Selling house to friend when listed, what happens with E.A. Commission

murphydog999

Grumpy_chap said:

murphydog999 said:

propertyrental said:

murphydog999 said:

Nothing in the contract that mentions this situation.

OK. Is your contract

1) multi-agent. Several agent market te property and any agent that introduces a buyer gets paid
2) sole-agent. Only one agent, and if that agent introduces a buyer they get paid
3) sole selling rights. Only one agent, and that agent gets paid if the property sells, irrespective of how the buyer is introduced.

Your contract will specify.....

Sole agent

That's half an answer.
Does the contract stipulate case (2) or (3)?

murphydog999 said:

Just seen this Sole agency agreement – A sole agency agreement is the most common type of estate agent contract. Sole agency agreement means signing up with one estate agent to sell your house and if contracts are exchanged with someone who your agent has introduced to the purchase, the agent will be entitled to the fee. But if you find a buyer yourself, you don’t have to pay the estate agent fees. 

If that is a generic phrase you found on line it means little.

You have a specific contract with the EA.  What does the specific contract you have say?
That is what matters.

As I wrote above …………The agreement states this is a sole agency agency agreement and the charges are payable upon the introduction of a ready, willing and able purchaser…….or with whom we had negotiations or contract with.’

Hoenir

Given the expense the agent has now incurred in marketing and advertising your property. Expect a legal fight if you were to proceed now. I'm sure that the EA has encountered similar scenarios before.  

propertyrental

Hoenir said:

Given the expense the agent has now incurred in marketing and advertising your property. Expect a legal fight if you were to proceed now. I'm sure that the EA has encountered similar scenarios before.  

The EA won't waste time(and money) in a legal fight if the OP can clearly show the friend was not introduced by the agent. A email pre-dating the agent contract for example.

However if the EA thinks the friend might have approached the OP as aresult of seeing the EA's 'For Sale' board for example, they might try to clam their fee.

Though I believe there is case law saying the EA has to have been actively involved in the introduction.

Hoenir

propertyrental said:

Hoenir said:

Given the expense the agent has now incurred in marketing and advertising your property. Expect a legal fight if you were to proceed now. I'm sure that the EA has encountered similar scenarios before.  

The EA won't waste time(and money) in a legal fight if the OP can clearly show the friend was not introduced by the agent. A email pre-dating the agent contract for example.

Emails can easily be manufactured/edited. If this was the case would have been better to pre-empt the matter at the outset. 

murphydog999

From Citizens Advice ‘A sole agency (which it is) is still only using one agent, but if you find a buyer yourself you don’t have to pay commission to the estate agent. A sole agency agreement should be agreed for a specific period of time.’ 

There’s no board outside, and I have WhatsApp messages to show the date of the chat, before it went online. I’ve got no problem paying their marketing costs (£350+vat), but £5k for doing nothing??

meeemee

I had this situation too I just emailed the agent and told them to take it off Rightmove, screen shot all the proof I had to show this conversation was going on before they were instructed. Of course they tried hard to say I need to pay, then they offered half price commission I stood my ground and they agreed nothing to pay as it had indeed been agreed before any marketing from them had been done. 

ThisIsWeird

murphydog999 said:

I’ve got no problem paying their marketing costs (£350+vat), but £5k for doing nothing??

I think that would be very fair of you.
I would approach the EA on that basis (if you are certain about the contract), and ask them to just postpone the marketing, but to hold all the details until you are certain the friend will proceed.

This actual situation happened to us with our previous home. Visiting friends in the same village always said they'd like our house if we ever sold, but we always thought they were being polite and complimentary - I'd just spent a solid year doing it up.
We marketed when they were working abroad, and a mutual friend told them. Frantic phone call!
EA was a little miffed but accepting, but compensated by our friends giving them their home to market instead. All went well.

Olinda99

if it is a sole agency rather than sole selling rights then if you find someone who has had absolutely no contact with the agent and not seen it on their rightmove listing etc then you do not have to pay the agents fee's

having messages before you instructed the agent certainly helps prove this, but it is not necessary that the person showed interest before you instructed them

EssexHebridean

Re read the contract you have as well - double check whether where it said "we had negotiations or contract with..." that word IS in fact CONTRACT, not CONTACT.  Agents don't really enter into a contract with a purchaser in the same way that they do with you as a seller, and it would seem far more likely that they are introducing a liability for commission if they have contact with the purchaser. If it is that, then you need to be very clear indeed with all other parties that there is to be no contact at all through the agents - as you may run the risk of contact being created accidentally which could then cause confusion. 

Robbo66

The agent would have to show that they were instrumental in negotiating the offer and seeing it through to exchange. Simply putting up a board, giving out property particulars or an internet advert does not give the agent an automatic right to a fee. There are of course some caveats to that the main one being sole selling rights but this should have been made obvious at point of instruction.