Estate agent closed mid way through sale, no signed contract

980233

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

user1977

980233 said:

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

If the OP has "never received anything back", I presume that includes any invoice.

980233

user1977 said:

980233 said:

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

If the OP has "never received anything back", I presume that includes any invoice.

It will be interesting once completion gets closer.

Can a completion statement be obtained now?

TheJP

TripleH said:

Is anyone taking over the business of the Estate Agent? Just because the previous owners view insufficient money in the venture doesn't mean they haven't 'sold' or transferred the book of business elsewhere, likewise it may be that the parent company are keeping all 'sold' properties with the aim of getting their fees on completion without having to do any further work.

I'd talk to your conveyancer and advise them of the development. Might be worth, if you do get a final bill from them, to hold back the funds to pay (with the conveyancer) but challenge the bill on the grounds they didn't complete the job (again going on what your conveyancer advises).

Id echo this comment about transfer of business. They very well could have sold the accounts to another EA to get some cost back and that EA would then handle everything however i would expect as a client to be told this.

If your solicitor doesn't have any payment details for the EA i would hold the funds until you are 100% certain they wont request payment. 

user1977

980233 said:

user1977 said:

980233 said:

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

If the OP has "never received anything back", I presume that includes any invoice.

It will be interesting once completion gets closer.

Can a completion statement be obtained now?

The solicitor isn't going to be too bothered about paying the EA if the EA hasn't been in touch. It's just a commonplace thing they do for everybody's convenience (and to keep the solicitor in the EA's good books...), there's no obligation on the vendor to do it that way.

980233

user1977 said:

980233 said:

user1977 said:

980233 said:

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

If the OP has "never received anything back", I presume that includes any invoice.

It will be interesting once completion gets closer.

Can a completion statement be obtained now?

The solicitor isn't going to be too bothered about paying the EA if the EA hasn't been in touch. It's just a commonplace thing they do for everybody's convenience (and to keep the solicitor in the EA's good books...), there's no obligation on the vendor to do it that way.

Somebody must have started the ball rolling at offer stage with memorandum of sale. 

What if the account details were handed over at that stage to the solicitors?

Has that been confirmed? Are they holding some sort of payment account details for the 'defunct' company?

user1977

980233 said:

user1977 said:

980233 said:

user1977 said:

980233 said:

Won't they solicitor have bank account details for payment already?

I'm completing next week and my completion statement and excess coming back to me is minus the EA fees and I have never paid the EA direct ever.

If the OP has "never received anything back", I presume that includes any invoice.

It will be interesting once completion gets closer.

Can a completion statement be obtained now?

The solicitor isn't going to be too bothered about paying the EA if the EA hasn't been in touch. It's just a commonplace thing they do for everybody's convenience (and to keep the solicitor in the EA's good books...), there's no obligation on the vendor to do it that way.

Somebody must have started the ball rolling at offer stage with memorandum of sale. 

What if the account details were handed over at that stage to the solicitors?

Has that been confirmed? Are they holding some sort of payment account details for the 'defunct' company?

I wouldn't have thought it normal for EAs to issue an invoice at such an early stage. But in any event, it's the client's choice whether the solicitor pays the EA or not. 

eddddy

user1977 said:

The solicitor isn't going to be too bothered about paying the EA if the EA hasn't been in touch. It's just a commonplace thing they do for everybody's convenience (and to keep the solicitor in the EA's good books...), there's no obligation on the vendor to do it that way.

It's a contractual obligation in just about every EA's standard contract I've seen.

The seller agrees that they will instruct their solicitor to pay the EA's fee - typically within 3 days of completion.



(I've even come across EAs contracts that say that the seller must instruct their solicitor to give an undertaking to the EA that they will pay their bill on completion. But I don't know if any solicitors really give that undertaking.)

user1977

eddddy said:

user1977 said:

The solicitor isn't going to be too bothered about paying the EA if the EA hasn't been in touch. It's just a commonplace thing they do for everybody's convenience (and to keep the solicitor in the EA's good books...), there's no obligation on the vendor to do it that way.

It's a contractual obligation in just about every EA's standard contract I've seen.

The seller agrees that they will instruct their solicitor to pay the EA's fee - typically within 3 days of completion.



(I've even come across EAs contracts that say that the seller must instruct their solicitor to give an undertaking to the EA that they will pay their bill on completion. But I don't know if any solicitors really give that undertaking.)

OK, but the EA's contract doesn't override the client's instructions to their solicitor. 

980233

Apart from the assumptions made in this thread but has the OP actually asked his solicitors about this situation  ?