Estate agent saying I have to buy through them

Jackal005

I am currently moving house and a while ago I found a property on Rightmove which was listed with two agencies (agent A and agent . I didn't care which I used so I picked at random agent A and booked a viewing. I did the viewing, liked the place and then booked a second viewing.

At this point I put my house on the market with another agent.

After a few weeks of waiting I noticed that the house I wanted to buy no longer had agent A's sign outside, only Agent B's sign was there. So I called agent B to update them and inform them that I had viewed the house through agent A and was interested in buying but was waiting for an offer on my house before I could make an offer.

Shortly after this, agent B called be and informed me that the house was due to be taken off the market and then remarketed a while later (it was taking a while to sell), and asked me if I wanted to make an offer prior to that happening. I told them I did want to but I hadn't got an offer yet, but what we did was agree an offer in principle which was at that point accepted.

Not long after that I accepted an offer on my house, so I contacted agent B and made a formal offer based on the offer in principle, which was accepted.

Now, agent A has contacted me and said that, as they 'introduced me to the property', that the sale has to go through them.

At first I thought he was just talking nonsense but upon investigation it seems that there is something about this introduction which may be of legal relevance.

So my questions are:

1. Based on all the details, can they rightfully claim to have 'introduced' me to this purchase?

2. Should they even be talking to me about this, or should they be talking to the seller?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Jackal005

Please ignore that sunglasses emoji! That should be 'Agent B'.

Not sure how to edit the post to fix it

Voyager2002

Agent A certainly did introduce you to the vendor. Depending on the details of their agreement with the vendor, it is probable that their commission will have to be paid, no matter which agent you use at this stage to handle the sale. 

It was a mistake to contact Agent B when you wanted to arrange a second viewing, and that could well mean that the poor vendor will have to pay two lots of commission. At this stage, the best thing you can do is ask the vendor how you can retrieve the situation for them.

Hoenir

Speak to Agent B. The matter needs resolving between the other parties. Suspect the vendor has dropped a clanger. 

Jackal005

Voyager2002 said:

Agent A certainly did introduce you to the vendor. Depending on the details of their agreement with the vendor, it is probable that their commission will have to be paid, no matter which agent you use at this stage to handle the sale. 

It was a mistake to contact Agent B when you wanted to arrange a second viewing, and that could well mean that the poor vendor will have to pay two lots of commission. At this stage, the best thing you can do is ask the vendor how you can retrieve the situation for them.

The only reason we contacted agent B was that agent A's sign was removed, so it seemed that they were no longer managing the property. We didn't particularly like the person we dealt with from agent A so we didn't feel inclined to go to them to confirm this.

My main question really is should I even be thinking about this as a buyer? Surely this needs to be resolved by the agents and the seller. I just want to buy the house, I don't really care who gets the commission.

secla

It will make no difference to you but as said the vendor may end up having to pay both agents commission depending on the contract they signed

eddddy

The Property Ombudsman says that arranging a viewing generally equates to 'An Introduction'. So the property Ombudsman would probably say that Agent A introduced you.

(There have been court cases about the fine details of what 'An Introduction' means - but let's not go there for the moment.)

So... 

• You should now do all your offers and negotiations through Agent A - because Agent A introduced you

• Assuming both Agent A and Agent B are members of the Property Ombudsman scheme, and the seller didn't do anything silly - Agent B is unlikely to be due any fees.

• (But there's a possibility of dual fees - if the seller signed a 'Sole Selling Rights' contract with Agent B, rather than a 'Sole Agency' contract)

As a starting point, the seller should ask Agent B whether they will be asking for fees in relation to your purchase...

• If they say "No" - that's great

• If they say "Yes" - then the seller needs to carefully read Agent B's contract (and the Property Ombudsman's code of practice - if Agent B is a member), and decide if they want to fight it

But maybe as the buyer, you don't want to open a can of worms - so you say nothing.

user1977

Jackal005 said:

Voyager2002 said:

Agent A certainly did introduce you to the vendor. Depending on the details of their agreement with the vendor, it is probable that their commission will have to be paid, no matter which agent you use at this stage to handle the sale. 

It was a mistake to contact Agent B when you wanted to arrange a second viewing, and that could well mean that the poor vendor will have to pay two lots of commission. At this stage, the best thing you can do is ask the vendor how you can retrieve the situation for them.

My main question really is should I even be thinking about this as a buyer?

No, it's not really any of your business. You're buying from the vendor, not an estate agent. Any dispute among the vendor and each of their agents is their problem.

FlyMeSomewhere79

When I sold my house last year I was tempted to try two agents because the market was slow and a lot of people seemed to be doing that, some houses in my area were up for sale with 3 different agents - I researched the legal arrangement you'd have to get every agent signed up to and thought better of it.

But I bet many people are causing themselves the issue your vendor has. At the end of the day as you said you went with the only agent you saw marketing the house at the time, it's for the vendor and agent A to thrash out why the sale board was missing and causing the confusion. 

Elliott.T123

I will add, be prepared for the vendor to now come back to you and say they are no longer accepting your offer and actually need x more as if they sell to you it will mean two sets of fees so they want the extra from you.

propertyrental

if there is a likelihood (or even a possibility) of the vendor having to pay commission to both agents, he (seller) is likely to either withdraw from the sale, or increase the selling price to cover the extra EA fees (which you have been at least partly responsible for by switching EA).

Just because an EA's board has gone does not mean the EA is no longer marketing

* board may have blown down

* board may have been removed

* Seller may have switched EA but still have an ongoing relationship with EA A for buyers already introduced (eg you)