Yopa - get out of agreement?

Amylittles

Thanks for the responses all. I appreciate there might be split opinions on it, and I feel really stupid for going with them - but I was definitely bamboozled by my agent. He made it sound like I wasn't going with an agent that solely relies on online adverts, and claimed he had people waiting in line for houses like mine. What hit a nerve is that I don't normally make stupid decisions, he basically just said whatever he wanted to secure my business.

Whilst I'm disputing my contract with Yopa I've instructed a local agent, and within 24hrs they secured me 3 viewings.

Here's my complaint letter to Yopa - hopefully, they'll see sense and agree to part ways. I've changed names etc..

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Dear complaints department,

I am writing to express my wish for the agreement between myself (INFO) and Yopa to be broken. I made an attempt to do so within the 14-day cooling period but was told I couldn't as the property is listed - this information is not correct as I have sought advice and I could cancel the agreement, so long as I covered costs incurred by Yopa to date, provided that Yopa can submit evidence of these costs. The only costs incurred should be; taking photos, floorplan and placing the listing - as I've had zero viewings.

I have tried to make an arrangement with my local agent but have gone nowhere. Key points as to why I am calling for the agreement to be broken:

AGENT knew the urgency of my house needs to sell, and with that information reassured me my house would sell very quickly - he mentioned 'within weeks'. I have not had a single viewing in the past 18 days.

During the initial consultation I wasn't made aware of the current market, interest rates rising and house prices falling dramatically. Had I been given full facts, I would have not instructed Yopa to sell. The agents must provide me with all information so I can make a well-informed decision.

After a week of no viewings, I chased AGENT and asked why he hasn't contacted the 'client base' he has in his pocket that is looking for properties in my area and in the price range. He told me he usually will wait a week before doing so - this was absolutely preposterous to me as he knew the urgency and I know of agents that call their client base before a property is even on the market to drum up viewings. This has led me to believe that AGENT lied about the client base just to secure my business. It demonstrates the lack of proactivity I was promised by AGENT for the premium price.

The photos AGENT took were of low quality, so much so that I had to edit them myself as I wasn't happy with how grainy and noisy they looked. Why am I paying a premium price tag if I have to edit the photos myself?

During this process I have been passed on to another agent, Jenna - without being notified. This was very frustrating as again, I opted for the premium price tag to get a dedicated agent - which I haven't had so far. Correspondence goes through Jenna, to AGENT, back to me and then Jenna which is confusing.

AGENT is now contracting himself by saying via text:

• It's only been 2+ weeks, they need more time

At the time of securing my business, AGENT said I would get plenty of viewings in the 1st few weeks as he has a client base waiting from previous properties they put offers on. Whilst leaving he said, "people could book a viewing for tomorrow" - evidently did not happen. He shouldn't state these things as facts to secure my business, that is misleading.

• In the same breath he said: let's reduce it by £5k-£10k even though he assured me I would receive 'top money' for this property

He also stated "It will sell soon"

• So which is it? It will sell soon, or do I need to wait and reduce the price after only 2 weeks? This shows the lack of confidence completely. The statement that it'll sell soon is false promising as I need viewings for it to sell

How can Yopa make this right?

As I mentioned, I have sought advice and they've suggested I request the contract be broken directly through Yopa first - if this is not agreed with Yopa then I will be filing a complaint to the Property Ombudsman as I have a strong case demonstrating; false information from the start, no premium service as promised, no proactivity on my agents behalf, low quality photos that I had to edit myself.

I urge you to agree to part ways on this contract now before more costs are incurred by Yopa. I would be willing to pay incurred costs to date, providing evidence of costs - I assume will be in the £200-£300 region for photos and floorplan as they were done by the agent AGENT and not a hired professional.

Many thanks,

theartfullodger

How to get out of agreement?  Easy, pay penalties outlined in the agreement you AGREED to...

eddddy

theartfullodger said:

How to get out of agreement?  Easy, pay penalties outlined in the agreement you AGREED to...

Just to clarify - penalties aren't allowed in contracts.

Based on what the OP has said, it seems that...

• The OP wants to stick to the terms of the contract and the law, and pay the EA the costs that are due
• But the EA has told 'fibs' to the OP about the contract and the law - presumably to try to get more money out of the OP than the contract and law allows

To give the EA the benefit of the doubt, it may be that the EA person didn't understand their company's contract and/or the law - as opposed to intentionally misleading the OP.

Amylittles

theartfullodger said:

How to get out of agreement?  Easy, pay penalties outlined in the agreement you AGREED to...

I agreed to receive a service. I've heard jack all from him in over 10 days 

GDB2222

Amylittles said:

theartfullodger said:

How to get out of agreement?  Easy, pay penalties outlined in the agreement you AGREED to...

I agreed to receive a service. I've heard jack all from him in over 10 days 

Does the contract state how often yoga should contact you?

eddddy

Amylittles said:

I agreed to receive a service. I've heard jack all from him in over 10 days 

Be a bit careful not to muddle lots of things together - which don't really belong together.

• 1) Your original complaint was that you should have been able to cancel the contract in the 14 day cooling off period. 

• 2) Perhaps you are now suggesting that the estate agent breached their contract by not carrying out the service with "reasonable care and skill". And the breach was so severe that you want to rescind (cancel) the contract. 

FWIW, I think you have a much better chance of 'winning' with option 1.

It you also mention point 2, I suspect you'll get drawn into a long-winded argument, which you might not win.

GDB2222

There is a board on this forum that deals with consumer complaints about contracts. The folks there seem to be up on all the ways to wriggle out of contracts. This is on the house buying board, but really it's a contract dispute.