estate agent fee and selling privately

wilwil_uk

hi there, got a few questions regarding my house selling just wonder if any MSE here can help. about 2 weeks ago we put our house on the market thru an estate agent, and had 2 viewings so far but no luck yet. 2 days ago i mentioned to my friend im selling my house and she is looking for a house luckily. i showed her pics and she came to viewed my house yesterday and was very happy. we are now at the stage of getting the price sorted. i would like to know if my house is sold to this friend, am i liable to pay my estate agent any fee? my friend did not find my house thru this agent or thru the ad they posted on rightmove and other sites so it has nothing to do with them at all.

the other thing is my friend was wondering if its possibe to use the same solicitor as mine to do all the legal matters. and what other concern i need to beware of when selling it privately? thanks very much

PasturesNew

That depends on the agreement you signed with the Agency.

There are a few types, but what you need to be looking for is to see if it says Sole Agency or Sole Seller. I believe if it is Sole Agency you won't have to pay them, but if it says sole seller you will

[P.S. not an expert and prepared to be corrected on the detailed wording]

Re: Solicitor. No.
The solicitor would have a conflict of interest. They can't do the best for BOTH sides impartially.

Get different solicitors.

wilwil_uk

thanks for quick reply,

here is the extract of the agreement:

Whilst writing we would confirm that should we be successful in introducing a purchaser who proceeds to unconditional exchange of contracts, our commission, whilst retained as agents, will be a fee of 1.35% price plus VAT.

.......This also confirms that we will act as you sole agent for a minimum period of 4 weeks.....


which means in my case i do not need to pay them a penny if my house is sold to my friend right??? :rotfl:

cherry_blossom_6

How long have you been with them? I would give notice, not tell them a thing about your friend and then start the process with your friend. What is what we did as we are selling to someone our estate agent did not find.

chriserenity

You may need to be aware of your HIP responsibilities. If the sale falls through you won't necessarily need one at that point but if there is a break in marketing between when you stop using the agent and start marketing again you will need a HIP. HIPs now apply to all sized properties regardless of bedroom number.

silvercar

How long have you been with them? I would give notice, not tell them a thing about your friend and then start the process with your friend. What is what we did as we are selling to someone our estate agent did not find.

The estate agent would find out eventually. If the buyer was on their books they could be suspicious.

We sold privately and I just phoned up the EA and told them that we had found a private buyer. I also told them who it was so they could be no skulduggery later.