Estate agent fees - when selling a house after switching agencies

Durace11Bunny

Hey there,

Hopefully another quick one, for all you gurus in the know.....

Last year we put our house on the market for sale via an Estate Agent (we'll call them 'A'), which alas we didn't sell. We're now looking to put it back on the market...

Agent A had a clause - i can't remember the exact details, but it was something like '£X payable to the agent A, if sold via a new agent (B) & the future buyer was a person agent A had arranged a previous viewing for, if the sale occurs within 2 years of using the agency A's services'

I wanted to ask you folks:

1) Is it fairly standard practice for estate agents to impose this sort of T&C's on sellers?

2) Has anyone known agencies follow up on this and demand payment, where a buyer was someone who used the original agent for viewing the property?

3) Is this something we can negotiate to reduce or remove?

We're thinking of using Agent A again, but with the caveat of asking them to remove the above payment liability, should we later switch to Agent B & the buyer turns out to be someone Agent A had around to view it

Hope that makes sense and thanks for reading

DB

chanz4

why would they if they introduce?

propertyrental

1) Yes

2) Yes very common. Agents keep an eye on Land Registry and other sources.

3) Mmake sure that 1) you properly cancel your contract with agent A and 2) you give agent B a list of all potential buyers introduced by A.

eddddy

Durace11Bunny said:

Last year we put our house on the market for sale via an Estate Agent (we'll call them 'A'), which alas we didn't sell. We're now looking to put it back on the market...

Agent A had a clause - i can't remember the exact details, but it was something like '£X payable to the agent A, if sold via a new agent (B) & the future buyer was a person agent A had arranged a previous viewing for, if the sale occurs within 2 years of using the agency A's services'

Sounds like there are a few areas of confusion.

Is Agent A a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme? (Most estate agents are.)

If so, Agent A's contract must say...

Agent A will be entitled to a commission fee if that seller terminates your instruction and a memorandum of sale is issued by another agent to a buyer that you have introduced (see definition of effective introduction (*) and supplementary TPO ‘Dual Fee’ guidance) within 6 months of the date your instruction ended and where a subsequent exchange of contracts takes place.

If no other estate agent is involved this time limit extends to 2 years.

i.e. The time limit will be 6 months, if you're instructing a new agent - not 2 years.



BUT....

Even if less than 6 months has elapsed, it's still not a problem if both Agent A and Agent B are both members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme. Agent B must do the following:

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

i.e. If somebody goes to Agent B who was introduced by Agent A - then Agent B must send them back to Agent A.

user1977

Durace11Bunny said:

We're thinking of using Agent A again, but with the caveat of asking them to remove the above payment liability, should we later switch to Agent B & the buyer turns out to be someone Agent A had around to view it

Other way round - you get Agent B to agree not to charge if you sell to somebody originally introduced by Agent A.

NameUnavailable

Just go back to the same agent and then there's no problem. Nearly every potential buyer will find the house via the usual search engines! (as long as agent A wasn't a total nightmare!).

Mutton_Geoff

Worth always reading a contract properly before signing.

eddddy

NameUnavailable said:

Just go back to the same agent and then there's no problem. Nearly every potential buyer will find the house via the usual search engines! (as long as agent A wasn't a total nightmare!).

Assuming both agents are members of The Property Ombudsman Scheme (and the OP doesn't breach the contract), there's no need to go back to the same agent. Especially if the agent wasn't very good.

The Ombudsman's mandatory rules will prevent double charging.



If one or both agents aren't members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, then you need to be slightly more careful - for example, by explicitly asking for a list of people  introduced by the first agent...

...and telling the second agent not to negotiate with people on that list, and that you won't pay any fees in relation to people on that list. (Those people need to be referred back to the first agent.)

Albermarle

Sole Agency Cancelled As Per Terms - Can I Sell Privately To Introduced Buyer — MoneySavingExpert Forum