Estate agent contract, any idea hat this means?

[Cranky17]

If we are appointed as you as sole agents (as indicated above) or as the joint agent, payment and fees become due ( and you agree to pay the fees to us ) if during the period of our agency ( and 12 months ) following it expiry or termination contracts are exchanged, or completion takes place with a person / company who was introduced to the property during our agency (even if not introduced by us)

Does anyone know what this might mean, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me

Its where you've appointed more than one agent (at the same time or previously).

I’d interpret that as meaning if you sell to anyone - whether they introduced to buyer or not - they get their fee.

We fell foul of a similar clause when we sold a rental property a few years ago. The agents were essentially useless and didn’t manage to sell the place in the 6 months they had it on their books. We took it off and spent some time tidying the garden and generally sprucing the place up a bit (it was empty). We were then approached by a guy who lived nearby with an offer to buy and we sold it ourselves. It had been off the EAs books around three months at that point, but they still chased us for their fees. We ended up having to pay them. .

The wording at the end "even if not introduced by us" is key. Google "sole selling rights".

Essentially what this means is that you will have to pay them commission even if you find your buyer yourself.

And because of the reference to 12 months you will also have to pay them a fee in this circumstance: say you terminated their instruction and switched agents and a buyer then came forward. The new buyer had first seen the property while it had been marketed by the first agents. In this example you may have to pay two lots of fees, both to the old agent and the new, unless you're willing to delay the sale by 12 months.

Have you signed the contract? If not, you could try and negotiate to remove the sole selling rights and shorten or get rid of the 12 month follow on period.

Thanks for responses, I negotiated sole selling right from 16 to 10 weeks,

So is my understanding right if I sell the property from between the date of the contract to 12 months after the contract started regardless of if they are involved in the introduction they still get their percentage.

If the buyer first heard about the property being for sale during the period while they were marketing it, yes - at least that's what the text you've posted seems to say

Your interpretation is correct: if you sell within twelve months of the end of their marketing period, you pay their fee even if they did not introduce the buyer.

Yes. What you want is sole agent not sole selling rights, which really should not be occurring any more.

The language has got a bit garbled, not sure if it an estate agent's attempt to draft in their version of legalese, but I read it as saying the same as MrsExpo.

Agents try this on all the time but I have never had one not back down when challenged. I'd go back to them in writing and say that you are happy to agree they will receive their fee if they introduce someone to you during that 10 week period and that person buys your house during that 10 week period or the 6 months following it. Otherwise they will not receive a fee. Make sure they confirm their agreement to the variation in writing.

If you do end up going with another agent who find you a buyer within the 6 month period make sure you go back to the original agent in writing and given them 48 hours to confirm if they consider that person was introduced by them.

Under no circumstances should you agree to sole selling rights, tell them to jog on!

The EA will work harder for a sole agency, where they get to keep all the fee, than for a multi agency, where they have to share it. Multi agency fees are also higher. Sole agency is always better, but you can switch to another sole agency if your EA doesn't deliver.

The rather garbled wording in your contract means that if you find a buyer who has been using their services, even if they didn't directly introduce them, you will still be liable to pay your contracted fees. You wouldn't believe the number of people who try and circumvent the agency having availed themselves of free advertising, viewings etc.

Actually, what they are saying is that if you sell to ANYONE during the contracted agency period or twelve months following its termination, whether or not they introduced them, you agree to pay the fees.

That's because, in reality, it's likely a buyer would only know your property was for sale as a result of their advertising, so indirectly introduced by them.

Thanks all, back to negotiations with the agents, and what a complete waste of time for everyone involved, I will basically be signing Over the house for then to sell for 64 weeks or pay double fees! Shame they weren’t up front to start with as could have saved us all the time

You can vary the length of the contract, you don't need to sign up for that long.

I would challenge that. The contracts I've signed with EAs only had a fee payable if the buyer was introduced by them.

What if you sold it to a friend of yours or someone like that - they shouldn't get a fee if they haven't found the buyer surely.

My agent contract had this on. I crossed it out and we both initialled both copies. They were surprised, but they weren't going to lose the contract.

What if you sold it to a friend of yours or someone like that

That is exactly the type of thing it is for. Sole selling rights are are daft.

Yeah don't sign that contract. If you find your not happy with your estate agent and want to change to another you'll still have to pay the first one fees even if they had nothing to do with the buyer.

Look out for and avoid a "ready willing and able buyer" clause. My estate agents tried to use this clause because I wasn't able to complete when they wanted me to (because the buyer was not ready!!).
They said they deemed me withdrawing from the sale and their fees were payable immediately because of this clause.

Fortunately my solicitor put them back in their box but I would never sigh that "ready willing and able" clause again.

You can vary the length of the contract, you don't need to sign up for that long. tbh I thought I had, spend a long time negotiating a lower fee and lower initial exclusivity period which was a complete waste of time considering they’ve tried to sneak this in

Will look out for the ‘ready willing and able’ clause

You can always write your own contract and offer it to them ...

Dont sign it. These wordings seem to appear now since the online estate agencies have risen and nowadays a lot of people chop and change agencies - its just their way of making sure they get some fees off you. If they are that good at selling properties they shouldnt really need a contract like that!

Say you will only go with them if they agree to be sole agents for XX months (a reasonable time you think they should be able to find a buyer) and for 1 month after formal written termination of the contract by yourself. After that you want to be free to change agencies without any penalties/fees whether it sells or not (afterall personal circumstances can change at any time - what if you are ill and no longer wish to sell yet they have a buyer)? They will agree to it because not as much on the market at the moment and with yawns Brexit the market is a bit stagnant.

I think these contracts are the reason why you see some houses that dont sell on the market for so long, they are tied in and seem to be put on the back burner.

Dont feel cheeky - its just like any other service, why would you sign up to a contract that ties you in when you can go somewhere else where they dont?

Have you looked at the online estate agents? Having gone through what I did with mine I would use a fixed fee online agfht instead e.g. Something like yopa, purple bricks or similar.

*agent