Taking house of the Market

swanseajack91

I am contemplating taking my house of the market and buying my ex out of our property, it is currently listed with an EA. I was just reading the sole selling agreement and the termination of agreement which states - Either party can terminate this agreement by giving twenty-eight days notice to the other in writing. the twenty-eight days notice may be given at any time to terminate this agreement at the end of or after the last day of the minimum period. the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

eddddy

So you want to withdraw the house from the market.

Firstly, has the minimum contract period ended? And presumably you haven't accepted an offer on the property.

swanseajack91 said:

 the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

So you have to read the rest of the contract to see what fees are payable, if you withdraw the property from the market. (And whatever those fees are, they will be payable in 28 days.)

• There may be no fees payable (no sale, no fee)

• There may be a withdrawal fee payable

• There may be a marketing fee payable

• There may be a fee for the EPC, if the estate agent arranged it

• There may be other types of fees payable

A 'cheeky' estate agent might try to claim a selling fee, if you say you are buying-out your ex.

But to do that legitimately, they would have to claim that you were introduced to the property during their sole selling rights period - which would be nonsense.

(For simplicity, maybe just say that you've decided not to sell for the moment, and you're going to think about your options for reaching an agreement with your ex for you to stay living in the house.)

BarelySentientAI

swanseajack91 said:

I am contemplating taking my house of the market and buying my ex out of our property, it is currently listed with an EA. I was just reading the sole selling agreement and the termination of agreement which states - Either party can terminate this agreement by giving twenty-eight days notice to the other in writing. the twenty-eight days notice may be given at any time to terminate this agreement at the end of or after the last day of the minimum period. the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

The bit you quote just says "You have a right to cancel if you give enough notice.  When fees are due, you will pay them within 28 days of us asking for them".

Eddddy points out well what fees might be due, you need to search the contract for them.

propertyrental

eddddy said:

swanseajack91 said:

 the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

A 'cheeky' estate agent might try to claim a selling fee, if you say you are buying-out your ex.

But to do that legitimately, they would have to claim that you were introduced to the property during their sole selling rights period - which would be nonsense.

'Sole selling' (as opposed to 'sole agency') means the agent does not have to introduce the buyer. If the property is sold, to whoever and however, a fee is payable.

Provided of course the contract has not ended ie the minimum term expired and proper notice to end contract given.

eddddy

propertyrental said:

eddddy said:

swanseajack91 said:

 the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

A 'cheeky' estate agent might try to claim a selling fee, if you say you are buying-out your ex.

But to do that legitimately, they would have to claim that you were introduced to the property during their sole selling rights period - which would be nonsense.

'Sole selling' (as opposed to 'sole agency') means the agent does not have to introduce the buyer. If the property is sold, to whoever and however, a fee is payable.

Provided of course the contract has not ended ie the minimum term expired and proper notice to end contract given.

Just to clarify - my description of 'Sole Selling Rights' was correct.

Unfortunately, your description of 'Sole Selling Rights' is inaccurate/misleading.


Here is the legal definition of 'Sole Selling Rights' :

“SOLE SELLING RIGHTS

You will be liable to pay remuneration to us, in addition to any other costs or charges agreed, in each of the following circumstances—

• if [unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged] in the period during which we have sole selling rights, even if the purchaser was not found by us but by another agent or by anyother person, including yourself;

• if [unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged] after the expiry of the period during which we have sole selling rights but to a purchaser who was introduced to you during that period or with whom we had negotiations about the property during that period.”

Link: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1991/859/schedule/made

As I said (as confirmed in bullet point 2 above), a fee would only be payable to the estate agent if the OP was introduced to the property during their sole selling rights period.

And since the OP is the joint owner of the property it would be nonsense to say the OP was introduced to the property during that period.


(And I can't imagine that the OP plans to exchange contracts with his/her ex before terminating the estate agent's contract. So bullet point 1 doesn't apply either. So I didn't mention that detail.)

BikingBud

swanseajack91 said:

I am contemplating taking my house of the market and buying my ex out of our property, it is currently listed with an EA. I was just reading the sole selling agreement and the termination of agreement which states - Either party can terminate this agreement by giving twenty-eight days notice to the other in writing. the twenty-eight days notice may be given at any time to terminate this agreement at the end of or after the last day of the minimum period. the client agrees that all fees will be paid within twenty-eight days of the date when they fall due for payment.

Does that mean I am liable to pay the fee anytime I end the agreement?

You mention my house and our house are they one and the same?

I would be interested to see how it would be construed if you are marketing as a couple and you withdraw it from sale and then buy you ex out.

The EA could not argue that they had introduced the buyer!

So it might be a minimum cost applies to cover marketing or such like, payable within 28 days.

swanseajack91

Just an update from this, EA has agreed to take it off the market in 28 days no charge, with the view to still allowing viewings offers etc in that time period.

silvercar

swanseajack91 said:

Just an update from this, EA has agreed to take it off the market in 28 days no charge, with the view to still allowing viewings offers etc in that time period.

I don’t understand why an EA would continue to market a property they know won’t be sold. Unless your ex wants to see what value you could get on the open market, to negotiate more from you.