THe war of the sold boards

millysg1

A bit of background to my question.

In November we directed a local estate agent to sell our house. After 2 months of little interest and a drop in price, our EA suggested we also sell with another Ea that is based in the next town along. We saw nothing to loose so also instructed this second EA.

This EA was much better and a month later we are now sold through this second EA.
we came home after accepting an offer to find only the second EA board up with a sold sign and the other board placed on the ground on our drive.

Then 1 week later the first EAs board was back up with a sold sign.
A few days later the first one had been taken down again and left on the floor. That was yesterday. We believe it’s the EAs doing this, messing with the boards.

I’m now half expecting the first EA to put theirs back up again!

Who is in the right? Does only the EA that sells the house have a right to put up the sold sign and should the other EA remove their board.? Or do they both have a right to keep their boards up? I’d like to stop this board war going on but don’t know which Ea 8 need to tell to stop.

Thanks for any help.

lincroft1710

The only person who can determine which board should remain on your land is you. So just tell both of them to remove their boards as you are fed up of their childish behaviour.

ITtim

Agree with the post above, our agent doesn't seem to be bothered about chainging ours to 'sold' so we just took it down

hazyjo

Also agree - remove them both. I'd not have either.

Smodlet

Just read the t's & c's of the first EA's contract very carefully or you could just find you end up paying them as well as EA2. There are sometimes very nasty conditions hidden away in the small print.

millysg1

Thank you all. I’ll review T&Cs and if ok take them both down. Does anyone know what usually happened in these circumstances though? Out of interest?

rach_k

Go and borrow a For Sale board from a third estate agent, stick it up and see what the agents make of that!

Mutton_Geoff

millysg1 wrote: »

Thank you all. I’ll review T&Cs and if ok take them both down. Does anyone know what usually happened in these circumstances though? Out of interest?

Smodlet's suggestion to read the T&Cs was to look out for double fees being liable, not whether you are allowed to take their board down. It's your property, if you don't want the boards, take them down or ask them to do it without delay.

Smodlet

Mutton_Geoff wrote: »

Smodlet's suggestion to read the T&Cs was to look out for double fees being liable, not whether you are allowed to take their board down. It's your property, if you don't want the boards, take them down or ask them to do it without delay.

Absolutely. Apologies if that was not clear. The last time I made this point I was shot down in flames; that makes this eventuality no less possible.

Davesnave

Why would your first agent tell you to go with another agent? I can't imagine a reason for this unless:

• their contract locked you in to paying them as well as Agent 2, at least for a considerable period

• your house is so awful and/or your expectations so high, they thought there was no point in marketing it further

The fact that they're now planting sold boards on your property sounds like a not-too-subtle hint that they'll want a payment if the deal goes through. Do look at your contract with them.

millysg1

No I’m not locked in to pay the 1st EA. I’ve checked. The reason they suggested it is because we wanted to buy a house of them where they would get a much bigger commission and they wanted to help speed that one up. It was worth loosing our commission if they sold the one we wanted plus the one she wants which was through the same first EA. The one we are buying is the run down one that doesn’t appeal to everyone but it’s exactly what we want. If the house we wanted sold to someone else then they new we would come of the market and they would loose us anyway.