will then sell the property later and hopefully recoup their money.
My question is will my estate agent still charge their fee, considering I have found my own buyer? Obviously the fact that it’s a family member buying the property to help me out means they won’t have been influenced in any way by an online advert.
Thanks

bowlhead99

The answer to this sort of question is ALWAYS: what do the terms and conditions you signed, say you agreed to? They will be in writing.

There is no possible way for us to know what contractual terms you agreed with the agent when appointing them to try to find a buyer for your house.

Do the terms say you only pay for a buyer that proceeds to exchange of contracts who was introduced by the agent?

Do the terms say that anyone in your extended family who was not alerted to the sale by the board outside your house or a listing online, does not trigger a fee even within any exclusivity period for the agent?

How would we know? We didn't enter into a contract to sell your property...

Regina.filangie

I have packed up my house and can’t find a copy of the agreement. I will ask the agent for another copy. Thank you for taking the time to give your advice but it wouldn’t hurt for you to be a bit more pleasant. Saying “how would we know” is quite blunt when I’m only asking for advice, especially from others who may have experienced a similar thing. I already mentioned in my post I’ve had a tough time losing my buyer like that at the last possible minute. I’m aware you didn’t enter into a contract to sell my property and find that quite argumentative actually.

G_M

The experience of others will be irrelevant, since we, and they, won't know if the contract they signed was the same as the contract you signed.

Yes - a bit blunt, but bowlhead gave you the best answer you could expect.

They will then sell the property later and hopefully recoup their money.

Hmmm.. I hope they are not relying on this. Especially if

* you DO have to pay the estate agent - and then so do they
* the property is above the SDLT threshold
* they already own a property and have to pay the 2nd property Additional SDLT
* they decide to use a solicitor rather than do the conveyancng themselves
* they have to apply for (and pay for) a mortgage
* it takes the a while to sell, while racking up 'empty property' Council Tax, + empty property insurance, utilities etc

Of course one or more of the above may not apply, but I trust they've done their maths.....

JoJo1978

Can't you just take it off the market now? I.e. the current agents don't need to know you have a buyer. Or are you locked in for a period of time? Even if you are perhaps you can ask them to cease marketing?

bowlhead99

Regina.filangie wrote: »

I’m aware you didn’t enter into a contract to sell my property and find that quite argumentative actually.

The problem with me being warm and fluffy and telling you "don't worry, when I sold my house in that exact same way, it was fine and there was no charge" is that realistically to avoid you getting a false sense of security I would have to go to some further effort to qualify the statement with ".... but then, I didn't sign your contract so I have absolutely no clue whether you will get the same outcome as me, and neither does anyone else here."

Otherwise it really wouldn't be fair on you to get your hopes up. Alternatively if my outcome had been the other way around and I *did* have to pay, I would have to heavily qualify it with the exact same caveat, to avoid you getting unnecessarily anxious and worried that you would get the same result as that for several sleepless nights before actually speaking with your agent and getting a copy of what you signed.

So the fairest and most practical way to get to the heart of the matter is to skip all the BS gossip about what might be true for you and come right out and bluntly tell you that what you need to do is read your contract that you agreed which we have not seen.

Sorry if that isn't as fun for you as speculation about what you might have agreed and what you might get away with. I don't find it argumentative though. I am not disputing anything you have said. I'm telling you the facts and there's no point getting into Sympathy and Speculation when what you want is a Solution to your problem.

If you can't locate a copy of the signed contract, ask the EA to produce one. They'll be keen to do so because they can't bill you for services if you haven't agreed any terms

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

Hmmm.. I hope they are not relying on this. Especially if

* it takes the a while to sell, while racking up 'empty property' Council Tax, + empty property insurance, utilities etc

Plus the fact it'll be largely unmortgageable by onward buyers for the first six months (and in any event the circumstances are likely to be viewed with suspicion by buyers).

iammumtoone

Can you negotiate with the EA if necessary, maybe they might agree to not take any commission from the sale to the relative if the relative agrees to sign a new contract with them straight away for them to still the house.

Are the EA agents for anyone else in your chain? if the chain collapses they may lose their commission on the other houses as well.

iammumtoone

davidmcn wrote: »

Plus the fact it'll be largely unmortgageable by onward buyers for the first six months (and in any event the circumstances are likely to be viewed with suspicion by buyers).

that means my suggestion not likely then, still always worth a try you never know.