Estate agent taking me to court

david1951

Did the Estate Agent send a separate letter to the one you received from the court, which included the following:

• a summary of the facts
• what they wanted from you (sum of money)
• how they calculated the sum
• copies of the key documents that they'll use to support their case
• a reasonable deadline for a response (usually 28 days)

If not then they might not have complied with the pre-action protocol. You'll still have to point this out to the court (i.e., in your defense).



Presumably the Agent will argue that the buyer must have found out about the property after the For Sale sign went up, and as such they are due some sort of commission. Like others I suspect this will fail if you present a robust defense. The court could just throw it out on the basis that there is no contract, and no implied sole-selling rights.


However, you will need to present a robust defense....

System

todayisagreatday wrote: »

You say you dropped your keys in - this suggests you had instructed the agent? Why would you drop the keys in if you had no intentions of using the agent?

Sorry but no it doesn't, giving the estate agent keys to gain access for market appraisal purposes does not constitute a formal instruction

System

hazyjo wrote: »

Did you allow the board to stay up? Was it changed to a 'sold' board, and did you leave that up?


You may find you shot yourself in the foot if so, or if so. Especially since you've offered to pay for the board which in itself would suggest you accept some level of contract. Did you put that in writing? Did it say 'without prejudice' or any wording in it to suggest that offer would be withdrawn if they declined it?

All immaterial, in order for an agent to claim a fee they have to demonstrate they were influential in getting the house sold.


as per my previous submission there is precedence, Wood vs Palmer Snell


https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/eye-newsflash-couple-win-commission-fees-case-against-countrywide-brand/

DoaM

Simonr66 wrote: »

All immaterial, in order for an agent to claim a fee they have to demonstrate they were influential in getting the house sold.


as per my previous submission there is precedence, Wood vs Palmer Snell


https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/eye-newsflash-couple-win-commission-fees-case-against-countrywide-brand/

If that's a County Court judgment then it doesn't set a precedence. (It may be "persuasive" for other County Court judges but doesn't set a rule they must follow).
However, looking at the link, it refers to Foxtons Ltd v Bicknell & Anr, May 2008 in the Court of Appeal ... a CoA ruling would be binding on lower courts. (Assuming this was actually in the Court of Appeal, and not just an Appeal in the County Court ... got to watch out for sloppy reporting).

david1951 wrote: »

Did the Estate Agent send a separate letter to the one you received from the court, which included the following:

• a summary of the facts
• what they wanted from you (sum of money)
• how they calculated the sum
• copies of the key documents that they'll use to support their case
• a reasonable deadline for a response (usually 28 days)

If not then they might not have complied with the pre-action protocol. You'll still have to point this out to the court (i.e., in your defense).



Presumably the Agent will argue that the buyer must have found out about the property after the For Sale sign went up, and as such they are due some sort of commission. Like others I suspect this will fail if you present a robust defense. The court could just throw it out on the basis that there is no contract, and no implied sole-selling rights.


However, you will need to present a robust defense....

We're not the 51st state .... yet!

(Defence)

System

DoaM wrote: »

If that's a County Court judgment then it doesn't set a precedence. (It may be "persuasive" for other County Court judges but doesn't set a rule they must follow).
However, looking at the link, it refers to Foxtons Ltd v Bicknell & Anr, May 2008 in the Court of Appeal ... a CoA ruling would be binding on lower courts. (Assuming this was actually in the Court of Appeal, and not just an Appeal in the County Court ... got to watch out for sloppy reporting).



We're not the 51st state .... yet!

(Defence)

Wood vs Palmer Snell is a more recent case with the judge ruling "that to claim a fee an agent must be able to prove they were the effective cause of the transaction. An introduction to the property was not enough." this was inline with the Foxtons ruling so I stand by my earlier post regarding precedent. The evidence would have to extra water tight for a judge to rule against a homeowner given those two examples.

steampowered

It is extremely dangerous to start citing previous legal cases unless you have read the full court judgment.

Most cases like this are decided on contractual interpretation, i.e. the details of what was in the T&Cs. This sort of analysis is not always applicable to other cases.

Also, summaries in a newspaper are not nearly enough as they tend to gloss over the judge's reasoning. The judge won't be remotely interested if you get to court unless you are able to point specifically to the part of the judgment which backs what you are saying.

Legal arguments and references to case law should be left out of the Defence. They come much later in the court process. The Defence simply needs to concisely and clearly state the factual nature of the Defendant's case, i.e. why the Op is contesting the claim.

dibblersan

Simonr66 wrote: »

Sorry but no it doesn't, giving the estate agent keys to gain access for market appraisal purposes does not constitute a formal instruction

to do a free valuation sure but not to go ahead and sell the house without first agreeing terms

again, ask for a copy of your contract and when they confirm there wasn't one then ask which professional body they're registered with so you can complain

hazyjo

Simonr66 wrote: »

All immaterial, in order for an agent to claim a fee they have to demonstrate they were influential in getting the house sold.


as per my previous submission there is precedence, Wood vs Palmer Snell


https://www.propertyindustryeye.com/eye-newsflash-couple-win-commission-fees-case-against-countrywide-brand/

Not sure I agree with you, but hey ho. Can't see the terms of their contract from here, plus we're only hearing half the story, plus if they put a sold board up and left it up, I'd say that the vendor has recognised that they're in some way claiming that sale. If it were me, the board would have been straight down and I would have put something in writing at that point to them and asked for their complaints procedure and written to higher levels.

VfM4meplse

This thread was started a couple of weeks ago - any update?

missile

A verbal contract is binding. Speak with your solicitor.