Double commission

K_S

@nnewtoarea I would agree with the posters above who have suggested that you try not to pay the whole fee. Yes you can afford to pay it but that doesn't mean you need to.

And you don't even need to go to court or anything to dispute the fee. At no cost to yourself, you can use the agency's complaint process followed by the TPO. Worst case scenario at the end of all this you are asked to make the payment, no worse off than if you did now.

Pick the new EA's brains, the guidance+case cited above and consider building an argument. Good luck!

Irishpearce26

davilown said:

Surely the act of giving a buyer a viewing doesn’t amount to them selling the property? I thought they had to be involved with the negotiations etc?

’ where the Court of Appeal ruled for an estate agent to claim commission it had to be involved in the sale, not just the introduction.’

Foxtons v Bicknell & Another, 2008

I guess it will depend on what type of contract the OP signed, he has said he passed on the list of potential buyers from agent 1 to agent 2 and the buyer is from that list. Agent 1 was involved in the sale at this point as they did the legwork in attracting buyers and providing this to the OP.

davilown

Irishpearce26 said:

davilown said:

Surely the act of giving a buyer a viewing doesn’t amount to them selling the property? I thought they had to be involved with the negotiations etc?

’ where the Court of Appeal ruled for an estate agent to claim commission it had to be involved in the sale, not just the introduction.’

Foxtons v Bicknell & Another, 2008

I guess it will depend on what type of contract the OP signed, he has said he passed on the list of potential buyers from agent 1 to agent 2 and the buyer is from that list. Agent 1 was involved in the sale at this point as they did the legwork in attracting buyers and providing this to the OP.

Yep, as I said, I’m not sure of the legal ins and outs, but one definitely to quote to EA 1.
as others have said, definitely worth challenging - most EA contracts have very large holes in them that aren’t legally enforceable.
Be very interesting to hear what the outcome is.

nnewtoarea

Thanks all. Will call them tomorrow and see what happens.

Fingers crossed

davilown

nnewtoarea said:

Thanks all. Will call them tomorrow and see what happens.

Fingers crossed

I would just state that according to the judgement xxxx, they only introduced the buyer and did not take part in any negotiations so are no eligible for any commission. Also speak to EA 2 and see what they say

lonibra

OP, do remember that just because xyz in written in the EA contract, does not mean that it is enforceable. Keep that in mind when you assess your options. 

NameUnavailable

Surely EA 2 is the one you should be arguing with? You gave them notice that the buyer had been introduced by EA 1, so they should accept that or reduce their fee? What was the point of giving them the list? What did they say about it?

eddddy

NameUnavailable said:

Surely EA 2 is the one you should be arguing with? You gave them notice that the buyer had been introduced by EA 1, so they should accept that or reduce their fee? What was the point of giving them the list? What did they say about it?

I completely agree - Agent 2 is the villain.


What Agent 2 says here is nonsense:

nnewtoarea said:

I had forwarded the list from Agency 1 to agency 2. When I discussed this with Agency 2 before the sale, they said as they got me a higher sales price ( around 30 k difference) the commission will not be due. 

From what you say, Agent 2 knew the buyer was introduced by Agent 1. So Agent 2 should have sent the buyer back to Agent 1.


And from what you say, it seems that Agent 2 compounded their wrongdoing by lying to you and saying no commission was due to Agent 1. (Agent 2 must have known that was a lie.)


Here's the clause in The Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice that Agent 2 has breached:

5t
- establish if an interested party has previously viewed through another agent;

- if an interested party has previously viewed through another agent and makes an offer through you, you must disclose this information and refer the sale back to that agent as they will be deemed to have introduced the buyer (please refer to supplementary TPO ‘Dual Fee’ guidance).

Link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/Codes_2019_a5/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A5_-_Effective_1_June_2019.pdf

So you need to make a formal complaint to Agent 2.

Assuming that Agent 2 is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme (most are), you can follow up with a complaint to the ombudsman.

nnewtoarea

This makes perfect sense. Thanks a lot for this specific snippet. 

davilown

It may make ‘perfect sense’ but they only introduced the buyer, they didn’t negotiate the sale