Cancelled contract with estate agent - liability post contract

DD92

We binned off our incompetent estate agent for various reasons. In the contract there is the standard clause about him being due his fee if we sell to someone he introduced to us which is fine. Its been two weeks since I issued notice (1 week) to him and asked him to send through details of any future liabilities under the contract including details of the relevant parties. I quoted the property ombudsman guidance

"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."

He said he would send it by the end of the cotract and I've chased him twice since and no list. 

My question is, is there anything we can do to close the issue e.g. issue a deadline to respond? Is there a point where his lack of action means he's forfeited any claim over future buyers? 

I know he has to prove he introduced them but I don't want the headache of this grifter possibly rocking up and throwing a spanner in the works (also I'd do my self out of a couple of K just to make sure he didn't get a penny) I'd also like the list to fact check some of the stuff he told us.  

theartfullodger

Difficult to answer without seeing the complete agreement/ terms-of-trade.

Which country? (Wales, NI...)

DD92

theartfullodger said:

Difficult to answer without seeing the complete agreement/ terms-of-trade.

Which country? (Wales, NI...)

England. 

The contact doesn't give details about when he has to tell us about people. The only thing the contract states is that his fee will be payable if we sell the house to anyone introduced by him within 6 months of the contract ending (he did a number of the viewings without us present so we didn't meet them all)

EssexHebridean

I would now be contacting the agent one final time in terms along the lines of “your failure to provide the list of interested parties introduced by your agency is now such a serious breach of the contract that we now regard all of the terms of that contract as no longer being in effect. As a result, we will not pay any commission to your agency under any circumstances”. He may well try to argue this as you would expect, but the most effective way of doing so will be to provide you with the list that you wanted in any case! If he doesn’t provide that list though, this wording will effectively prevent you from being liable for any double commission later. 

Scotbot

Send a final email stating that as you have heard nothing you assume there were no interested parties. 

Then let's assume you sell it to Mr Xand he comes back after it is registered and says that he introduced Mr X. You reply that Mr X was not on the list of interested parties provided by him as per the property ombudsman guidance.  He is going to have to provide evidence that Mr X was. He may try it on but he won't get very far.

Needless to say keep all emails 

propertyrental

Is he a member of the property ombudsman scheme? If yes, use their complaints process.

If no, check which scheme he IS a member of and read their terms.

GDB2222

EssexHebridean said:

I would now be contacting the agent one final time in terms along the lines of “your failure to provide the list of interested parties introduced by your agency is now such a serious breach of the contract that we now regard all of the terms of that contract as no longer being in effect. As a result, we will not pay any commission to your agency under any circumstances”. He may well try to argue this as you would expect, but the most effective way of doing so will be to provide you with the list that you wanted in any case! If he doesn’t provide that list though, this wording will effectively prevent you from being liable for any double commission later. 

Unless there’s a term in the contract that specifies a time limit, it simply isn’t a breach of contract.   The contract term requiring payment cannot be rescinded by the op. 

I expect that a threat to involve the ombudsman will gee the agent up.