Estate agent fees & not signing contract

[Greeneggsandspamm]

I have just sold my late father's property after a lot of aggro and time. There was a lot of messing around when I initially listed with a second estate agent after the first one I used wasn't great. When it came to negotiating a fee with the second agent they verbally said they would match the first estate agent (1.5%) as I think on their contract it said 2%. Anyway I didn't ever sign the contract and we have just exchanged. Where will I stand with all of this? I'm not terribly happy with their service as they wouldn't get back to me when promised and they put a for sale sign up when I explicitly said not to, removed it and took it down again and then just today I've been back ro the property and discovered they had put the for sale sign back up again some months ago without telling me! If I haven't signed anything can I chose to go by what was mentioned verbally?

I would be much more worried about the fact that you have used two agents. The first agent will probably have a clause in their contract that says you still owe them commission even if you sell via a different agency, unless you obtained a release in writing from such an obligation.

Whether you can get away with 1.5% for the second agency will depend on a lot more detail than you have here. If they sent you a copt of their standard terms and you subsequently agreed to a viewing they will be able to argue implied acceptance but it's not certain how it will go if you end up having to resolve in court.

Why does it matter if a for sale sign goes up on a house that is indeed, for sale? Surely this is part and parcel of the package when selling a home if you want it to sell reasonably quickly.

I imagine you'd be best off asking them what rate they have applied to this and go from there. Have you any emails or written documents agreeing to terms of engagement?

Ultimately they have delivered on a buyer and taken it to exchange so they will expect payment for delivering the (verbally if nothing else) agreed service. If you believe there is a separate verbal contract in place for 1.5% then you need to call them and discuss this, confirm it and subsequently pay it or I would expect them to pursue the costs through the legal route in respect of a binding oral contract based on the conduct of both parties behaving as though they were in one by their actions in proceeding.

The contract had ceased with the first agent before I relisted with agent number 2 so legally all fine with first agent.

It matters because I didn't want to draw attention to the fact the property was unoccupied and I also didn't want anyone drilling into the brickwork of the house (terraced) yet they did this twice.