Taking the house off the market for a while and then relisting with another agent

slackgarry

Taking my property off the market while i reconsider what to do next. I asked the estate agent what was needed to remove from the market and they came back with this:

 "I have checked the contract for you and we don’t have a tie in period or withdrawal charge so you are free to cancel the contract at any point. If you could just send through an email to myself confirming your wish to withdraw we can remove from the market for you."

Is there anything else i need from them before i move to a new estate agent.

Thanks

 

Exodi

Well from what you've said you're giving the illusion that you're taking the property off the market (as in, deciding not to sell) as opposed to relisting it with another agent.

The last thing you want is to sign up with another agent, find a buyer, and have the previous agent insisting that they are entitled to commission because they provided a viewing to the buyer (for example).

slackgarry

Exodi said:

Well from what you've said you're giving the illusion that you're taking the property off the market (as in, deciding not to sell) as opposed to relisting it with another agent.

The last thing you want is to sign up with another agent, find a buyer, and have the previous agent insisting that they are entitled to commission because they provided a viewing to the buyer (for example).

Changed the title. Thanks for the great comment.

BarelySentientAI

slackgarry said:

Is there anything else i need from them before i move to a new estate agent.

A list of all the buyers they claim to have introduced.

RHemmings

slackgarry said:

Taking my property off the market while i reconsider what to do next. I asked the estate agent what was needed to remove from the market and they came back with this:

 "I have checked the contract for you and we don’t have a tie in period or withdrawal charge so you are free to cancel the contract at any point. If you could just send through an email to myself confirming your wish to withdraw we can remove from the market for you."

Is there anything else i need from them before i move to a new estate agent.

Thanks

 

Normally an EA would provide you with a list of buyers that they feel that they have introduced to the property. But, given that the contract you signed sounds rather liberal, maybe this isn't a problem. I would still ask for it. Were there any viewings? 

EDIT: Oh, I should have read all the replies before posting. 

annetheman

When I did this in April/May this year, I asked for a list of all people the old EA introduced - the list they gave me included 2 people who never showed up to a viewing. I had created my own list from the date we went live so had all the names, dates and times to check against theirs - 23 viewings in total! So definitely worth getting this even if you have your own records, as they may feel an 'introduction' includes enquiries with no viewing...

If at all possible, just exclude those people from buying via your new EA. Some contracts have in them that you only need to paay the previous EA commission if the buyer their introduced becomes your buyer with another EA in the 6 months after the contract is terminated; to be safe and avoid the faff, just exclude them, unless you're in an area with a really small pool of interested buyers or selling a niche property or something - then just check all these stipulations over.

I had a buyer who made an offer with my new EA who had previously tried to via the old EA (but was then told by old EA that I had pulled it from the market - not entirely true, I just terminated with them to go with someone else because they handled everything atrociously badly). I was really uncomfortable about her because I worried the old EA could claim even though she wasn't on the list I asked them for, that she was interested because of their ad and they are entitled to commission (the definition of 'introduced' is not clear at all), and in the end went with another offer.

eddddy

As others say, ask in writing for a list of all potential buyers that the current agent believes they have introduced.

As an extra safeguard, I always say that, unless a potential buyer is named on that list, I will not pay the estate agent's fee under any circumstances.


Then pass that list on to the new estate agent in writing, saying that those potential buyers must be referred back to the previous estate agent.

And again, as an extra safeguard, I always say that, I will not pay the new estate agent's fee under any circumstances if somebody on that list buys the property.

... and get that all agreed, before you sign a contract with the new estate agent.