Can an estate agent show my buyer new properties?

Grumpy_chap

Well, the OP has been proceedable since June but not actually proceeded.

How long is the current prospective Buyer meant to wait?

This all sits with the OP to either proceed or accept the current prospective Buyer will look elsewhere and the OP ceases to be proceedable.

It's not an easy decision for the Buyer to pull out as they are invested in the property.

Time for the OP to either proceed or stay put.

saajan_12

Guys, this is not actually about the definition of "proceedable". 

The point is OP hasn't actually moved forward (possibly through no fault of their own, but that's the end result). So the buyer is looking elsewhere. Yes OP could put the house back on the market, but that may not be the most practical option if it spooks this buyer further and they could be very close to an offer accepted on their purchase. OP themselves say the buyer's actions are understandable. 

The question was about the agent's actions. The answer to that is
a. the agent is not exclusive to this property, and is working in their capacity as the agent for other properties in showing those to this buyer when asked.
b. Its probably better for OP that the agent does oblige the buyer's request, since at least they stay in contact and can push them back to the OP when there's progress. The alternative is the buyer goes to other agents. 

There may be other service failures with the agent in accuracy and frequency of updates - that's valid but separate to this issue. 

Arctos

anselld said:

Yes the agents work for you but it is not an exclusive arrangement.  They are agents for many properties at any one time.  You must understand that it really doesn’t matter to them which property any particular buyer chooses so long as it is one which they represent and so long as it completes in the most timely manner.

If you are not happy with the way the agent has handled the job of selling your property what is preventing you from telling that agent that you no longer have confidence in them? As I understand it, agents charge fees on the basis of successful sales, so no sale = no fee. It may be that other local agents will be happy to take your money should they do the job on your instructions.

Grumpy_chap

Arctos said:

anselld said:

Yes the agents work for you but it is not an exclusive arrangement.  They are agents for many properties at any one time.  You must understand that it really doesn’t matter to them which property any particular buyer chooses so long as it is one which they represent and so long as it completes in the most timely manner.

If you are not happy with the way the agent has handled the job of selling your property what is preventing you from telling that agent that you no longer have confidence in them? As I understand it, agents charge fees on the basis of successful sales, so no sale = no fee. It may be that other local agents will be happy to take your money should they do the job on your instructions.

Probably a "sole agency" agreement.  Even once that expires, the current EA will probably still be entitled to fees if a Buyer originally introduced by this EA proceeds to complete on the property.  OP's current best bet for a sale remains the current Buyer, assuming the OP actually decides to still move before the current Buyer commits elsewhere.

Smalltownhypocrite

Arctos said:

anselld said:

Yes the agents work for you but it is not an exclusive arrangement.  They are agents for many properties at any one time.  You must understand that it really doesn’t matter to them which property any particular buyer chooses so long as it is one which they represent and so long as it completes in the most timely manner.

If you are not happy with the way the agent has handled the job of selling your property what is preventing you from telling that agent that you no longer have confidence in them? As I understand it, agents charge fees on the basis of successful sales, so no sale = no fee. It may be that other local agents will be happy to take your money should they do the job on your instructions.

Yeah no, the agent listed the house and found them a buyer which is what they where hired to do. They did their job, OP is liable for the fees.

There is no other job in the world where you would expect not to pay someone after them working for months on your project and spending money on it (listing houses costs money) and holding up their end of the contract completely just because you failed to do your part.

Imagine thinking you can just ditch out and not be liable to pay them anything, proper CF attitude. This is why EA have clear contracts that charge people for leaving and charge for finding buyers etc...

eddddy

Smalltownhypocrite said:

There is no other job in the world where you would expect not to pay someone after them working for months on your project and spending money on it (listing houses costs money) and holding up their end of the contract completely just because you failed to do your part.

FWIW... just about every company that sells anything works like that.

They spend time and money trying to persuade people to buy things - if they fail to persuade anyone to buy anything (through no fault of their own or otherwise), the company bears the lost costs.


A friend works for a large company that spent two years and hundreds of thousands of pounds trying to persuade a government ministry to buy services worth tens of millions of pounds.  The ministry didn't buy the services. The company had to bear the costs.