Estate agents!!

Ripper · 11 Jan 2015 at 15:51

Advice needed from the property sellers/purchasers amongst us!

Long story short, I have recently accepted an offer on my property. Upon popping in to the estate agents to prove her mortgage suitability, the buyer was ganged up on by three members of staff at the estate agent, where they told her they thought she was paying too much for my property (after they valued it, and I accepted a lower offer!), and proceeded to show her others that were available (obviously ones they would receive more commission on).

When I heard this (they don't realise I have contact with the buyer) I was obviously fuming. She still wants my house but I'm not sure how to handle this. I don't want anything to fall through so part of me wants to stay quiet until it's too late to back out, but what would you do? I'll be paying them £1500 to sell my house, it really irks me! Do I have any argument for not paying the commission?

KaHn · 11 Jan 2015 at 15:57

Let it fall through and sell to her without the estate agents for slightly less (half the 1500 quid)?

KaHn

Derek W · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:08

Estate agent in slimey **** situation. Well i never! I had something similar when i was looking at places, I was arranging with the agent to view a property so the guy phoned the seller there and then and proceeded to discuss 'offers' he had already had infront of me. Needless to say I didn't buy that property purely for the action of the agent.

Surveyor · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:15

KaHn said:
Let it fall through and sell to her without the estate agents for slightly less (half the 1500 quid)?

KaHn

If the OP sells to someone the estate agent introduced they'll still want their commission.

I'd be very surprised if this isn't covered in the contract.

weringo · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:19

Surveyor said:
If the OP sells to someone the estate agent introduced they'll still want their commission.

I'd be very surprised if this isn't covered in the contract.

There's also probably something in the contract (implied or otherwise) which prevents the estate agent from deterring a buyer from purchasing the property they were tasked to sell!

Surveyor · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:24

weringo said:
There's also probably something in the contract (implied or otherwise) which prevents the estate agent from deterring a buyer from purchasing the property they were tasked to sell!

The OP may be able to avoid paying the commission, or get the amount reduced, if the estate agent has behaved inappropriately.

Cutting them out of the loop will likely just cause a lot of hassle when they come knocking for their money.

KaHn · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:33

Surveyor said:
The OP may be able to avoid paying the commission, or get the amount reduced, if the estate agent has behaved inappropriately.

Cutting them out of the loop will likely just cause a lot of hassle when they come knocking for their money.

But as he as said, the estate agent doesn't know they are in contact? Not sure how they'd trace it?

KaHn

Skillmister · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:35

I had a client the other day negotiate a reduced commission figure (1% rather than 1.5%) due to the estate agents poor conduct.

I don't know what estate agent agreements usually contain but it would seem unlikely there isn't something in there to stop this or surely more people would cut them out?

pinkowl · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:38

Im not surprised they have done something like this. Think they just didnt think you would find out so I would go and talk to them and you might end up with a bit of a discount.

dirtychinchilla · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:39

They're a bunch of idiots.

Surveyor · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:41

KaHn said:
But as he as said, the estate agent doesn't know they are in contact? Not sure how they'd trace it?

KaHn

If they estate agent find that the property has been sold to someone they introduced the contract will say they're entitled to the commission.

If this wasn't the case then anyone could just decide to cut out the estate agent after they'd introduced the buyer.

Sample contract term:

The Client will be liable to pay fees to the Agent, in addition to any other
costs or charges agreed, in each of the following circumstances-

i) If unconditional contracts for the sale of the Property are exchanged in
the period during which the Agent has sole selling rights, even if the
purchaser was not found by the Agent but by another agent or by any
other person, including the Client;

ii) If a purchaser first introduced by the Agent during this agreement goes
on to buy the property within six months of the date this agreement
ended.

Uther · 11 Jan 2015 at 16:52

Really looking forward to dealing with estate agents soon... :rolleyes:

DirtyJester · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:01

Yeah as Surveyor has posted once the estate agent introduces someone to the property you are bound to honour their commission for up to 6 months after cutting ties, that's if you sell the property to the same person.

I often wondered if more people gave false names when phoning estate agents to arrange viewings by sellers themselves, what would happen.

londonbairn · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:13

I've actually had an opposite experience just now. House we were buying fell through due to a fallout between the husband and wife. It is annoyed everyone including the chain on their side and the Estate Agents (they had high expectations on price and the EA did help over a long period bring that down to a realistic level). They even had sorted a place for their children up north.

The husband decided after several weeks he does not want to move, whilst the wife is desperate to get out of London. The EA thinks the situation may be able to be salvaged, and are trying their best...

cheesyboy · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:16

Speak to the estate agent and tell them you know, and that you've spoken to a friend who works for the local rag, and is interested in the story (would never happen, of course; estate agents basically finance for the local papers with their adverts, but estate agents are not renowned for their intelligence).

Angle for a discount in commission, at the least. There may also be some mickey mouse professional body they are signed up to ( check for garishly ornate certificates on the agents' walls) who you can report to.

Or, frankly, go the legal route. Breach of contract.

Stretch · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:23

Tell them to swivel. You hired the agent, you're paying the agent, they work for you not the buyer. Write to them and say you're terminating the contract due to conflict of interest. Then sell the property privately to the lady in question at a mutually agreeable price.

If they don't like it. They can take you to court. But who's going to take an agents word over yours?

Rroff · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:36

They'll try anything :S the person who bought my gran's place was originally interested in it at a higher price but for whatever reason delayed in the mean time we'd drop the price and the estate agent blatantly told them we'd taken it off the market and tried to get them interested in places around the original price they were looking at but they came to us directly as they really wanted the place.

dowie · 11 Jan 2015 at 17:47

Surveyor said:
If the OP sells to someone the estate agent introduced they'll still want their commission.

I'd be very surprised if this isn't covered in the contract.

I'd be fuming, they're being paid to work for the vendor and they've closed the deal... would be very tempted to just deal directly with the buyer and not pay the full amount/delay paying the agents... then when they push for it complain to the manager, explain the situation and agree to 'settle' for a lower amount... but definitely drag out paying them and cause a few issues for them - maybe the manager isn't aware, maybe he is but they ought to face some consequences for their actions

perhaps there are also contractual issues as a result of what they've done

HangTime · 11 Jan 2015 at 19:14

DirtyJester said:
I often wondered if more people gave false names when phoning estate agents to arrange viewings by sellers themselves, what would happen.

In my case as a vendor I would be suspicious if a buyer had arranged a viewing via my agent but then offered to buy direct from me, saying "it's OK guv I gave them a falsie innit, we can split the fee you woulda paid everyone's a winner". Yes potentially I might be able to dodge a fee but would be worried about it coming back to haunt me or why this person is being dodgy, also I guess some deals are exclusive in the sense that you may have to pay commission if the property sells within a set period regardless of whether the agent explicitly made the introduction.

noj · 12 Jan 2015 at 11:17

we had a very similar problem....

we complained -

phoned the agent and spoke to the branch manger, got a copy of their complaints process, put it a formal written complaint, got the BS response and complained to the ombudsman.

Got a reduction in fees before the ombudsman heard the complaint. Will never deal with that group of EA's ever again.