Sold house privately 9 months after estate agents viewings

Leehenry2014

Hi everyone

just need some advice really. I had my house up for sale with a estate agent and we took many viewing but we didnt sell. We took it completly off the market 

9 months later we got a email from one of the viewers that asked if we was still selling. We stated we was not, but make us a offer

cut a long story short, we sold it to them and now the estate agent has took a debt agency against us to chase the Money we owe them - as they introduced us to the couple .

ive checked the email and it does state that if we sell with another estate agent within 6 months or privately within 2 years. We will owe them the full amount. 

This is where advice is needed please guys - 1. Is the email a official contract, i.e did not receive it or sign anything. 2. Is this legal full stop - 9 months later? 3. Is the buying eligibility to pay anything as they initiated the contact.

i understand the estate agent is angry and im willing to cover the cost of the right move, floor plan , pics etc , but not the full amount surly?!

thanks everyone.

Herzlos

You must have signed a contract before they listed the house, what did it say?

You'd also have a really hard time trying to claim that the estate agent didn't introduce you to the buyer since they viewed previously.

How much were the estate agent fees? Did they try and take you to small claims court before going straight to debt collection?

eddddy

The "2 year limit" you mention is usual in estate agents contracts, for buyers they have introduced. (Or are you disputing that the estate agent introduced the buyer?"

In fact, it's mandatory if the estate agent is a member of The Property ombudsman scheme...

Take a look at the The Property Ombudsman's code of practice Para 5t: 
Link: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/codes-of-practice/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf


There's no problem with Contract terms being written in an email, and you don't have to sign anything to enter into a contract.

(But what exactly do you mean? Do you mean you received the contract terms as an email attachment?)

And the buyer won't have any liability to pay any of the fees.


I guess you could try arguing that the estate agent didn't make an "effective introduction" - but The Property Ombudsman says that arranging a viewing is evidence of an "effective introduction".

TBH, unless there's something else significant that you haven't mentioned, it sounds like you are liable to pay the estate agent's fee.

caprikid1

"This is where advice is needed please guys - 1. Is the email a official contract, i.e did not receive it or sign anything. 2. Is this legal full stop - 9 months later? 3. Is the buying eligibility to pay anything as they initiated the contact."

I think the fact you allowed viewings etc tells a court you accepted the contract whether you signed anything or not.

The estate agent introduced the buyer, you got an offer you were happy with. Feel free to fight it but I am not sure you are in a strong position to even offer 50% of the fee. 

bluelad1927

It won't matter what you feel is right it's about the contract. Im not sure if these days the contract has to be signed or not but the fact that you clearly proceeded with the viewings that the agent provided and are in possession of a copy of the contract, on the face of it you owe them the full amount 

Gavin83

I'm assuming a lot more has gone on here than you've said as I wouldn't expect an EA to jump straight to debt collectors. Have you been ignoring them? If so I'm not surprised they're upset. You should have really come here as soon as they started chasing this.

Ultimately I'm not sure why you're only prepared to cover the immediate costs. They introduced you to this buyer and you wouldn't have sold your house without them. Morally (and likely legally) you owe this money. This does also seem like a standard term for an EA.

Them having introduced debt collectors makes this more complicated. In your shoes I'd ring them up and offer to settle in full in return for them getting the debt collectors off your back. They may well refuse and tell you to deal with the debt collectors instead and the debt collectors may well insist you pay extra fees on top. If that does happen then come back here and get advice on how to deal with them.

In the future don't bury your head in the sand over such debts. 

MorningcoffeeIV

Leehenry2014 said:

i understand the estate agent is angry and im willing to cover the cost of the right move, floor plan , pics etc , but not the full amount surly?!

You would need to pay the full amount,

And I'm not surly. I'm just tired.

Leehenry2014

Sorry its not the debt collectors that have come to me , its a company called  MIL collections Ltd
nothing more “has gone on here”

he rung me last week and asked if ive sold the house - was angry (which i understand as it morally dont look good) and then i get the email 

does the buyer not take any responsibility here, we wouldn’t of sold otherwise 

hazyjo

Happened to my seller - I made contact when it was off the market (although specifically mentioned she should check her contract re fees!). If she'd not gone on to buy another house through the same agent, she might have got away with it. But they obviously came after her for fees. She tried asking me to pay them all. I declined, reminding her I'd told her to check her contract. If she'd have asked for half, I prob would have paid - so you could try. I wasn't hugely impressed though, and doubt your buyers will be either. Unfortunately, not really their problem/bill, unless they'd specifically said it was a low offer as you'll be saving fees or something like that (not that they'd know, and should have told you to check, but it might help if they did).

MorningcoffeeIV

Leehenry2014 said:

does the buyer not take any responsibility here, we wouldn’t of sold otherwise 

The buyer didn't sign a contract with your estate agent and they won't have had any idea of what terms you were under.

It's your responsibility, unless you're suggesting that the buyer agreed to indemnify you against any future estate agency fees?

Brie

Leehenry2014 said:

Sorry its not the debt collectors that have come to me , its a company called  MIL collections Ltd
nothing more “has gone on here”

he rung me last week and asked if ive sold the house - was angry (which i understand as it morally dont look good) and then i get the email 

does the buyer not take any responsibility here, we wouldn’t of sold otherwise 

The buyer didn't have a contract with the EA so how were they supposed to know what was outlined in it?  

You might try going to the EA and saying - "didn't realise this would happen but I'm happy to pay X (75% of amount asked) today to clear up the situation".  Might work, might not.