Final week of estate agent contract

Feebs77

I'm in the final week of an estate agent contract...and will be booking a new agent.

They have done nothing for the previous 2 months, with zero viewings.

I have a feeling that part of their strategy is to benefit from the new agents hard work, by giving them a list of any potential buyers they many have emailed, which could be 100's of people, or anyone who has contacted them through online platforms such as Rightmove.

The terms of the contract is:
"the Fee will not be payable if a buyer introduced or re-introduced by us goes on to exchange unconditional contracts for the purchase of the Property through another agent in circumstances where that buyer was introduced to the Property again by the other agent more than six months after the end of the period of our Sole Selling Rights."

and 

“introduced” “re-introduced” refers to the bringing of the Property to the attention of the person or persons so introduced or reintroduced."

So it is likely that if I sell within 6 months with a 2nd agent, that my first agent will get commission.

I'm not really sure what to do in this situation.

1) wait 6 months?
2) check that the second agent is happy to revert any potential buyers back to my first agent, so I  pay only my first agents fees, and ensure that I am not liable to pay any 2nd estate agent fees. (i.e. ask my first agent to send a list of all the people they sent information to).


Am I allowed to ask my first agent to provide me with the details (names) of all the people that they introduced my property to?

Any advice much appreciated!

EssexHebridean

Yep - absolutely you can ask them, and they can either give that list to you, or they can give it to your new agents directly. 

Hopefully the new agents will be a bit more proactive than the outgoing ones! 

GavCB

My understanding is that an 'introduction' is somebody who has physically viewed the property with that Agent. A mail-shot or phone call about your property should not be deemed as an 'introduction'. Your current Agent would be unable to provide you with a list on buyers that they have 'introduced' as you say that nobody has actually viewed your property. You should be free to list with another Agent just as soon as your current contract ends with no worries!

Grumpy_chap

The first EA should provide a list of all introductions they made.
There are guidelines as to what constitutes an introduction, so the current EA cannot simply include everyone on their weekly marketing email list which would very probably be everyone who ever considered living in the locality any time ever.

Feebs77

Grumpy_chap said:

The first EA should provide a list of all introductions they made.
There are guidelines as to what constitutes an introduction, so the current EA cannot simply include everyone on their weekly marketing email list which would very probably be everyone who ever considered living in the locality any time ever.

The contract I signed stated their Terms.

Their definition of an introduction is as follows:

“introduced” “re-introduced” refers to the bringing of the Property to the attention of the person or persons so introduced or reintroduced."

I understand that this introduction could be:
- any marketing material / brochures my estate agent sent out to people, about my property (which could be 1000s),
- any potential buyers who contacted them regarding my property
- any potential buyers who clicked on any online marketing material whose name was registered on those online platforms (e.g. EA website, Rightmove, Zoopla, etc),

and that this would be applicable for 6 months following the end of our contract. 

But thats just my understanding!

Feebs77

I checked the Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice for Estate Agents which states:

"Effective Introduction. An effective introduction must evidence that the agent carried out an act that initiated the buyer’s reaction to the property. 

As such, there is a need for a defined transaction event to occur. This can be most clearly evidenced by an agent carrying out a viewing."

I would imagine if a potential buyer enquired about my property, but did not book a viewing, then that could  constitute "an act that initiated the buyer's reaction to the property" 

Or if the estate agent sent marketing material via email, to potential buyers, even if they did not respond till later with my 2nd estate agent, then that could constitute "an act that initiated the buyer's reaction to the property" 

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

2) check that the second agent is happy to revert any potential buyers back to my first agent, so I  pay only my first agents fees, and ensure that I am not liable to pay any 2nd estate agent fees. 

To be blunt, you don't ask the second agent if they are "happy" to do this, you tell them (in writing) that this must be a condition of your contract with them - and that you will not pay the second agent a fee in these circumstances.

If they refuse to accept this condition, you find another agent who will accept that condition.


More generally...

Are both estate agents members of the Property Ombudsman Scheme (most agents are)?

The Property Ombudsman imposes mandatory rules on estate agents, including...

• The definition of an "introduction"

• The first agent providing you with a list of people they have introduced

• The second agent referring buyers back to the first agent, if they were introduced by the first agent

And...

Feebs77 said:

I understand that this introduction could be:
- any marketing material / brochures my estate agent sent out to people, about my property (which could be 1000s),
- any potential buyers who contacted them regarding my property
- any potential buyers who clicked on any online marketing material whose name was registered on those online platforms (e.g. EA website, Rightmove, Zoopla, etc),

That is absolutely not the definition that the Property Ombudsman uses.

Take a look at the Property Ombudsman's mandatory code of practice here: 
https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/codes-of-practice/TPOE27-8_Code_of_Practice_for_Residential_Estate_Agents_A4_FINAL.pdf

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

I checked the Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice for Estate Agents which states:

"Effective Introduction. An effective introduction must evidence that the agent carried out an act that initiated the buyer’s reaction to the property. 

As such, there is a need for a defined transaction event to occur. This can be most clearly evidenced by an agent carrying out a viewing."

I would imagine if a potential buyer enquired about my property, but did not book a viewing, then that could  constitute "an act that initiated the buyer's reaction to the property" 

Or if the estate agent sent marketing material via email, to potential buyers, even if they did not respond till later with my 2nd estate agent, then that could constitute "an act that initiated the buyer's reaction to the property" 

At this stage, don't worry about hypothetically what might happen.

Ask the estate agent for the list of people they believe they have introduced. 

If it includes people who have not viewed the property, ask the estate agent why. And unless they can give a good explanation, suggest that you might raise a complaint to the Property Ombudsman.


But you'll be giving the list to the second agent anyway, so the second agent would have to send those people back to the first agent - so there should be no risk of you paying double fees.

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

I'm in the final week of an estate agent contract...and will be booking a new agent.

Just to double check - have you given written notice of termination to the current estate agent, as described in your contract (typically a 2 or 4 weeks notice period)?

Typically, estate agents' contracts have a minimum contract period - maybe 8, 10, 12 or 16 weeks - but they continue beyond that, until you give written notice.

Feebs77

As mentioned - my 1st agent hasn't carried out any viewings.

So if I ask them for a list of people they believe they've introduced, wouldn't I be suggesting to them that my understanding of what constitutes the term 'introduce' is not just limited to viewings?
I don't want to shoot myself in the foot!

Thanks for the advice regarding adding the condition to the 2nd agent, asking them to revert any buyers introduced by my 1st agent back to them, meaning I would only be paying the first agents fees.

This raises another issue. What would be the first agents fee be in this instance, after the contract terms have ended?

I forgot to negotiate their fee, if this were to happen 😞 

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

So if I ask them for a list of people they believe they've introduced, wouldn't I be suggesting to them that my understanding of what constitutes the term 'introduce' is not just limited to viewings?
I don't want to shoot myself in the foot!

So you say something like this in an email:

"When terminating the contract, I would normally request a list of prospective buyers that you have introduced to the property to pass to the next estate agent, but since there have been no viewings, it seems that you have not introduced anybody. Please confirm this is the case."

Feebs77 said:

This raises another issue. What would be the first agents fee be in this instance, after the contract terms have ended?

The fee is the same, whether the offer is made before the contract is terminated or after the contract is terminated.

In simple terms, you pay an estate agent for introducing somebody, who eventually buys your property.

So it's the date of introduction that is significant - not the date the offer was made, or the date the sale completed.