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Original poster

Can the estate agent legally do this?

18 replies

SquadGoals75 · 27/09/2025 17:04

I’m trying to sell a house but the estate agent is dreadful. I’ve just checked the contract and the small print says, “The withdrawal fee (£354) is also payable upon 10 months of active marketing should the property not be sold or under offer within this timescale”.

Surely this is unlawful? They don’t sell my house in 10 months and they expect ME to pay THEM!

OP posts:
rwalker · 27/09/2025 17:13

I the house hasn’t sold in 10 months the issue isn’t the estate agent

tbh with sites like right move and zoopla the EA role is minimal

you say there dreadful what examples do you have of this

Lougle · 27/09/2025 17:18

SquadGoals75 · 27/09/2025 17:04

I’m trying to sell a house but the estate agent is dreadful. I’ve just checked the contract and the small print says, “The withdrawal fee (£354) is also payable upon 10 months of active marketing should the property not be sold or under offer within this timescale”.

Surely this is unlawful? They don’t sell my house in 10 months and they expect ME to pay THEM!

It's a clause you either accept or don't accept.

It's there to stop people putting their house on the market for stupid prices and expecting the estate agent to field enquiries and offers that they absolutely won't accept. At least if there's a token fee for non sale, the owner may be more sensible about reducing the price.

LifeBeginsToday · 27/09/2025 17:23

Why would a house be on the market for 10 months? I'm selling right now and we reduced price in week 3 and had an acceptable offer on week 4.

If it isn't selling, it's the price.

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Property legal advice
tinyspiny · 27/09/2025 17:25

If it is in the contract that you presumably signed then I would assume that they have checked that their contracts are legal .

Original poster
SquadGoals75 · 27/09/2025 17:27

They have never rang me to discuss progress or suggest reducing price. They suggested that price in the first place. They never ring viewers afterwards to get feedback. The only correspondence I get from them is an automated email when a viewing gets booked. Just to be clear, the house hasn’t been on market for 10 months yet, I just happened to see that point in the small print today and was surprised.

OP posts:
Sodukuchess · 27/09/2025 17:39

Put yourself in their shoes. What if they had a client where the client insisted on a higher price than the house is worth. House won't sell because it's overpriced but agent has spent time on: travel to valuation and photographs, listing details, adding to website, contract generation etc. The agent then works for nothing?

KnewYearKnewMe · 27/09/2025 17:40

the problem generally starts from expecting someone to provide a professional, quality service , but not wanting to pay for it.

Your estate agent could be doing a great job, and often the hold-ups come from the seller’s side - things like viewings, presentation, or not having a property lined up to complete the chain. Or maybe the house just isn’t too sought after.

Or your agent could actually be rubbish - in which case, you need to keep managing them really well.

That said, as long as it’s on the various portals (which cost your agent to do), it’s correctly priced and it’s desirable, you should be getting viewings.

in terms of the contract - absolutely legal. you’ve signed a contract for their service and they are entitled to caveat. That’s a pretty low price to have, in my experience.

Philipthecat · 27/09/2025 17:45

Yes they can do that. It's standard in EA contracts. Deters people who aren't serious about selling.

Happygirl79 · 27/09/2025 17:47

Is the estate agent Purple bricks by any chance?

Original poster
SquadGoals75 · 27/09/2025 17:50

Happygirl79 · 27/09/2025 17:47

Is the estate agent Purple bricks by any chance?

It’s actually not but I can see why you’d think that.

I was chatting anecdotally to another agent and he said in more than 40 years in the industry he’d never come across that.

Good to hear other people’s views however. Thank you.

OP posts:
INeedAnotherAlibi · 27/09/2025 17:53

I have a relative who is selling and they have a withdrawal fee. The EA explained it’s to cover some of the marketing costs. However, he was very upfront about that and it was clear before the house was put on the market. It’s a bit dodgy if they suddenly tell you when they haven’t made any effort with the sales.

Bearbookagainandagain · 27/09/2025 18:13

Most estate agents are "average" and if they do the minimum, it would indeed not be their fault if the house didn't sell.

But we've experienced 2 terrible ones when we were looking to buy a few years ago, and it kind of changed my views on own bad some agents can be!

The first one, we never managed to get viewings. They had a few properties listed that we liked, but their automated booking system for viewings was crashing all the time, not sending confirmation. Their phone line was always out of office or busy, and once I went in to talk to them in person, I realised a few of their properties were already sold for a while but not indicated as such on their website or Rightmove.

The second one was quite funny. He was clearly bored and disinterested during the viewing, didn't make any attempt to sell the house to us or to say anything positive about it. The house had been on the market for 6 months and they had lost a buyer already, so you would think they would have been motivated. It needed a lot of work to modernise so the agent really needed to help visualise it!

He seemed to wake up a bit by the end of the viewing, and asked us what we thought and if we wanted to make an offer, I couldn't help but laugh.

oldclock · 27/09/2025 18:14

Did you not read the contact before signing?

TravellersJoy · 27/09/2025 18:24

I saw this in the contract with Yopa and went with a no sale, no fee EA.

Coconutter24 · 27/09/2025 18:33

You read the contract before you sign it. If you’re not ok with something then you don’t sign it. If you don’t read it till after signing then find something you don’t like unfortunately that’s your own fault

Littletreefrog · 27/09/2025 18:34

If it's in the contract and you signed it then it's legal.

JohnofWessex · 25/10/2025 16:44

I might start with a stiffly worded email asking why you have not had an offer.

Unexpectedlysinglemum · 25/10/2025 17:19

I guess it’s to cover their photography and website fees

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