Querying estate agents fees

rosamundie

In a nutshell: I put my house on the market, the agent found a buyer and I accepted his offer but very soon I pulled out. A month later the buyer tracked me down on FB and persuaded me to accept his offer.
We have just exchanged and the agent (who we both agreed not to inform as they were pretty hopeless and we were doing a good job of negotiating between ourselves) have just found out and want their 30k commission.
I quite understand they are entitled to commission for the introduction but I think 30k is too much for a few phone calls and a viewing (they didn't have to market the property online or do floorplans, brochures etc) and am querying it. However, having agreed to the commission originally I suspect I dont have a legal leg to stand on but I think it;s worth a go. I sent the email below and they have replied, rattling sabres and threatening me with legal action if I don;t pay. I am happy to pay something of course but feel they could take a more emollient approach considering I am a long-standing customer of theirs and am in the property business. My email to them follows:
Dear;,
I am happy to confirm that Mr X and I exchanged contracts on X Farm last Friday.
After I pulled out of the original sale he showed great initiative in tracking me down on Facebook; he was extremely persuasive and so, (as the developer;s offer was losing its lustre) I decided to accept his offer.
I do agree that as Hamptons introduced Mr X, it is fair that I pay a fee that reflects this.
My feeling has always been that your proposed fee of £29,250.00 (1.5%), negotiated after the buyer was introduced, was very high, considering that you had not had to photograph the property, do a floorplan, put it online, print any brochures and that the first person to view had made an offer which meant that you did not have to show scores of people around nor make many telephone calls.
After Mr X had tracked me down again we then commenced a tricky negotiation that ultimately worked for us both. We were both in agreement that to re-involve agents would only complicate matters; as you will understand, the weeks leading to exchange are tortuous and complex, particularly in this instance when the sale was dependent upon the unknowable conditions set by the mortgage lender; consequently Mr X was in nearly daily communication reassuring me about what was going on. I honestly think that if a third party was involved in channelling this information back to me I would have lost interest; nervy customer that I am; and returned to the seductive money-bags clutches of the developer.
While I am grateful for the introduction to Mr X, I;m afraid I lost confidence in involving Hamptons in the negotiation process because I was given incorrect information on a number of occasions (I will share those that I can remember). Mr X also said he would also prefer if we liaised between ourselves.
- I was told I would need to pay for a new EPC because I had installed solar panels. This is not the case. EPC;s are valid for 10 years, even if the householder has completed extensive works in the meantime. If I had proceeded with Hamptons, I would have been talked into an expensive EPC, which given the size of the property, could have cost over £350. Please could you confirm if Hamptons receives any financial incentive from recommending clients to its EPC providers?

- I was told that the searches would take about 6 weeks to complete, when it is common knowledge they take between 1-2 weeks. I believe I was given this misinformation to cut the buyers some slack (I made it very clear I was only interested in a cash offer as I wanted a speedy sale but was talked into accepting this offer despite the buyers needing a mortgage of `only'; a million pounds). As it was, the mortgage offer was certainly not straightforward at all and it was only Mr X;s tenacity that steered it through.

- When I asked the agent what the prospective buyer;s job was (trying to do due diligence as anyone can walk in off the street and say anything), I was told he was `in the Pilgrim Brethren;. I replied that I had asked what his job was not his religious persuasion. The agent was unable to tell me anything about the family at all so I had to resort to Google to find out their business, I was then able to reassure myself by doing a company search. I do accept you sent me reassurance from their mortgage broker but finding out basic details of potential buyers is surely an important part of the agent;s job.

Under the circumstances, I hope you will revise your fee to £9,987.00, (a still generous 1%), which is a fair exchange for your introduction and reflects the above points (that is that the sale required minimal input from you after introduction); that the deal only sprang back into life after the buyer;s own efforts and that he and I steered things to exchange without your assistance.
Kind regards,

davidmcn

rosamundie wrote: »

having agreed to the commission originally I suspect I don't have a legal leg to stand on

I would be inclined to agree.

hazyjo

30k? Jeez, how much was the house?!


Surely you should be elated that the first person bought? I wonder if you'd be here moaning if they'd shown 20 people round and nobody had offered.


You can add as much text if you want but the fact is you agreed to the contract and its terms when you instructed them so I really don't get how you can object after?


Yes, you owe them the fee. I suggest you pay it or you'll probably end up with even higher fees to pay once they escalate it.


Try by all means to negotiate a lower fee, but I doubt you'll get anywhere (especially after your email).


Good luck.

mistertea

You contracted the EA to find you a buyer at 1.5%. They did, you tried to cut the EA out, now you want the EA to reduce their fee.... Good luck.

davidmcn

hazyjo wrote: »

30k? Jeez, how much was the house?!

£29,250 / 1.5% = £1,950,000

If OP really thinks they have a case then I suspect they can afford some paid-for legal advice.

shortcrust

You’ve just sold a house for 2 million quid. My advice is to pay for some proper advice.

rosamundie

Thank you for your replies.

I accept that I will have to cough up, however I see nothing wrong with querying the price I am paying for a somewhat inferior service. I've bought and sold 13 properties in 25 years and never queried an estate agent fee before as most of the time I've been pretty happy with the service.

I'm also keen to flag up the slippery practice of agents insisting that house seller's buy an EPC; I';ve been paying for them for years but I only just found out (because an EPC surveyor told me) that they are valid for 10 years, even if the householder has made energy improvements.

InterestedParty2018

£29,250 = 1.5%, then your template letter is offering £9,987 (1%) - the maths does not stack up.

Either way, if the contract states that the EA is entitled to a fee for an introduction, then they are due their fee.

I am not an Estate Agent, but often the work of the EA's is often overlooked. Part of your fee is not only their physical time marketing, but also their brand.

bigisi

How is £9987 still 1% of the sale price? Looks more like 0.5% to me.

eddddy

Just a thought...

rosamundie wrote: »

....the agent (who we both agreed not to inform as they were pretty hopeless and we were doing a good job of negotiating between ourselves)...

That sounds like conspiracy to defraud (which you're admitting in a public forum!). I guess it's a good thing that you seem to have changed your mind on that.


Also, bear in mind that you've mentioned the EA's name a few times - so they might find this thread through web searches etc, and guess who you are.

need_an_answer

So potentially if Hamptons had done a floor plan/brochure and all the associated work and then had 100 plus viewers lined up who were all really interested and put in offers which allowed you plenty of "thinking time" and worked for their money then you wouldn't be querying the fee.

Its only because there was minimal interest that you ended up in this situation,but actually you only need one motivated buyer to buy a house or a farm.

It would seem to me that Hamptons did infact introduce that motivated buyer which resulted in the sale albeit behind their back.

I see no reason why the EA is actually not entitled to the commission.

Seems to me they did an excellent job in introducing a motivated buyer,it was you who were the resistant seller pulling out initially.

I don't often side with EA's but on this occasion I will.