Estate Agent Selling Fees - No work, breach of faith

Chuckleboy

Hello all,

I was recently harassed by an estate agent into signing them on as a secondary seller of my property, with multiple calls and house visits, insisting they could get more money than my other estate agent. Eventually I signed with them on the proviso that they get at least £5,000 more than my other estate agent to pay for their fees.

After putting the house on the market for £5,000 LESS than advertised elsewhere and setup a viewing, they did not respond to the buyer who then put an offer in with the other estate agent which I accepted, slightly UNDER asking price. They've then called to claim that as they 'introduced the seller to the property' as per their contract they are due their fees.

I've argued them down to half and have refused everything else they have said they'd do, being very explicit that I want them to have no part in the sale. However, I'm not happy paying them anything as I feel I've been misled and though they're not in breach of contract, unfortunately, they were brought on as well to get me MORE on the sale, which they have utterly failed to do by not answering my buyer.

Legally I'm not sure I'm on a good foot. Does anyone have any useful advice of actions I could take at this point? I'm thinking of asking for an itemised invoice...

Warmest regards,
Tom

cooltt

You accepted the whatever offer you have accepted, that is nothing to do with either estate agent, 5k more or less, it's irrelevant.

The EA who introduced the buyer gets the fees not the one the offer was put in with.

Read both of the contracts from both EA's, if it specifically states they get a fee for INTRODUCING the buyer then it's the first EA who accepted the offer on house who should not be getting the fee.

agrinnall

Don't pay them and let them sue you, if you have a contract that backs up what you say they are due nothing because they haven't secured a sale price more the £5,000 greater than your other EA has.

theartfullodger

Chuckleboy wrote: »

Letting Agent Fees - No work, breach of faith

Sorry, I'm an OaP, get confused easily: What/who/how has a letting agent influenced this, please?


NB Getting wording correct on instructions to others can be critical in not getting stuffed...

Chuckleboy

Thank you both for your replies.

Coolt, you're right about me accepting the offer and the contract. Unfortunately I have to pay BOTH estate agents which I told the offending EA before they started, thus the insistence on a higher rate than they would get me. The only real claim they have to introducing the buyer is she called them for the viewing. That is the beginning and end of their involvement.

My main gripe is that when given the opportunity to negotiate for a better offer, they didn't answer the phone when my buyer called or return her call. This was over two days, at which point she made an offer that was picked up immediately by my other estate agent (PurpleBricks). My thinking is, as they're getting a flat fee, they didn't feel like they needed to do any effort.

Agrinnall, there was nothing in the contract about needing this, it was a gentleman's agreement which was not honoured in my eyes. You could argue that's worth the paper it's printed on. However, beyond arranging the viewing, putting it on the website under the currently advertised price with a few pictures, that is all they've done.

Chuckleboy

theartfullodger wrote: »

Sorry, I'm an OaP, get confused easily: What/who/how has a letting agent influenced this, please?


NB Getting wording correct on instructions to others can be critical in not getting stuffed...

You're right, it should read Estate Agent. Apologies, I've been dealing with a letting agent extensively as property is leasehold and struggling through a cold, confusion my end.

cooltt

@Chuckleboy, annoying as it is, a contact is a contract and that is the only evidence a judge needs to make a ruling.

All EA contracts have the "if we introduced" clause, it doesn't matter if the contract expires then 6 months later a buyer who viewed from them decided to buy, legally you have to pay that EA, it's why everyone hates them it's like doing a deal with the devil.

We all know EA's do as little work as possible for the payoff hence the rise in online outfits with the flat fee. The day they disappear from the high street will be a celebration day.

Chuckleboy

Thanks again Cooltt. The further question then is, if paying is unavoidable how do I pay as little as possible for the minimum possible effort expended by them?

AnotherJoe

Chuckleboy wrote: »

Thanks again Cooltt. The further question then is, if paying is unavoidable how do I pay as little as possible for the minimum possible effort expended by them?

Have a look through the contract and see if you can find the clause where the amount of effort expended is related to the commission paid

I don't know why people bring this up from time to time, you employ am EA to sell your house not to undertake "a lot of effort"

Chuckleboy

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Have a look through the contract and see if you can find the clause where the amount of effort expended is related to the commission paid

I don't know why people bring this up from time to time, you employ am EA to sell your house not to undertake "a lot of effort"

I'm a copywriter by trade, and I charge by the hour. If I spent 10 hours putting random words from the dictionary into a Word doc and sent it to a client, then I would say they'd have cause to be upset at the level of effort engaged in and might request a reduced/no fee, even if their only stipulation was the piece had to be a minimum length.

I don't think the EA has undertaken even a reasonable amount of effort, in fact they've not done specific tasks that I employed them for to get me a better sale price.

AnotherJoe

Chuckleboy wrote: »

I'm a copywriter by trade, and I charge by the hour. If I spent 10 hours putting random words from the dictionary into a Word doc and sent it to a client, then I would say they'd have cause to be upset at the level of effort engaged in and might request a reduced/no fee, even if their only stipulation was the piece had to be a minimum length.

I don't think the EA has undertaken even a reasonable amount of effort, in fact they've not done specific tasks that I employed them for to get me a better sale price.

Its irrelevant that you charge by the hour. Some jobs do, some dont in my last job the sales people got huge bonuses for bringing in deals, it didn't matter if they spent ten minutes or ten months they got the same amount.

If you wanted a contract where the EA was paid by the hour, then welcome to a world whereby they would drag things out for months and not try to make sure houses got sold quickly. And you s be whinging that due to their incompetence you had to pay twice as much. A bit like solicitors really.

Now, since your contract appeared to have an clause about them selling fior £5k more that would have been the way to win, but you chose not to enforce that with a contract that said that if they didn't sell for £5k more they get no commission at all.