Unfair Estate Agents Fee

Neillgb

nutmegman wrote: »

Ok, this is an interesting thread, remember you are in a business to consumer contractual relationship which affords benefits to protect consumers against heavy handed contract terms etc.

Firstly, I would like to back up Ben76, he is correct in that you are not duty bound to accept any contract if you can argue that it is unfair. (this is just a matter of fact in Contract Law)

Secondly, my take on this contract is that it is perfectly fair as the terms clearly set out the charges should you withdraw after a buyer is found.

The courts view….can a reasonable person understand the terms are they clear, in this case yes. Are the charges reasonable, yes it wouldn’t take an EA long to account for £500. Were the terms pointed out to you at the time of entering into the transaction, yes.

In my opinion if you goto court you will loose as the court will test the reasonableness of the contract and for me the EA is in a strong position.

The EA has acted very fairly indeed by inviting a settlement offer from you, (the courts will like this) Now I am afraid rather foolishly you hand delivered the letter after closing hours so I am really not surprised at their response.

REMEMBER – if you go to court and loose you will have to pay their legal fees, this shouldn’t be excessive as the claim is only £500 , HOWEVER, the EA is entitled to claim interest on the late payment at BOE base rate +X and additional charges for chasing the money from you letter etc…….this is a bit like a bailiff scenario charges keep mounting etc…..

MY ADVICE – you have two options

1, Contact the EA and ask for a face to face meeting, in this meeting state this is all rather silly and neither of us wish to go to court be calm and courteous, then ask the EA for a settlement figure he would be happy with then try and negotiate this down. Negotiation levers for you are bad press through word of mouth or local rag

2, If 1 fails, write a letter offer to pay the EA the full £500 quid. Yes by doing this you will be admitting you owe the money, the clincher here is to offer them £20 a month, keep the letter very very short and sweet simply offer £500 at £20 per month and that’s it…….and send it recorded delivery or by hand obtaining a receipt. (if this fails let him take you to court)

2, if you think hell with it I will take him to court I really think you will loose, I am sure the EA will have no problem providing proof they found a buyer. If you have done stage two in court simply state yes I owe them £500 but cannot afford that in full now, I have made him an offer which he refuses then plead you position why you withdrew etc etc. Hopefully the courts will recognise you have attempted to make an offer and you should get a reasonable outcome.

You may not get the result you want but you may take a few years to pay him off……..

AND FINALLY – forget all this silly business with regard to advertising you really don’t have a leg to stand on it like Tesco advertising in the shop window baked beans for 10p a can, you go into the shop pick some up get to the till and the they are suddenly 45p a tin there is no point harping on about the advert legally it means nothing.

An advert is an invitation to treat, in law the EA offered his services as per the contract, you then accepted those terms .

GOOD LUCK

Sorry but i entirely disagree with your assertion that the EA would win a court case for numerous reasons , most of which are contained in the link i have provided and other posts on the thread.

The agent is bluffing and he/she knows it. However it is not my money so the
OP must make his own mind up.

With regard to baked beans there is a slight difference. On arrival at the till you have the option to simply not purchase. You can simply put the tin down and walk out. A genuine mistake, no problems. The shop manager is unlikely to wrestle you to the floor and demand payment to cover his 'admin fees', shelf stacking, till ink etc!!! The whole point is that the terms were not made clear and transparent. Yes he should have read the fine print, but I feel that the EA should have clearly pointed out the 'admin fee' clause.

Perhaps, next to the legally meaningless 'no sale- no fee' adverts the EA should , in the same text size, state '£500 admin fee if you have to pull out'. Can't understand why they don't do this myself......

MarkyMarkD

Changing the website isn't a sign of bad faith, it's a sign of trying to avoid inadvertently misleading future customers. Or at least that is what the EA could claim, with reasonable justification.

I wouldn't take this case to court. Irrespective of whether the EA did or did not state (in their advertising, not their legal contract) "no sale no fee", they have done work and deserve paying for it.

nutmegman

Neillgb wrote: »

Sorry but i entirely disagree with your assertion that the EA would win a court case for numerous reasons , most of which are contained in the link i have provided and other posts on the thread.

The agent is bluffing and he/she knows it. However it is not my money so the
OP must make his own mind up.

With regard to baked beans there is a slight difference. On arrival at the till you have the option to simply not purchase. You can simply put the tin down and walk out. A genuine mistake, no problems. The shop manager is unlikely to wrestle you to the floor and demand payment to cover his 'admin fees', shelf stacking, till ink etc!!! The whole point is that the terms were not made clear and transparent. Yes he should have read the fine print, but I feel that the EA should have clearly pointed out the 'admin fee' clause.

Perhaps, next to the legally meaningless 'no sale- no fee' adverts the EA should , in the same text size, state '£500 admin fee if you have to pull out'. Can't understand why they don't do this myself......

I think you are struggling with the subject matter here, the offer within the estates agent window is in invitation to treat the same principle as the tesco one above. yes you can walk away at the till as could the OP when it came to sign the EA contract.

The EA made an offer in the form of the contract, the OP accepted the terms and consderation was the fee as stated. Fact

Please tell me how the terms were not made clear and transparent to the OP? The OP was presented with a Contract stating the terms of thier agreement


Please tell me how ANY of the EA's terms are unfair?

My advice stands as above and the OP got it for free so take it.....you wont get a differant answer if you pay someone.............

nutmegman

Any update OP...........?

Neillgb

nutmegman wrote: »

I think you are struggling with the subject matter here, the offer within the estates agent window is in invitation to treat the same principle as the tesco one above. yes you can walk away at the till as could the OP when it came to sign the EA contract.

The EA made an offer in the form of the contract, the OP accepted the terms and consderation was the fee as stated. Fact

Please tell me how the terms were not made clear and transparent to the OP? The OP was presented with a Contract stating the terms of thier agreement


Please tell me how ANY of the EA's terms are unfair?

My advice stands as above and the OP got it for free so take it.....you wont get a differant answer if you pay someone.............

Not struggling at all actually. Pretty basic stuff.

Problem is 'good faith'. I believe that the EA's actions demonstrate a deliberate attempt to mask the 'admin fee' in the small print. I return to my point with the regard to the advert, why was the '500 admin fee'not highlighted in the same way as the 'no sale no fee' ? Surely that would be transparent and reasonable? The failure to give equal emphasis to both demonstrates a complete lack of good faith on behalf of the EA's. They have not been open and fair with the OP. Therefore the contract is 'unfair'.

I'm sure the EA repeatedly pointed out the admin fee to the OP so he/she should just roll over and cough up or, risky I know, beg for 'time to pay' from the BIG scary, professional,and above all ,sincere EA.

There is no need to pay me for my advice however if you don't take my advice I will be charging a £500 'admin fee'. Why £500? Coz i say so and coz I'm worth it mate!! Reasonable??

mike69_2

Hello everyone, just a quick update.

I spoke to the agent the day after my last post and he accepted my offer of £200.

Its been paid and the saga is over.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

PS What does OP stand for?

chickmug

mike69 wrote: »

Hello everyone, just a quick update.

I spoke to the agent the day after my last post and he accepted my offer of £200.

Its been paid and the saga is over.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

PS What does OP stand for?

Good glad to hear
OP original poster