Appealing Estate Agent Fees

BROSS

Hi all,

This is my first ever 'thread' so apologies in advance if i miss anything out that is needed!

I am currently purchasing and selling. We achieved the minimum price we wanted for the property we are selling after being on the market for a while. The valuation from the buyers came back at the agreed sale price. Two weeks further on from this (after paying deposits of solicitors fees, mortgage fees and surveys on the property we are purchasing) we hear from the estate agents saying our buyers affordability was £17,000 under the agreed sale price.

We went through the chain to see if there was any room for negotiations on final sale prices but this was declined. We in turn said to the estate agent that it shouldn't really be our 'problem' and its down to the buyer potentially trying to find extra ££ if they want the property.

The estate agent then said it was actually our valuation that was undervalued by £17,000. We requested proof of this because the story had changed somewhat in the course of a few hours. Over the next few days the estate agents kept calling and were pressuring us to drop the price and saying if we relisted we would have to drop the price etc.

We said we would not make the decision until we see the valuation. It was then said the buyers apparently would not release any documentation of their financial situation. Which again didn't make sense because we said they can redact anything to not show their financial situation as we just wanted to see the valuation figure in B&W.

After 4 days of going back and fourth we eventually got forwarded (with no message) an email from our buyers setting out what had happened and that it is their affordability and they confirmed in the email the valuation was at the agreed sale price approved from their lenders. Due to the stress and pressure they have caused us we have another agent within the firm dealing with our matter and so we are not sure if he was unaware of how things had been handled and flippantly forwarded the email. We have had no apology from the estate agents for the lies that they told us saying it was the valuation and pressuring us for 4 days saying to agree to the new lower price £17,000 under the agreed sale price.

My question is now whether or not we have grounds to appeal to estate agent fees, if we do agree to the lower figure based on the fact they had lied to us and pressured us. I work with lawyers and some have looked into the estate agents Code of Conduct which looks to be on our side for grounds of their professionalism but i wondered whether anyone had successfully appealed their fees before?

Any help or feedback greatly appreciated!

hazyjo

Can't really see how/why.


Not their fault. Your buyer either lied in order to drop the price at the last knockings (hell of a risk after they'd have spent well over a grand), or they were somehow deluded. Some forget the deposit can't be borrowed, some don't realise that's on top of what they can borrow, some just can't add up.
Although I can't see why you're paying fees if you're not selling? (Or have you agreed to sell at £17k under?)

Voyager2002

Estate Agents always lie and cheat.

Anyway, they were responsible for ensuring that the buyers could proceed before advising you to accept the offer. They failed to do so. That is the tangible fact that you could use to justify refusing to pay any fee to them.

maisie_cat

If your buyer was not prepared to exchange contracts at the agreed price I cannot see that the fees are payable. If you reduced the price then the fees are payable, albeit at a reduced amount. That is why estate agents lie to get the price reduced rather than allow the sale to fail.
We reduced our price by £25k for a "quick" sale, our estate agent told us that the mortgage was arranged and 2 months later the buyers have just got a mortgage offer.

maisie_cat

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Estate Agents always lie and cheat.

Anyway, they were responsible for ensuring that the buyers could proceed before advising you to accept the offer. They failed to do so. That is the tangible fact that you could use to justify refusing to pay any fee to them.

It would be nice if that were true, unfortunately it isn't, we've had 3 buyers and the 1st 2 couldn't actually afford the house. In both cases they were proceedable and passed affordability according to our EA

BROSS

We have not agreed as yet to the sale - We are trying to cover all options but know the fees will be over £4k and thinking ahead.
The estate agents said it was always valuation but finally after long email from buyers it set out the valuation was never an issue. So estate agents were telling us a different story and kept calling every day asking for a decision but saying we had to drop the price then transpired the email said originally 'not proceeding with purchase due to affordability'.
If the estate agents hadn't changed their story etc then i would believe 100% it was the buyers trying to be cheeky but the calls received and emails saying we need to agree to the price, when we don't actually have to, just made us very uneasy and wanted proof.

Thrugelmir

BROSS wrote: »

We have not agreed as yet to the sale

Then no fees are payable.

Don't waste your time with these purchasers. Very obviously trying it on. If the property has been valued at the offer price for the purposes of the mortgage.

need_an_answer

Remarket the property and advise the agent you will only accept offers from potential purchasers who meet the affordability criteria going forward.

gingercordial

What are you trying to achieve?

- You won't sell the property for the reduced price, but are worried the EA will claim that they had found you a proceedable buyer (not true because the buyer couldn't afford it) so will try to insist you owe them their fee anyway?

- Or are you thinking of going ahead with the sale but want a reduction in the fee on the basis of poor service from the EA?

hazyjo

Agree with the others saying remarket. Although I don't think we know your selling price. What % under is it?


Until an actual application is put in for a mortgage, nobody can guarantee what they can borrow. An affordability check, AIP (or whatever else an EA or broker wants to call it) doesn't mean much. It's not a promise.

BROSS

The main question I am asking is IF we accept the lower figure and then get hit with an invoice from the EA of over £4K for their services, could we appeal it?

We are reluctantly willing to take the knock of 17k to not lose the purchase we are making.