It states it in the contract, so why don't they agree?

shep_no_platinum

shep_no_platinum

shep_no_platinum

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Right,

Im not seeking advice here, im asking your opinion.

Basically I work for an Estate Agents and i am their only employee. Its a small, honest firm who are well known in the area for their kindness and professionalism.

Basically due to the recession i have been put down to a 3 day week :(

Anyways, at the moment any money for the company means good news.

Sales are few and far between but we agreed a sale on Friday for a couple who have been on the market with another agent for 10 months. They came on with us in February and we got them a sale, which was all agreed and sales memorandums were typed and sent out Saturday.

We received a call today off the vendor who no longer wishes to stay on the market as its their second house (empty) and they don't need to sell immediately. They have pulled out of the sale and will remarket in 12 months and try to achieve an extra £10,000 as they think the market will have improved.

So... We are quite upset because we have done our bit in securing a sale which both parties found acceptable. Now then, we offer a no sale, no fee contract. But it is clearly stated (not small print) in our agency agreement/contract which they have signed its states - "In the event that a sale has been agreed and you the vendor withdraw the property from sale, a charge of 50% of the agreed fee is payable to cover costs of administration and time involved".

We have made the vendor of the property aware of this and they are now saying they arent paying.

Where do we stand - i believe they have no choice but to pay, but 2 of my bosses are saying we don't have a leg to stand on (madness in my opinion - its because they are too nice). But my other boss is fuming saying they have to pay, we are not a charity, we have done our bit and they are just walking all over us.

Opinions please?
 
JoeMama said:
Surely this is a matter best dealt with by your solicitors.
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yes, it is.

But i just wanted peoples opinions. I know my boss's will let the vendors walk all over them because they are too nice and don't want to cause any hard feelings.

That's their weakness in the business game.

They won't call the solicitor for advice, simply because they wouldn't want the vendors speaking bad of them, even though it wouldn't tarnish their reputation.
 
I'd assume that your contracts were drawn up by lawyers/copied off someone else who had them drawn up by lawyers so that the terms are lawful and can be enforced.

That's just a guess though, you or your bosses really need to get in touch with their solicitors.
 
Abraham said:
this, you're an estate agents, you should have solicitors you deal with every day, who although probably not experts in this specific field are a better starting point than ocuk
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I understand this, but i don't have a say in the companies decisions.

They can listen to me, but won't do what i say as i have a different opinion to them.

They won't call a solicitor and will just let it slip by.

I just wanted to know what you guys think and if they should have just sent the invoice to them. Then if they fail to pay contact solicitors?

Thats what i would do...
 
I don't really see how they can think they shouldn't pay, if it's black and white in a contract that has been signed then they don't have a leg to stand on.

I'd send them an invoice with a covering letter, explaining the situation, quoting the parts of the contract which are relevant to the situation and ask for payment within x days, if not recieved then you will be taking the matter further as they are legally binded by the contract.
 
CDj-Rossi said:
I don't really see how they can think they shouldn't pay, if it's black and white in a contract that has been signed then they don't have a leg to stand on.

I'd send them an invoice, with a covering letter, explaining the situation, quoting the parts of the contract which are relevant to the situation and ask for payment within x days, if not recieved then you will be taking the matter further as they are legally binded by the contract.
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This is my opinion, but my bosses don't seem to think i know what im talking about because im on 3 days a week because they can't afford to pay me a full wage, yet they will let this fee just slip buy.

The whole idea for putting this in the contract was to stop people doing this.
 
My opinion is that they have signed a legally enforceable contract and that it would be madness not to invoice them and expect payment. I suspect that your bosses are hoping that they come back to you guys when they want to sell again - which I am willing to bet they won't do. I certainly wouldn't in their shoes.

Bill them and chase them through the small claims court if they don't cough.
 
Moley said:
My opinion is that they have signed a legally enforceable contract and that it would be madness not to invoice them and expect payment. I suspect that your bosses are hoping that they come back to you guys when they want to sell again - which I am willing to bet they won't do. I certainly wouldn't in their shoes.

Bill them and chase them through the small claims court if they don't cough.
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Again, this is what i feel.

Its £1200 they are chucking away here. Its not just £250 or something.

Thats more than a months wages for me when i was full time for christs sake.

What 2 out of my 3 bosses are arguing is the fact the sale has only been agreed since friday and we were open Saturday, Sunday and have been told today to cancel the sale after it was all agreed and letters were sent out explaining this.
 
If there is a contract to which they have signed, they are bound to it. They are still bound to it, in certain circumstances, even if they havn't signed it. You have clearly acted to your deteriment by sending out the letters.

I think your company is absolutely entitled to the fees. Not a solicitor, just a student.

I accept no responsibility for your actions ;)
 
I'm sorry, but to run a successful business, you need to stand by your T+C's wether they work your way or theirs, they can't just brush this under the carpet otherwise everyone will walk all over them and then the business is doomed to failure. If it were me, i'd be straight to the solicitors, then if i got bad publicity from customer after enforcing the T+C's, again, i'd be off to the solicitors. Otherwise, their T+C's aren't worth the paper they are written on.
 
I can't see any reason for them not to pay/be forced to pay, the only reason they're pulling out is to make themselves more £££.
 
Surely the sale is only "agreed" at the exchange of contracts (between the vendor and the buyer)? Up until then no sale has been agreed and the vendor and buyer can essentially do as they please.
 
It doesn't really matter what is in the contract - if it goes against the law of the land it is not enforceable.

Further, there is the issue of general industry practice. If a company goes against that it is often on a loser.

Also estate agents are a well despised group of people - no offence meant - so in a court case a badly disposed judge, magistrate, jury might rule against your cause anyway.

There is the potential damage to the business of a court case - who would use an estate agent with a reputation for suing it's clients - there are masses of agents offering identical services.

You might well get the sale and the commisiion in a year's time having sold it once if you keep the client happy.

Really it comes down to a narrow minded blinkered approach to the issue versus a mature business oriented view. Sometimes in business it is better to take a small hit even if you are in the right.

Edit - Also - what are the actual costs. A bit of advertising and a few hours of someone's time to view the property, take photographs etc. Given that at the current time staff are probably sitting around doing nothing your best hope would be to recover a few hundred of actual out of pocket expense - trying to claim £1200 is a plain nonsense and your clients would have a field day in court if you tried to claim that much off them .
 
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Munkeh said:
Surely the sale is only "agreed" at the exchange of contracts (between the vendor and the buyer)? Up until then no sale has been agreed and the vendor and buyer can essentially do as they please.
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Yes, but they still have to pay the fees as it is in the contract.
 
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