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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Aibu - would you pay this estate agent

37 replies

mummyrabbitpeppapig · 30/04/2017 21:21

Signed up to sell my house with whitegates ( LB acting for whitegates on contract ) in Feb 16. In aug 16 LB changed to Steplow as now there are two 'partners' acting for whitegates. ( No new contract signed ). Long story short they are not v good have made at least two ( balls ups ) one time wrongly noting my for sale sign with under offer then after me telling them about this mistake, a couple days later adding a 'sold' sign. Ffs! Then a flurry of congratulation type messages from.neighbours friends etc. Felt a tad put out tbh to say the least so, in march this year I sent an email to terminate my contract. Thing is when I originally signed up the contract ( can't find it now )stated I had to pay £199 plus vat if I didn't sell with them and took it off the market with them. I'm wondering as the contract was over 12 months ago and with just one partner and now with a different ( joint ) partner / company am i obliged to pay. Glad you've read this far.

OP posts:
donquixotedelamancha · 30/04/2017 23:07
  1. Why on earth would you sign a contract that paid £200 if they failed to sell? That's impressively terrible practice by them. Hopefully this is a learning experience.
  1. Get a copy of the signed contract. Do nothing until you have one. Read it very carefully, looking for getouts. Hope they've lost the original; but if they haven't and it is as you describe you are a bit buggered.
  1. You could contact any trade associations they are a member of, this is an unusual contract term. You could try writing to the local press to out their poor practice. You try to find a way they breached the contract (does the contract specify LB for example). These are all very long shots and if it goes to court they will easily demonstrate costs of £200 in a year.
DancingLedge · 30/04/2017 23:08

Get copy of contract.
Get it to CAB.

DancingLedge · 30/04/2017 23:12

#3 above, Really ,really don't go to local press all guns blazing.
You're trying to resolve this, not start a fight. That would only be a good idea if you were 101% certain you were in the right.

There are a variety of kinds of EA contract. The fact that some of them are not a very good bargain does not make them illegal or wrong. Your choice as to what you sign up for.

Harree · 30/04/2017 23:50

This happened to us. After being on the market for 2 years, we took it off the market for 6 months or so but then wanted to put it on with a different agent. We had no choice but to pay it & the new agent agreed to cover the cost (take the equivalent amount off their fees) if they sold our house. Of course, they forgot when it came to the completion settlements but they did knock it off their bill when we reminded them.
If I was selling again, I'd definitely get a time limit put into any contract I was agreeing to with anyone marketing my property.

Ginorchoc · 01/05/2017 07:44

Doesn't look like they've changed hands, Whitegates is the franchisor and steplow is the franchisee T/A Whitegates cleckheaton so I suspect you'll have to pay.

Original poster
mummyrabbitpeppapig · 01/05/2017 08:31

I've been thinking about ( and Googling ) it more and I think you may be right.

OP posts:
Original poster
mummyrabbitpeppapig · 01/05/2017 11:16

Thanks everyone for all your input

OP posts:
peukpokicuzo · 01/05/2017 11:27

I think it's a reasonable contract clause. It's not at all unheard of for people to put their home on the market speculatively, with an unrealistically high asking price and no intention to sell just to see what kind of offers come up. The estate agents then find they have wasted their time in photographing marketing and advertising the house with nothing to show for it.

£200 is a reasonable price to pay for the work that they did.

Not having achieved a sale after over a year on the market suggests your asking price was way too high.

SoupDragon · 01/05/2017 11:40

Not having achieved a sale after over a year on the market suggests your asking price was way too high.

Which in turn suggests that the estate agent has done a really crap job. Or possibly no job at all.

donquixotedelamancha · 01/05/2017 12:40

"#3 above, Really ,really don't go to local press all guns blazing.
You're trying to resolve this, not start a fight. That would only be a good idea if you were 101% certain you were in the right."

Didn't say it was a good idea :-) I think it has about as much chance of working as the others. This is very unusual practice in Estate Agency and if a local paper enquire, they might decide its easier to just undercut the story by waiving the fee.

She doesn't really lose much by contacting a local paper, it's hardly scandal of the century; but it's not the way I'd play it either.

DancingLedge · 01/05/2017 19:49

Very unusual?
Hmm PinkyPurply Things has currently a nationwide contract offer that says you owe them £650-£790 , 9 months(if memory serves me right) after putting your house on the market with them. Whether you've sold, withdrawn, or given up and gone with another EA.

So , not exactly unusual.

Original poster
mummyrabbitpeppapig · 01/05/2017 20:16

Peukpokicuzo

I put it on at the estate agent recommended asking price actually.

( Not that I should have to justify to anyone...)

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