Agent trying to charge me full fee within 14 day cooling off period

ace500

user1977 said:

ace500 said:

user1977 said:

ace500 said:

 they are telling me I owe them the full fee as they only allow serious buyers to view properties and the property is already 'sold'.

Well, is it? I thought the whole point of MMOA was that the buyer pays the EA's (extortionate) fees, so why aren't they just taking the fees they've got from the buyer? Or does their contract say the vendor also pays a fee (and is that only in the event you pull out without a sale having been achieved - in which case, it ain't "sold", surely?)

No it isn't. The auction would run for 28 days. The only way they could claim it is 'sold' would be if they had had a bid before I cancelled, but they surely can't say that would be the last bid to come in, so they wouldn't be able to name an 'ultimate purchaser' as the property is now not going to be sold.

Ok - but what does the contract say about the fees if you withdraw the property from sale before a buyer is found?

The contract says if they find the 'ultimate purchaser' their full fee is payable. I take this to mean either the person who wins the bid if the auction runs to the end, or if I later sold to someone they had found first. If a buyer is not found, the contract states an amount for reasonable expenses will be due up to a maximum of £600 including VAT. I can expect to have to pay this or at least something towards this, but that really should be it in my opinion.

eddddy

You are cancelling the contract during the 14 day cooling off period...

... so it doesn't matter what the contract says about withdrawal fees, £600 expenses etc. You're cancelling the contract, so none of the terms of the contract apply. (The exception would be if the service had been fully performed.)


But the law says you have to reimburse the agent for any costs they incurred between you agreeing to the contract, and you cancelling the contract.

For example, if the agent visited your property, took pictures, measured up, wrote up details, phoned prospective buyers, etc - you'd have to cover their costs for doing that. (But it has to be the actual cost, not an arbitrary fixed amount like £600.) 


Maybe ask them for an itemised list of those costs.

ace500

So just a quick update. I have now paid the £600 for so called 'reasonable costs'.

The company are telling me they have put a restriction of title on the property to prevent me selling it to someone they have introduced. They have not stated any time limit for this, meaning if I wanted to sell the property in say 3 years time, I would have to check with them that the buyer didn't happen to be on their list of interested parties, and if so, a fee would be due, which would be rather difficult to prove either way by then. I can see this causing real problems in years to come. Part of me says I should just sell it now and hope for the best just to get the monkey off my back and then just pay the fee, but I don't want to do that as I have other plans for the property.

SusieT

ace500 said:

So just a quick update. I have now paid the £600 for so called 'reasonable costs'.

The company are telling me they have put a restriction of title on the property to prevent me selling it to someone they have introduced. They have not stated any time limit for this, meaning if I wanted to sell the property in say 3 years time, I would have to check with them that the buyer didn't happen to be on their list of interested parties, and if so, a fee would be due, which would be rather difficult to prove either way by then. I can see this causing real problems in years to come. Part of me says I should just sell it now and hope for the best just to get the monkey off my back and then just pay the fee, but I don't want to do that as I have other plans for the property.

Please make sure you ask them for a written list that names all people who they have introduced, that way they cannot claim later that they introduced the person it has sold to, if that person is not on the list they have no claim. 

Johnhowell

ace500 said:

The company are telling me they have put a restriction of title on the property to prevent me selling it to someone they have introduced.

Can they do this?  I find this odd.  I would have thought it would need a court order or something more formal for Land Registry to place a restriction on your property.
May be the Land Registry Representative could comment?

All the best on this.

london21

I have been researching a company called iamsold, sounds like their practice.

They charge the buyer 4.2% of purchase price or £6,000 whichever is greater.

A normal company should be able to cancel within the cooling off period and cover costs but this company doubt they will accept because of their high fees that is shared between the introducing exchange agent and auction company. 

On some feedbacks I have been reading online it appears once a property is brought by a seller they hang on to it and state they if seller sells elsewhere or cancels they pay the fees. 

sevenhills

ace500 said:

So just a quick update. I have now paid the £600 for so called 'reasonable costs'.

The company are telling me they have put a restriction of title on the property to prevent me selling it to someone they have introduced.

I would be asking for the buyers details, you may change your mind and want to sell next year.

london21

Ask the company  how long the restriction is for,  read somewhere online that it is 1 year. 

ashe

eddddy said:

You are cancelling the contract during the 14 day cooling off period...

... so it doesn't matter what the contract says about withdrawal fees, £600 expenses etc. You're cancelling the contract, so none of the terms of the contract apply. (The exception would be if the service had been fully performed.)


But the law says you have to reimburse the agent for any costs they incurred between you agreeing to the contract, and you cancelling the contract.

For example, if the agent visited your property, took pictures, measured up, wrote up details, phoned prospective buyers, etc - you'd have to cover their costs for doing that. (But it has to be the actual cost, not an arbitrary fixed amount like £600.) 


Maybe ask them for an itemised list of those costs.

There is no 14 day cooling off period, surely. EA's don't take any action for 14 days due to the cooling off period, however because they know people want their properties listed, they produce a waiver which you agree to market the property immediately and forfeit the cooling off period. Because he had signed that waiver, they took action and arranged the auction etc, hence claiming the costs. If he hadn't signed the waiver, he would have been able to pull out. 

pinkshoes

1. Ask them how long the restriction is for.

2. Tell them they have 7 days to submit a list of the names of all buyers they introduced to the property where they feel a fee would be due. 


As no one even viewed the property I'm not sure how this would stand up in court if they demanded their fee.