Selling house - what to watch out for in contract with Estate Agent

james_williamson_6544

I am in the process of finalising an estate agent for the sale of my house.
This would be my 1st sale - so what all should I watch out for please?

TheJP

Usually its the length of time you are contracted to and whether you can have more than one EA selling your house. Also see if you can negogiate their rate a little and ensure you can get the best marketing i.e. virtual walk through of your house.

eddddy

When reading the contract, don't just consider the outcome that they sell your house - consider other outcomes as well, and what fees might be payable, etc

For example:

• They turn out to be useless, and you want to move to another EA
• You change your mind about selling - before accepting an offer
• You change your mind about selling - after you accept an offer
• You accept an offer - but your buyer later backs out
• You decide to sell to a friend (not introduced by the EA)

Ideally, aim for a fully "no sale, no fee" sole agency contract. For example,

• Some EAs charge withdrawal fees etc - if the house isn't sold for any reason (e.g. you change your mind or move to another EA)

• Look out for "Ready, Willing and Able Buyer" clauses - i.e. you might have to pay the full EA fee, if you change you mind about selling after accepting an offer

• With a "Sole Selling Rights" contract, you have to pay the EA's full fee if you sell to a friend, for example.

(But some EA's say they have a "Sole Agency Contract" - but when you read it, it's more like a "Sole Selling Rights" contract)

• If you change to another EA at some point, you need to be very careful about moving to an EA with "Sole Selling Rights" - there's a risk of you having to pay double fees.

• There'll almost always be a minimum contract period, but it's almost always negotiable (maybe aim for 6 to 8 weeks), which should include a notice period.

• Finally, there's the fee for selling the house. That's often negotiable as well.

babyblade41

Get 3 agents in to value, before marketing do your own due diligence on what comparable properties actually sold for recently (not what they are  up for sale for) 

You should be able to negotiate fees, check out contract length , 

Noneforit999

Most of the household names are much of a muchness. They often tie you into a contract for X weeks, take some basic pictures, bang it on their website and Rightmove etc and wait for the enquires.

We picked a local independent EA who not only charged less, they took some amazing pictures, there was no contract and we had 17 viewings within 48 hours of listing, most of which were from the EA calling the people on their 'books'. 

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near the household names. When we were looking to buy, I called 6 of them in the area and registered interest as a buyer and provided all our requirements. Not a single one has called me to this day with any new properties and I can see from Rightmove plenty have come up with those same agents since registering. 

eddddy

Noneforit999 said:

We picked a local independent EA who not only charged less, they took some amazing pictures, there was no contract and we had 17 viewings within 48 hours of listing, most of which were from the EA calling the people on their 'books'. 

There would have been a contract.

If the EA failed to give a copy of the terms, conditions and fees, they would have been breaching the Property Ombudsman's code of practice.

(Assuming that the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, you'd have a case for not paying the EA's fee, if they didn't give you details in writing at the outset.)



Some 'slightly dodgy' EAs will just give you a copy of their t&cs and fees. Then later say something like "We've got somebody who wants to view." By agreeing to the viewing, you're implicitly agreeing to the t&cs and entering into a contract - even if you haven't signed anything.

And you've agreed to the EA's default t&cs without negotiating the terms you don't like.

I think it's far better to make sure you have a signed contract which includes a note of any changes to the EA's default terms. 

breaking_free

Whoever you decide to go with, make sure you read their advertisement for your house thoroughly!

I've just revised the estate agent's text for a friend's property. It stated that parking was on a first come, first serve basis and that the front yard could "possibly" be converted into parking if council permission were obtained. The final sentence did state that there is parking in the back yard through a gateway, but how many people bothered to read that far after assuming that no parking was available? I also asked them to add metric measurements as they were only using imperial.

Noneforit999

eddddy said:

Noneforit999 said:

We picked a local independent EA who not only charged less, they took some amazing pictures, there was no contract and we had 17 viewings within 48 hours of listing, most of which were from the EA calling the people on their 'books'. 

There would have been a contract.

If the EA failed to give a copy of the terms, conditions and fees, they would have been breaching the Property Ombudsman's code of practice.

(Assuming that the EA is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, you'd have a case for not paying the EA's fee, if they didn't give you details in writing at the outset.)



Some 'slightly dodgy' EAs will just give you a copy of their t&cs and fees. Then later say something like "We've got somebody who wants to view." By agreeing to the viewing, you're implicitly agreeing to the t&cs and entering into a contract - even if you haven't signed anything.

And you've agreed to the EA's default t&cs without negotiating the terms you don't like.

I think it's far better to make sure you have a signed contract which includes a note of any changes to the EA's default terms. 

Poorly worded on my part, I meant the contract didn't force me to use them as a sole agent for X weeks like all the others I enquired about. 

I don't like being forced to use an EA for potentially several months, if they don't deliver in a few weeks I want the option to ditch them.

Some of the listings I see from the bigger names are very poor. The descriptions are barely two sentences, the room sizes are often missing and the pictures are barely phone snaps. No issue paying for a good EA but some are streets ahead of others.