Serious Estate Agent Problem - Advice pls.

[Macster]

Ok....here goes..

Moving house, and been on the market 10mths.
Suddenly, we have a flurry of more viewings, and last Fri, we have an offer on the table, which was upped slightly at lunchtime.
Advised Agent that we wished to discuss that nt, and he was advising that we 'snap their hand off' asap, that was 5pm.
That evening at 10pm, we receive a letter thru the door from someone who had try to arrange a viewing that same day, but had been advised that we had 'accepted' an offer, and didnt therefore wish to allow them to view.
Thinking this strange, he posted us the letter.
I call him on Sat to discuss it, advising him that this wasnt the case at all, he views Sunday, and he calls me Sun nt to also make an offer, which gives us an extra £10k that we wouldnt have had if he hadnt posted the letter.
We accept the offer.

However, on discussion with the Agent on mon, he apologizes for the 'confusion', but offers little 'explanation'.

I decide to dig deeper, and call the original party, asking what exactly they had been told ?
'Offer accepted - No further viewings' was the reply, advised by the Agent.

Now as far as I can see, he simply wanted this Sale to go thru as quickly and expediently as possible, and turned away a potentially interested party, simply just so it didnt upset the tidy sale, despite it possibly costing us money.

Therefore, it leaves me very angry, and considering writing to him to Cancel the contract we had with him, purely as his behaviour was in my opinion, a gross dereliction of his duties, and I simply dont think he should get fees after this.
To that point, I'd had no issue with them, but this has really shown them in their true colours, and I'm incensed.

I have even discussed the matter with the Property Ombudsman, who he's a member of, but they are very non-committal, altho when pushed, did concede that his actions were 'perhaps' against their Code of Conduct.

So what next ? Letter to Agent ?

Would you feel happy paying his Fees (£4k) after this kind of behaviour ?

 

[Twire]

Surely if you had a private offer, you should not be paying his fees anyway.

The agent is there to get you as much as he can for your property. By closing the sale without your concent, he's not doing the job you hired him for. I'd tell him to take a walk.

 

[justhitthething]

Dont pay him. You employ him to get potential buyers to your house and to facilitate the sale.
You have found your buyer despite his best efforts to make sure you didnt.

Write to him, advise him of your intentions not to pay and why and copy the ombudsman in on it. Do not use the agent to facilitate the sale with your buyer. Keep good records of letters and phone calls and be ready to go to the local press, where I would guess he advertises.

Good luck

 

[Robobum]

I had something similar Chris, I had an offer on my old house after 8mths on the market that the agent was very keen for me to accept although it was £30K less than the asking price.

The potential buyer could not complete the deal for another 3 mths as they had to wait so they had no penalties on an existing mortgage, which was fine with me. However i said to the buyer and agent that whilst the offer was acceptable, the house was to stay on the market until they were in a position to complete.

I never saw the house in the paper, on the net or in the window again. When it came to the time that the buyer could complete I asked the agent about it and told him that I would only be prepared to pay half of the agreed fee or I would pull out of the deal all together. He tried to argue that he had tried to act in my best interests but didn't put up any real fight to agreeing to the lesser amount of his fee.

I'm not sure whether it's illegal but it's definately unethical for them to be "working" for both sides of the deal.

 

[freddielong]

You pay him to introduce possible buyers to you and to view your property, he didn't introduce this buyer, infact he actively tried to stop this buyer looking at your house, I don't see why you owe him anything.

 

[Smiffy]

He didn't introduce this buyer, in fact he actively tried to stop this buyer looking at your house, I don't see why you owe him anything.

Is the correct answer

 

[colint]

Personally I would be wary of what you put in writing, the more you say the more chance that you could be somehow leaving yourself open to another interpretation from a court etc. I would simply write to them telling them you no longer want them to act for you and will not be proceeding with any of the potential buyers that they have introduced.

That leaves it clear and simple. If they want a fight, then you can take it further, but for now just ditch them and proceed with your privately sourced buyer.

 

[Macster]

Thats an interesting point Colin, hmmm.... quite true.

This may need a Legal viewpoint perhaps.

 

[CVG]

Why not take it off the market? close down the contract with the agent and then do the deal with the last buyer.
No hassle then is there?

 

[andycap]

Whats happened does sound a bit unethical, maybe the potential buyers are friends of the estate agent and he has tried to secure it for them? As far as the comments saying that the estate agent hasn't introduced the other buyer, i had some experience on that issue once , if they found your house as a result of the estate agent advertising it , be it through the paper , board displayed, or ad in their window etc. then the agent is due his fee, even if they have not gone through the agent (i think) .

 

[Macster]

andycap: I have no doubt about that, or problem with that.
However, surely in a case where he has blatently avoided advising us of their interest & wish to view,..... he hasnt got a leg ?

 

[colint]

He seems to have actively tried to prevent this buyer contacting you, so he is on thin ice, but the point about the for sale sign etc is relevant. This is where is could get complicated and potentially expensive. Thats why you shouldn't say "you didn't do xxx" because thay can say "oh yes we did etc".

I'd go for sacking them, but you could always offer a compromise of a substantially reduced fee. At the end of the day you could end up with a lower fee, and higher buying price. Don't dig your heals in too much and end up losing out on principle, just get the best financial deal you can and walk away a winner

 

[Yerman]

You need to read your contract, get legal advice and pay anything as slowly as legal. Then do a Steve Gerrard and give him a couple of uppercuts -in self defence. LOL

 

[viscount17]

as njd, first check your contract.
I think that if he has 'sole selling rights' you may not be in that good a position. Check with your solicitor before dumping them. Citizen's Advice may also be an alternative.

Quite who you turn to if the Ombudsman is nothing but a trade protection agency I'm unsure. Actually re-reading the OP, that is all it is, these 'voluntary Codes of Conduct' aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

 

[Billser]

dont pay the scumbag, I had the same situation here in ireland 3 years ago & ended up selling to the buyer who knocked at my door & told me a similar story, like a fool i put them through the agent & paid up.
never again though, just get your solicitor to deal with the new buyer & get a decent non refundable deposit up front.
phone the agent & give him loads of grief of how he failed to inform you of interested party etc & cancel your contract. dont think you will hear another word. good luck.

 

[CrapHacker]

I'd definately talk to my solicitor, if I were you.

I've had all sorts of legal/financial queries over the last 18 months and my solicitor has helped me every step of the way and charged me virtually nothing for all the help he's given me.

Saved me thousands, tbh.

 

[Macster]

"and charged me virtually nothing for all the help he's given me."

Now that IS a Solicitor worth hanging onto !!

My experience of solicitors is that the clock starts when they pick the phone up, and gets very expensive indeed !

 

[colint]

I personally don't think you need a solicitor yet, and unless you have an exisiting relationship with one you're unlikely to get the service for "next to nothing"

As things stand you're liable for their fees, so any improvement on that is a result. Go in and have it out with the manager, get a discount, threaten bad publicity, local press etc if needed. The manager is unlikely to want this escalating as it could land him the smelly stuff with the owners, so you should be able to get a result you'e both satisfied with without getting legal

 

[GB72]

I know a bit about this area and would advise that the agent is obliged to put forward all contact and offers to you under the Estate Agency Act. Furthermore, the fee is only payable if the estate agent introduced the prospective buyer to you. Whether there was a formal introduction would depend on whether the agent in question could show that the prospective buyer contacted them, they sent details of your property and then contacted you as a result. if the prospective buyer just saw the property on Rightmove or such like and called on the off chance then it would be hard for them to argue that they made an introduction. In this position, I personally would go back to them and say that it is not clear that they made the introduction, their actions actually disuaded the buyer but to avoid any need for litigation post completion you will agree to pay a substantially reduced fee (say £1000 plus VAT) to bring the matter to a close but would require a letter confirming that it was in full and final settlement when making the payment.

This is on the assumption that the estate agency agreement is on standard terms.

If you want to discuss this further PM me.