Estate agent saying I have to buy through them

FlyMeSomewhere79

propertyrental said:

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)

I agree, there's lessons to be learned on both sides here and additionally it's not really worth going to see any houses until in a position to proceed.

I had a couple view my house whose home wasn't yet on the market and I resented the time wasted for something that has at that stage no ability to come to anything - let alone a second viewing whilst still not putting house on the market. This has all contributed to the situation in all fairness.

KittenChops

Jackal005 said:

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.

My bolding above
Isn't Agent B in the wrong here?  They were told that Jackal005 had been introduced by Agent A, shouldn't they have referred him back to Agent A?

saajan_12

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.

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.

IF the sale goes ahead then yes legally it's the seller's problem.

However between now and then, the seller will see they have to pay 2x fees if they sell to you or 1x for any other buyer, so might switch or insist you make up the difference. That's where it becomes your problem. 

eddddy

KittenChops said:

Isn't Agent B in the wrong here?  They were told that Jackal005 had been introduced by Agent  1, shouldn't they have referred him back to Agent 1?

It depends what you mean by "in the wrong".

• There's no law that says that Agent B must refer Jackal005 back to Agent A

• But if Agent B is a member of The Property Ombudsman Scheme, failing to refer Jackal005 back to Agent A is a breach of the code of practice
  

• Or if the seller gave Agent B a list of names that included Jackal005 and said "You must refer these people back to Agent A" - then Agent B has breached their agreement with the seller.

Jackal005

propertyrental said:

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)

I'm not sure it's right to say I am responsible for this when none of this was ever communicated to me. I just wanted to look at the house, I didn't know that by looking around a house I was entering into some kind of contract with the person showing it to me. If it's so important that I stay with one agent, and the house is being marketed by multiple agents, then that really needs to be communicated to me from the start.

If anything it should be blamed on agent A for not telling me I now had to buy through them should I choose to make an offer, or agent B for not telling me to go back to agent A when I called them in the first place.

I'm not an estate agent or a solicitor so I don't think I can rightly be expected to know about this when I'm just booking a viewing.

Jackal005

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

propertyrental said:

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)

I agree, there's lessons to be learned on both sides here and additionally it's not really worth going to see any houses until in a position to proceed.

I had a couple view my house whose home wasn't yet on the market and I resented the time wasted for something that has at that stage no ability to come to anything - let alone a second viewing whilst still not putting house on the market. This has all contributed to the situation in all fairness.

I wasn't totally sure if wanted to move at all hence my house not being up for sale already. I was considering it and decided to look at a listed house out of curiosity. I liked the house and decided to proceed with moving after viewing it, so put my house up for sale. Second viewing was after my house went up for sale.

Not sure you can reasonably describe that as time wasting. Even if my house had been on the market you can't guarantee how long it would have taken for me to receive and accept an offer.

pinkshoes

eddddy said:

KittenChops said:

Isn't Agent B in the wrong here?  They were told that Jackal005 had been introduced by Agent  1, shouldn't they have referred him back to Agent 1?

It depends what you mean by "in the wrong".

• There's no law that says that Agent B must refer Jackal005 back to Agent A

• But if Agent B is a member of The Property Ombudsman Scheme, failing to refer Jackal005 back to Agent A is a breach of the code of practice
  

• Or if the seller gave Agent B a list of names that included Jackal005 and said "You must refer these people back to Agent A" - then Agent B has breached their agreement with the seller.

^This! When you contacted Agent B and told them you had viewed with Agent A, then Agent B were made fully aware that another estate agent had already made the introduction to the property, so if they are a member of any governing body, they should have directed you back to the original agent. 

Task: Check if estate agent B is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme. Yes? Then they shouldn't be claiming any selling fee and you should offer through Agent A. No? then this could get complicated and both estate agents could be arguing that a fee is due, depending on what the vendor agreed to in the T&Cs.

As a consumer, you would not be expected to know about the rules regarding estate agent fees as it's not you that has the contract with them.

dannim12345

I don’t think many buyers would even think to contact the original agent of the house they viewed if it was no longer listed with them.  I think agent B is in the wrong as you told them you saw it via agent A first which has lead to this issue.  I don’t think it’s your issue but imo just tell agent B and let them work it out and inform the seller. Nothing you can do to change what has happened 

FlyMeSomewhere79

Jackal005 said:

FlyMeSomewhere79 said:

propertyrental said:

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)

I agree, there's lessons to be learned on both sides here and additionally it's not really worth going to see any houses until in a position to proceed.

I had a couple view my house whose home wasn't yet on the market and I resented the time wasted for something that has at that stage no ability to come to anything - let alone a second viewing whilst still not putting house on the market. This has all contributed to the situation in all fairness.

I wasn't totally sure if wanted to move at all hence my house not being up for sale already. I was considering it and decided to look at a listed house out of curiosity. I liked the house and decided to proceed with moving after viewing it, so put my house up for sale. Second viewing was after my house went up for sale.

Not sure you can reasonably describe that as time wasting. Even if my house had been on the market you can't guarantee how long it would have taken for me to receive and accept an offer.

You'll understand why it's aggravating and feels a waste of time when you start having to deal with viewings, trying to juggle work with getting the house like a show home and keeping the lawns mowed. 

When you get the call from the agent to say you've got a viewing, you get all your hopes raised only to get told these people have no ability to buy or proceed even if they like it. Sorry but my partner and I weren't happy at putting ourselves out for it and that's why many estate agents don't even allow viewings to be booked by people that can't proceed 

And yes the fact that it could take god knows how many months to sell your home is exactly why it feels a waste of time - we don't get told what your house is like, where it is, is it in a poor state, are there things about the location that make it hard to sell. It might be a fact finding mission to you but it's pretty worthless to a vendor.

FlyMeSomewhere79

dannim12345 said:

I don’t think many buyers would even think to contact the original agent of the house they viewed if it was no longer listed with them.  I think agent B is in the wrong as you told them you saw it via agent A first which has lead to this issue.  I don’t think it’s your issue but imo just tell agent B and let them work it out and inform the seller. Nothing you can do to change what has happened 

The problem is the OP didn't check to see if it was still listed and it was, they assumed based on a missing sign board which as others have said could be argued as not enough of a basis to not put a phone call in because there's been high winds so often over the last 4 or 5 months and signs have blown down. Plus the OP didn't wait until they had the ability to actually buy, if they had, they wouldn't have had the first viewing which is the one that's going to probably cost the vendor a double commission.