Sold house privately 9 months after estate agents viewings

Mutton_Geoff

Was the agent part of Countrywide? They used to have a whole department based in Birmingham scouring Land Registry change of owner to see if any of their agents ever had that property listed.

eddddy

Mutton_Geoff said:

Was the agent part of Countrywide? They used to have a whole department based in Birmingham scouring Land Registry change of owner to see if any of their agents ever had that property listed.

The OP mentions that a company called MIL Collections is chasing them.

They have a sister company called MIL Outsource who describe themselves as "Estate Agency revenue protection and recovery specialists".

As far as I can tell, estate agents pass details of all their withdrawn properties to MIL Outsource, and then MIL Outsource monitor those properties on the property portals and access Land Registry data to look for people who appear to be dodging fees.

I guess MIL Outsource then use their sister company MIL Collections to chase people.

And I imagine they offer their services to small independent estate agents, as well as chains.

Mutton_Geoff

Thanks Ed. I had a poor experience with a Countrywide member agent many years ago. Selling a renovation project, after six months of poor marketing, I terminated an agent's agreement and despite several requests for a list of people whom they regarded as "introducing" to the property, no list was offered to me.

I switched agent, the property was sold a couple of weeks later to someone that later turned out had viewed the property with first agent and made an offer and he'd not heard back from the agent. None of which I was even aware of (first agent really was that bad). Months after the sale (coinciding with Land Registry publishing the sale) the first agent popped up claiming their fees. Eventually a small claims was issued by that agent, I had the case transferred from the Midlands to Staines where I then had moved to. On the day of the hearing, the agent travelled over 200 miles with their solicitor to fight their claim on the day. I represented myself.

The judge said that the contract still stood because there were no performance clauses in it ie the agent had indeed introduced the purchaser but their poor performance in failing to notify me of the viewing and not forwarding the offer was not part of the contract so the "introduction" still applied and their fee was due.

Ever since then I have been very careful before appointing an agent or signing anything. And I always check if an agent is part of Countrywide PLC to ensure I never do business with them again.

Jonboy_1984

I just looked at my last sales contract with an estate agent (local chain rather than CW group) and that had clear terms of payment to be made by my solicitor from completion funds immediately on completion, and if not in their account within 10 days of completion interest of 3% above Barclays base rate until the account is fully settled.... 

If OP's estate agent has such a term that could quickly add a few £000 to the account as it looks like it could easily be back-dateable if it is indeed due for their services. 

eddddy

Mutton_Geoff said:

The judge said that the contract still stood because there were no performance clauses in it ie the agent had indeed introduced the purchaser but their poor performance in failing to notify me of the viewing and not forwarding the offer was not part of the contract so the "introduction" still applied and their fee was due.

If that happened today... Countrywide are members of The Property Ombudsman Scheme, and what you mention would be several breaches of the current Code of Practice.

And the second estate agent might have breached the Code of Practice as well, as it stands today.

So today, complaining to the Property Ombudsman would probably get a better result.

(That's why I always think it's better to complain to the Property Ombudsman as quickly as possible - before the estate agent has a chance to issue a court claim against you.)





Code of Practice Terms that the first agent might have breached, if it happened today...

8b You must record any viewings that have been arranged for that property, feedback from those viewings and pass this to the seller within an agreed timescale. If this feedback is an offer, you should refer to section 9.


9a By law, you must tell sellers as soon as is reasonably possible about all offers that you receive at any time until contracts have been exchanged....

5u  At the time of the termination of the instruction, you must explain clearly in writing any continuing liability the client may have to pay you a commission fee and any circumstances in which the client may otherwise have to pay more than one commission fee. Your explanation must include a list of parties that you have introduced to the property.

Terms that the second agent might have breached...

8d In accordance with paragraph 5t, when you know the property has been, or is being marketed by another agent you should establish if your buyer has previously viewed the property through that or any other agent

...
5t

• establish if an interested party has previously viewed through another agent; 

•  if an interested party has previously viewed through another agent and makes an offer through you, you must disclose this information and refer the sale back to that agent as they will be deemed to have introduced the buyer

.

Mutton_Geoff

I did contact the Ombudsman at the time and there was some exchange of correspondance all of which gave me the impression that they are an organisation funded by estate agents for their own rather than the consumers benefit.

This thread prompted me to look it up & I can't believe it was 21 years ago this week that I sold it! Hopefully consumers are better protected these days. Sour grapes keep their bitter taste for many years!