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Looking for some advice people. We had been looking for a new house in the same area we're currently in and had all but given up due to ridiculous offers over expectations, we really needed the stars to align and align they did! A house up the road came on the market at fixed price, we viewed it and we liked it, quickly got the estate agent dealing with the sale over to our house to carry out a valuation - the figures worked. When the estate agent was round we explicitly told him that we were only selling our house to buy that particular house as it was a bit of an anomaly. I asked at the time what would happen if someone pulled out or whatnot...'unforeseeable things happen, its life'. No mention of fee's or anything. We proceeded with the sale and 2-weeks later our house was sold. 3-weeks before the move in date the estate agent called and told me the seller had pulled out, at that point I reiterated my point about only selling our house to buy that house. Fast fwd 4-weeks and I receive an email from the estate agent stating that in their terms of business when someone withdraws they are usually expected to pay 50% of the sale fee (£1350) but due to circumstances they'll only charge us £350....how kind. Now we're already around £2.5k down with the marketing fee, survey and solicitors fee's and to be honest I think expecting us to pay when we didn't withdraw is not really on. I've said as much in the email ping pong with them but they keep referring to the terms of business which was signed literally seconds after the estate agent told me 'these things can happen'. I feel a bit mislead here but not sure I have a leg to stand on.
What do you guys think?
Is there a contract with the estate agent that you have signed with those terms on?
I think if you signed it and it's not an unfair term, you haven't a leg to stand on. And I wouldn't dig in too hard because if they fight you for it they might then want the full amount you signed up to.
I think expecting us to pay when we didn’t withdraw is not really on
You're withdrawing from the sale of your own house though (granted, through circumstances out of your control). This must be what the fee is for?
Estate agent will have time/costs invested which sounds like they are trying to recoup. Given the situation they are trying not to stuff you with the full costs you are liable for since the sale has fallen through
Keep it on the market! You’re not obliged to accept any offers.
Eventually the estate agent will get tired of the weekly bill from Rightmove and cut their losses.
To be fair to them I was warned by the agents I sold my house with that if I randomly pulled out before the fixed term is up then they would expect me to cover the photography expenses.
Put it back on the market with them. Wait till the contract ends (it can't last forever as that would be unfair). Don't accept any viewings or offers.
Sorted.
I know a few people who 've been in the same situation, it's really surprised me but they 've paid. The agents t and c s are pretty watertight.
Really sorry for your situation, you incurr all those costs and no fault of your own, you lose the purchase. The guilty party can just change their mind, and has.
Cheers for the responses guys. I cant locate the copy the contract signed, it must've been lost whilst packing - will request a copy.
@dmorts, I see what you're saying but we sold on the proviso that we were only going to buy that house, we were really explicit about that - the seller pulled out therefore we aren't moving.
@grantyboy We paid the £500 marketing fee, did viewings etc ourselves. Not saying they haven't put time against the sale of course but the amount of work they themselves did was fairly minimal.
When I’ve looked at this recently in Scotland, there has been an upfront non-refundable marketing fee of between £250 and £450 depending on agent. Not unreasonable IMHO
edit - just seen you paid a marketing fee. They are at it!
I think if you signed it and it’s not an unfair term, you haven’t a leg to stand on. And I wouldn’t dig in too hard because if they fight you for it they might then want the full amount you signed up to.
The key question would be if it is an unfair contract term, that will depend on the exact wording of the term and possibly even the structure of the rest of the contract. Potentially is dependent on the context of you signing it, cooling off periods etc. Legal advice on that is likely to be as much as the £350. The risk is that if they get stroppy they try to enforce the 50% rather than £350. My guess is if they get that far and you paid £350 they'd shut up but it all depends on your attitude to a quiet life, but I'd be inclined to make them work for it - some will, some will just never deal with you again (which could be an issue as either buyer or seller!)
But I think this is the problem:
I think expecting us to pay when we didn’t withdraw is not really on.
You did. OK, the other vendor triggered it and you had forewarned the agent that you would withdraw if they did, but you backed out after they had found you a buyer. It was in the agent's interests to make sure the other vendor didn't break the chain and so my attitude would depend on how much effort I believed they had made in this regard. If he's tried really hard to save the deals (and his fee) I'd be more sympathetic than if he gets 50% every time a deal collapses so puts no real effort into seeing deals succeed.
I see what you’re saying but we sold on the proviso that we were only going to buy that house, we were really explicit about that – the seller pulled out therefore we aren’t moving.
The lesson you are learning here is that if the words you say and the words that are written down are different it gets very messy - so (1) read the terms; (2) if you have an extra condition like "clause 1.2 will not apply if our purchase of 23 Acacia Avenue does not complete" then write it on the contract.
whatever the contract says is what you owe. No contract, no payment
Putting it bluntly, you agreed to pay them to sell your house. They sold your house. You then decided you didn't want to sell your house. Why should they not want paying for doing the thing you said you'd pay them to do?
From what you've said you only planned to move because a specific house came up, if that house wasn't available you weren't moving. The seller of that specific house took it off the market at the last moment so you no longer intend to move and want to take your house off the market. You told the estate agent all this.
The estate agent no doubt nodded and made noises suggesting they understood your stand point which they will then have promptly ignored so it won't be in your your contract. You don't have a leg to stand on. You've also messed around the people buying your house so in effect have done to your buyer what your seller did to you.
Pay up, move on, spare a thought for your buyer.
TBH I'd take the £350 offer, as IHN said, they did what you asked them to, so only seems reasonable to pay them for their work.
We ended up having to pay ours almost £5k despite the fact they only managed single time-wasting viewing and we then sold to a friend of a friend who was a cash buyer with no chain so there wasn't even any of the chasing/management for them to do.
Your beef isn't with the estate agent , but the bloke up the road who isn't selling anymore. I'd take the offer, or if you don't want to pay, honour your side of the contract and sell the house.
And think of the chaos you've caused the guy buying your house....
Pay up, move on, spare a thought for your buyer.
that ^
Easy now, we know the people who were buying our house - they were aware of the situation as well, thankfully they weren't in a chain otherwise it would've been horrendous.
@thisisnotaspoon - brutal mate, that's a lot of cash to lose for very little effort on their part.
Paying up seems to be the general consensus, cheers all.