estate agent fees

smudger1946

Hello all,
I need a bit of advice on house selling.
I hAD MY HOME FOR SALe WITH TWO ESTATE AGENTS, the sale is nearing completion. One of the agents has said that the person buying my home was introduced by themselves in April,. She viewed and bought the property in September through the other agents.
NOW THE ESTATE AGENT WHO DIDNT SELL PROPERTY IS DEMANDING THERE FEE FROM ME, ACCORDING THERE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, THEY SAY.
How does that work, should i ignore them or what?
I dont intend paying them by the way.
Smudger

Richard_Webster

If the first agent introduced the person then he would probably be entitled to his commission. If you instructed two agents at the same time you needed to sort out between them who would be paid if this kind of thing happened.

Most agency agreements make the seller liable if an agent either introduced the buyer or had negotiations with him. So have a look at what you signed. Here, first agent introduced, second had negotiations.

You might get out of it if you didn't sign anything with either of them. Your only other option if you haven't already exchanged contracts is to refuse to do this until the agents sort out between themselves who should be paid and how much. if they want to split the commission between them that's fine as long as you don't get stuck with paying any more than you have to. You might lose your buyer, of course, but there's not much else you can do.

If you have exchanged then you may end up in court over it, depending on the wording of the agreements.

smudger1946

Hi thanks for reply, i have just exchanged.
Since the buyer viewed property with first agent i had dropped the price, would this make a difference, although i told the other agent aswell?

Richard_Webster

What is in the agency agreement in each case is most important. The second agent might say that the buyer had gone away and only came back into the frame because of the price reduction but that could be difficult to prove and you get into a complicated three way court case which could be very expensive.. The point about the price might have been relevant in the days before detailed agency agreements were produced, but I would suspect the agreements themselves are more important.

Moral: Read the agreements.

Nicki

Have you asked your purchaser whether this is true? Before you panic, make sure its not a case of mistaken identity, or EA1 trying it on.

If it is true, read the agreements and get decent legal advice. Whether you want to pay them or not, you will have to if both have a legal right to their full commission, and it will be cheaper in the long run to do so voluntarily, than to have the costs of legal action and enforcement proceedings added to it too. Instead of paying double commission, you could well end up paying 6-10 times the value of the commission if you handle this the wrong way.

smudger1946

Thanks for advice from all.
Does it matter that i was multi-agency not period contract?
Cant check out T&C as paper work in store 100's of miles away.

Nicki

Both estate agents should have signed copies of the agreement. As they are both claiming fees from you, they should not have a problem with giving you copies of these.

HTH

smudger1946

Copy of text, of T&C,
"YOU WILL BE LIABLE TO PAY REMUNERATION TO US, IN ADDITION TO ANY OTHER COSTS OR CHARGES AGREED. IF AT ANY TIME UNCONDITIONAL CONTRACTS FOR THE SALE OF THE PROPERTY ARE EXCHANGESD WITH A PURCHASER OR THE RELATIVE OR ASSOCIATE OF A PURCHASER INTRODUCED BY US EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, DURING THE PERIOD OF MULTI AGENCY OR WITH WHOM WE HAD NEGOTIATIONS ABOUT THE PROPERTY DURING THAT PERIOD.
IN THE EVENT THAT YOU SELL THE PROPERTY PRIVATELY DURING THAT PERIOD YOU AGREE TO SUPPLY US WITH THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF THE PURCHASER"
I sold through another agent, signed up on the multi agency basis.
The above is the condition on which the other agent who didnt sell property is claiming i owe them there fee.
Comments welcomed.
smudger

Richard_Webster

INTRODUCED BY US EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY

The first agent is claiming he introduced the buyer.

smudger1946

They did, in April. The buyer bought through the other agent in September, i had dropped the price by then too.
I PERSONALEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF IT AS THE AGENTS CARRIED OUT THE VIEWINGS.
I cant see how it can be my fault that the buyer chose not to by from one but the other agent.
The buyer also wrote a letter to the 1st agent saying my properety was to small.

KiKi

smudger1946 wrote: »

I PERSONALEY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF IT AS THE AGENTS CARRIED OUT THE VIEWINGS.
I cant see how it can be my fault that the buyer chose not to by from one but the other agent.

Hey Smudger.

It's not about fault, here, or whether you did the viewings.

It's about the fact that you signed up to a multi-agency agreement, and unfortunately for you, the buyer was introduced by one agency and purchased with the second. That's no-one's "fault" as it were - it's just how it happened, which is the danger of multi-agency agreements.

If your buyer sees the property through one agent and seeks to purchase through another, that's their choice. As Richard said, the moral of multi-agency agreement is: read the conditions!

Hope you get it sorted.
KiKi