Booby trap clause

RHemmings

Pipval said:

Sorry for the lack of information. We sold the property in June 2021, a debt collection agency contacted me by email in February 2023. We contacted them immediately to find out what the problem was . It seems under the T&C of AE1 the client they introduced to the property bought the property through AE2 within 6 months (24 weeks) which contravened a clause, I contacted AE1 to ask for a copy of the withdrawal letter that would have the names dates and times of all clients sent to view the property and any legal liabilities we had after the contract had ended . The letter was not in the file so no copy could be sent . We have also contacted AE2 for all documents in there file , they seem very hesitant to send them and we have had to issue a subject to access request. AE2 got back within to hours of receiving the request that after weeks of asking and being ignored… 

Are both AE1 and AE2 members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme? If you can name the estate agents, then we can look for you. 

eddddy

Pipval said:

Thank you for the information. Unfortunately we are now at the stage where we are waiting for a summons to the small claims court. There does seem to be a lot of information missing from both AE1 AND AE2 files 

Assuming the estate agent is a member of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, you should rush to complain to the Ombudsman first - before this goes to court.

The Ombudsman will be much more biased in your favour than a court would be. But the Ombudsman won't get involved if a court is already dealing with it.



If either/both agents are members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, I would very strongly suggest that you phone their Consumer Enquiries number at the bottom of this page: https://www.tpos.co.uk/

You'll probably need to make formal complaints to both estate agents. Have you already written any letters/emails to the agents which could be classed as "formal complaints"?

Pipval

I believe both estate agents are members of the P.O.S. as we dig deeper into the problem and find out more information it seems that both estate agents haven’t adhered to their legal obligations AE1 has no record of a withdrawal letter that should have been sent to me… AE2 where legally obligated to ask all potential clients ‘had they viewed the property with a previous estate agent’ we believe this question was not asked , if the question had been asked and the potential viewer had responded with a ‘yes’ then they would not have been allowed to view the property. Although we payed the full fee to AE2 we believe they contacted a local buy to rent investment company and did not advertise our property to get a fair price for the property..

RHemmings

This should be their problem, not yours. Please follow @eddddy's advice as above. 

eddddy

Pipval said:

I believe both estate agents are members of the P.O.S. as we dig deeper into the problem and find out more information it seems that both estate agents haven’t adhered to their legal obligations AE1 has no record of a withdrawal letter that should have been sent to me… AE2 where legally obligated to ask all potential clients ‘had they viewed the property with a previous estate agent’ we believe this question was not asked , if the question had been asked and the potential viewer had responded with a ‘yes’ then they would not have been allowed to view the property. Although we payed the full fee to AE2 we believe they contacted a local buy to rent investment company and did not advertise our property to get a fair price for the property..

Just to be clear - the things you describe aren't "legal obligations".  So a court wouldn't take any notice of them.

The things you describe are "rules" from the Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice.

That's exactly why you want the Property Ombudsman to deal with this, and not a court.



It's quite possible that the Property Ombudsman would decide in your favour (based on their rules), but if you went to court, the court would decide in the estate agent's favour.

Pipval

hopefully it won’t go to court.. we are now dealing with a second debt collection agency that have took up the reins.. not sure why the first agency passed it on they did seem fairly gung-ho last year … 

Pipval

P.s I will contact the property ombudsman to check that both estate agents are members of the scheme.. thank you…

Pipval

Hi, just checked both estate agents are members of the scheme…

RHemmings

Pipval said:

Hi, just checked both estate agents are members of the scheme…

Action: now. 

Warning: I'm not a lawyer nor an ombudsman. Nor do I know if it is too late already. But, unless there are better ideas (quite likely), I would write to both EAs saying that they are attempting to charge dual fees against the code of practice of The Property Ombudsman Scheme of which they are members, giving each other the other EA's identity and contact details, and saying that it is up to them to sort it out between themselves. And say that you insist that they immediately stop any attempt to charge you, or collect, dual fees. And that you will immediately go through their formal complaints procedures as on their website if there is any further action from any party at all attempting to collect dual fees from you.

Grizebeck

Debt collection agencies are completely harmless and can be ignored