Is it possible to get out of contract with Estate Agent?

fruityslh

My MIL accepted an offer on her house 7 weeks ago, she is now in the throes of buying another house, however it now transpires that her buyer cannot get a mortgage, despite being told at time of offer that it was being handled by the EA inhouse adviser.

Aren't Estate Agents supposed to check the validity of a prospective buyers offer these days? would my MIL have a valid reason to get out of the contract with the EA as they did not check the buyer out properly?

Thanks for any advice you can give

Fruity

Ian_W

Fruity,
I think you need to check her copy of the contract - don't think anyone can give you a proper answer without knowing what your M-I-L signed up to. Don't know of many situations where an EA gets paid unless a sale goes through, so it's not only in your MIL's interest but also the EA's, that they do what they can to verify a prospective purchasers.

Trouble is people lie, even to the EA, and it sounds like it's only when the inhouse mort advisor has put forms through to a lender that it's become clear that the person concerned has wasted everyone's time - MIL's & EA. I'm not standing up for EA's, they get a bad rep that's very often very deserved, but in fairness they're not the FBI and can only do so much to check people out. Whether they've done enough in this case isn't clear.

Bossyboots

There were some threads here a while ago from people who discovered that they had signed up with the estate agent for them to receive commission on sale, not simple a sale organised through them. This meant that one forum member who had sold the house to an acquaintance, was stung for the fees. This is called a sole seller agreement as opposed to a sole agency agreement, the latter being that you don't place it on the market with anyone else but can sell it privately if you get the chance.

bridiej

Bossyboots wrote:

There were some threads here a while ago from people who discovered that they had signed up with the estate agent for them to receive commission on sale, not simple a sale organised through them. This meant that one forum member who had sold the house to an acquaintance, was stung for the fees. This is called a sole seller agreement as opposed to a sole agency agreement, the latter being that you don't place it on the market with anyone else but can sell it privately if you get the chance.

We had a few people interested in our house before we signed up so I gave a letter to the EA which meant that if any of them had bought it we wouldnt have to pay the fee.

BenL

After the offer is made the EA should get proof off the buyers of the funds or talk to their EA about how the sale of their house is going.

We accepted an offer on our house this morning and these are the steps our EA is taking over the next few days.

Ben

micheleen

When I sold my flat in Brighton, the EA's had an in-house FA who talked to people before they offered. One prospective buyer looked at my place, made a low offer and the EA told me their bloke KNEW he wouldn't get the mortgage with the lenders he said he was using, so say asking price or forget it. He also tried to buy another flat in the same block and that fell through.
There are some EA's around who'll really work for you (though there don't seem to be too many :rolleyes: )

Having said that, the house I'm buying now (totally different part of the country), all I said to both EA and the solicitor I engaged was 'cash buyer so no mortgage' and nobody asked for any proof. I did get a discount from the solicitor since there wasn't a mortgage involved though

frugal_dougal_3

Ian_W wrote:

Trouble is people lie, even to the EA, and it sounds like it's only when the inhouse mort advisor has put forms through to a lender that it's become clear that the person concerned has wasted everyone's time - MIL's & EA. I'm not standing up for EA's, they get a bad rep that's very often very deserved, but in fairness they're not the FBI and can only do so much to check people out. Whether they've done enough in this case isn't clear.

Do people lie? They sure do, and not only about mortgages. They will also try to con you about whether or not they are in a chain, and how quickly they can proceed.

It's a fact of life. Like Ian W, I don't normally rush to defend EA's but the better ones will try and check these things out for you.

fruityslh

Thanks for all your replies, the EA origianlly implied that all was huny dory, and at no time indicated that there was any problem, it was just last week, that when my M-I-L questionned that there seemd to be very little activity in respect of surveys etc, that the EA slipped into the conversation that they hadn't been able to get the buyer a mortgage and had been looking at other options for the past couple of weeks. MY M-I-L has now had some good news it seems that he has acquired a mortgage through a company called Provincial (don't know anything about them) and everthing should be systems go, however I am still wary, but I hope everything goes OK for my M-I-L sake.

frugal_dougal_3

I'm pleased that things are looking a bit more hopeful for your MIL and hope all goes to plan now.

Ian_W

Echo what Dougal says.
Provincial are loan firm based in Notts, who I think deal with "problem" cases who can't get finance from mainstream lenders due to previous debt problems, CCVJ's etc. Provided the buyer meets their criteria shouldn't cause any problems for your MIL at all.