Estate agent charging a buyers fee

GDB2222

Claire_L said:

AdrianC said:

But you viewed, and you were given the information verbally when you viewed...?

All we were told was that there was a buyers fee, no further details. Reading the property ombudsman's code of practice it looks as though we should have been given further details/terms of business at the point of being advised of the fee. This is what I'm trying to find out, should we have been given this information?

There’s a conflict between the requirement of contract law and the requirement of the ombudsman. There are three ombudsman schemes. Do you know which the agent is signed up to? 

Under contract law, you are probably liable. My experience with TPOS is that they are not very much help. 

I’d suggest that you haggle, as you may not win in court.

jbainbridge

Do you know how much the fee is?

[Deleted User]

AdrianC said:

So you did know there was a fee before you placed the offer.

Did you, y'know, ask for more details on it...?

I am not denying that I knew there was a fee before placing an offer. We did not ask at the time as we were not aware of the process but having now found out that the EA have a regulatory obligation to provide this information I am trying to find out where we stand with this, should we have been given a contract to sign etc, if the seller was paying the fee they would have signed a contract/fee agreement - so I'm trying to establish if we should have too. If you read my initial thread, I am in no way denying knowing there was a fee. 

GDB2222

Why do you think that there should have been a written contract?

see here, for example 
https://www.machins.co.uk/news/estate-agent-entitled-to-commission-despite-no-written-contract/

AdrianC

Claire_L said:

AdrianC said:

So you did know there was a fee before you placed the offer.

Did you, y'know, ask for more details on it...?

I am not denying that I knew there was a fee before placing an offer. We did not ask at the time

That seems fairly clear-cut to me, then. You placed the offer in the full knowledge that there was a fee, and the details of that fee did not seem important to you at the time.

You are now trying to get out of paying it on a minor technicality.

Could they refuse to hand the keys over? Probably not.
Could they then launch a court claim against you for the fee? Yes.
Would they win that claim? Probably.

How much is this fee, anyway?

K_S

Claire_L said:

All we were told was that there was a buyers fee, no further details. Reading the property ombudsman's code of practice it looks as though we should have been given further details/terms of business at the point of being advised of the fee. This is what I'm trying to find out, should we have been given this information?

@claire_L The TPOS code is pretty clear and from experience that is what any complaint will be judged against. They can potentially rule for compensation (rarely above £500) to be paid if the code has not been followed. From the limited info in your post, they appear to have run roughshod over most of what's specified in the code for EA fees that the buyer is liable for.

The fee is unlikely to be negated in part/full as that will only happen if you have had a clear financial loss due to their actions. The process is free for you but the EA will potentially incur a fee if the case goes to the TPOS (or whichever body they are signed up to).

In the first instance I would recommend finding out their complaints process and making a formal complaint pointing out clearly which parts of the code they have not followed. Do make it clear that you will take the complaint to the TPOS (or the body they are signed up to) so they know you are serious.

Good luck!

[Deleted User]

AdrianC said:

That seems fairly clear-cut to me, then. You placed the offer in the full knowledge that there was a fee, and the details of that fee did not seem important to you at the time.

You are now trying to get out of paying it on a minor technicality.

Could they refuse to hand the keys over? Probably not.
Could they then launch a court claim against you for the fee? Yes.
Would they win that claim? Probably.

How much is this fee, anyway?

I am not trying to get out of paying the fee at all. We have grounds to make a complaint against the EA for unprofessional behaviour throughout the whole process. Rather that paying the fee on completion we want to wait until our complaint has been dealt with to then pay the fee. As we were not provided with their terms we are unsure where we stand on this. 

[Deleted User]

K_S said:

@claire_L The TPOS code is pretty clear and from experience that is what any complaint will be judged against. They can potentially rule for compensation (rarely above £500) to be paid if the code has not been followed. From the limited info in your post, they appear to have run roughshod over most of what's specified in the code for EA fees that the buyer is liable for.

The fee is unlikely to be negated in part/full as that will only happen if you have had a clear financial loss due to their actions. The process is free for you but the EA will potentially incur a fee if the case goes to the TPOS (or whichever body they are signed up to).

In the first instance I would recommend finding out their complaints process and making a formal complaint pointing out clearly which parts of the code they have not followed. Do make it clear that you will take the complaint to the TPOS (or the body they are signed up to) so they know you are serious.

Good luck!

Thank you this is very helpful.

AdrianC

Claire_L said:

AdrianC said:

That seems fairly clear-cut to me, then. You placed the offer in the full knowledge that there was a fee, and the details of that fee did not seem important to you at the time.

You are now trying to get out of paying it on a minor technicality.

Could they refuse to hand the keys over? Probably not.
Could they then launch a court claim against you for the fee? Yes.
Would they win that claim? Probably.

How much is this fee, anyway?

I am not trying to get out of paying the fee at all. We have grounds to make a complaint against the EA for unprofessional behaviour throughout the whole process. Rather that paying the fee on completion we want to wait until our complaint has been dealt with to then pay the fee.

So you will be paying it whatever the outcome of that complaint...?

As we were not provided with their terms we are unsure where we stand on this. 

You weren't provided, and you didn't ask.

Do you now have a copy? Or have you still not asked? What does it say?

How much is it?

lonibra

K_S said:

Claire_L said:

All we were told was that there was a buyers fee, no further details. Reading the property ombudsman's code of practice it looks as though we should have been given further details/terms of business at the point of being advised of the fee. This is what I'm trying to find out, should we have been given this information?

@claire_L The TPOS code is pretty clear and from experience that is what any complaint will be judged against. They can potentially rule for compensation (rarely above £500) to be paid if the code has not been followed. From the limited info in your post, they appear to have run roughshod over most of what's specified in the code for EA fees that the buyer is liable for.

The fee is unlikely to be negated in part/full as that will only happen if you have had a clear financial loss due to their actions. The process is free for you but the EA will potentially incur a fee if the case goes to the TPOS (or whichever body they are signed up to).

In the first instance I would recommend finding out their complaints process and making a formal complaint pointing out clearly which parts of the code they have not followed. Do make it clear that you will take the complaint to the TPOS (or the body they are signed up to) so they know you are serious.

Good luck!

OP - This is it. Don't waste time informally talking to them.

Estate Agents rarely know their elbow from their a*se and never expect buyers to actually complain, so don't be surprised if they don't even know what they're expected to do.