cooling off period with estate agency contract?

Alison-J_2

I signed a contract with an estate agent on Thursday for him to market my house for sale for a period of no shorter than 16 weeks and have changed agents to do this after having no luck.
The problem is that a neighbor has also instructed the same agent to market her house, which is identical to ours, and the neighbor has told us she is willing to drop to a very low and unrealistic price to sell.
I have already dropped 10k to go with the new agent to try and tempt but she is looking to drop another 10k to sell her property.
Now, Im not in the mood for a price war! I think its pretty daft to force the price down even further and would rather take myself out of the situation which could turn quite stressful. So can I quit the agent? Is there a cooling off period? Any advice welcome.

PasturesNew

I did this, then (bloomin' cheeky of me) I got somebody knock on the door to buy it .... and it was on the 14th day!

So I cancelled the EA with some made up lies about wanting to tart it up a bit more first.

They were happy enough with my lies.

Then I double-checked it was legal to cancel on the 14-day cooling off law when you sign things in your own house with another EA who was after my business and he said yes that's legal.

However, if your neighbour's house is identical then even if you're with different agents it won't make much difference I'd have thought. There must be differences between the two that would make one a better buy to somebody. It's not just on price people buy.

You''ll be in a price war with her with any agent.

Alison-J_2

So I assume this means there is a 14 day cool off after signing a contract?

poppysarah

Maybe neighbour is desperate to sell.

If you can wait then leave the price as is.

People will assume internal decoration differences between the two.

There are many roads near me with more than 1 property for sale. They don't always sit next to each other pricewise.

Make your property more (kerb) appealing and viewers to hers (attracted by her lower price) will come and view yours. If your house is nice they may be prepared to pay the difference.

chickmug

Alison-J wrote: »

So I assume this means there is a 14 day cool off after signing a contract?

As an EA I have never heard of any cooling off period and there is no law to say one must be given so tread very carefully.

Alison-J_2

I dont think she is desperate to sell, I think she is trying to push us out of the market so she can achieve a better price.
My cunning plan was to get out of the estate agency contract, let her put her for sale sign up with the agent and then make my own for sale sign and market it myself, saving the fee but remaining competitive with her planned price...see the stress is showing already!