Do I pay EA fees if I pull out of house sale?

[FatG]

I’m selling a jointly owned house and plan to go with an estate agent to photograph and market the property and to conduct viewings. Have never used an EA to sell before so don’t know about their fees and if they all usually work in the same way. If they find a willing buyer and get an offer (maybe a few), do we have to accept it and pay the fee? I appreciate that the agents will have put in some hard work to advertise it and liaise with potential buyers to get to that point. I understand that the sale can be stopped at any point before exchange and I would not even consider pulling out at all after buyers have spent any money on surveys etc. Are EA fees payable only on completion?
YABU-EA fees are payable even if you pull out of the sale.
YANBU-It’s your house and if you don’t like the buyers they find you shouldn’t have to sell it or pay the EA fees.

You don’t HAVE to accept an offer if it doesn’t match what you were looking for, but if you decide to take your house off the market most (every?) estate agents charge a fee

You only pay if you sell generally. You are not obliged to accept any offer. Check terms and conditions

Would this be the full fee though? Because it is several thousands, just for a few pics, calls and showing some people around.

As pp said you only pay commission once the sale has completed. Presuming you’re in England? Not sure if it’s different in Scotland.

Thanks, yes in England. I’m just not sure when I’m liable for fees. It makes sense that they’re actually paid on completion (when the money is available from the sale.) What I’m not sure on is whether I’m still obliged to pay when a good buyer is found, even if the sale doesn’t complete because of me.

It will say in the contract if there is a withdrawal fee but I don't really understand why you would take it off the market just to get rid of a potential buyer, or how you think you'll sell it otherwise?

Why would this happen though? Why do you think you might pull out of the sale, even if you have a good buyer? Don’t you want to sell?

Why are you thinking of withdrawing from the sale?

My ex refused to sell our jointly owned house during our divorce and there were fees due. I took him to court to force the sale and to ensure he paid the fees.

If the sale is agreed you shouldn't pull out unless you have real, legitimate reasons to - not liking the buyer is not good enough.

It totally depends on the arrangement you make with the agent and the contract you sign.

Some mean you are bound to pay if they provide you with a 'proceedable offer' (ie, an asking price or near offer from someone who is able to proceed).

Others are 'no sale, no feee' which means you don't pay if you withdraw.

No one can tell you what the contact says as they can differ.

What I will say is that Estate Agents have trained staff, premises to pay for with adverts in the windows, licenses for Rightmove, that leads to databases full of buyers.

So you're not paying them for a 'few photos and visits' - that might be what see but there is more to it.

I don’t want to sell but we can’t agree on the value because the house is in poor condition. We have had vastly different valuations (including EAs and rics). Ex reckons the house is worth loads and I need this to end quickly. I can afford to buy ex out and want to keep the home for our kids to live in weekdays and alternate weekends.

Why don't you just have the house valued then and offer your ex to buy him out? Or do you mean that your ex will say it's worth loads more than what it's been valued at so he wants to put it on the market to see what kind of offers you get?

You can also put a end time on a contract with an agent. Say for example you have 3 months to sell it and if it doesn't sell then the contract will be terminated.

Lots of valuations, huge difference. Ex insists on highest so we can’t agree. “A house is worth what someone wants to pay for it” so this is the only way to find that out.
Very useful info about the timed end of the contract. Didn’t know that so thank you. Is 3 months usual or can it be shorter?

You need to go to court to get this sorted. Get a confirmed valuation to either sell or buy him out. Unreasonable expectations from either of you about the price won't change in either situation and you MUST have some clarity before moving on.

Sellers and EA will be pissed off if you can't agree to sell based on the price - though if an offer has been made at the higher price that suggests he's not far out in the higher value expectation. Refusing to sell at or over the sale price will show you as frustrating the sale and you will certainly face some fees if your ex takes you to court to enforce.

In my case a judge agreed the sale price, as in 'if you get an offer of £x you must sign to sell' otherwise he would have taken over the sale from my ex.

You can't possibly move on either with a sale (at a higher price, in both your favour) or you buying him out (at a lower price, in your favour). I can see why he would be pissed off if you are frustrating the sale.

Are you married op? Value of the marital home would all go in the asset pot to be agreed at the financial agreement stage. Otherwise you're most likely looking at 50/50.

No they don't

Not married

Aha, in that case it might be smarter to have it valued by a surveyor. Their valuations are the only ones that will hold in court. Estate agents can put any price they feel like. It costs a bit though but if you can both agree (although he sounds tricky) that whatever value the surveyor comes up with is the value you will both accept it might be worth it.

I'd check your contract carefully. I woudnt be surprised if the wording has something about a finders fee like "if estate agent finds a buyer... and house is removed from the market and purchased by a someone who enquired via the estate agent.... then the owner will still be liable for fees if completing withing 12 months."

Because otherwise everyone would hire an estate agent and then cancel sale and sell privately to avoid fees.

Not saying this is what you're doing, but just saying to make sure you understand full terms before making any decision.

We had to pay a small deposit for professional photos, energy certificate and other bits and bobs, about £400 if I remember correctly, deducted at the end from the 1% fee negotiated. Seemed fair to me.

Thanks. Rics survey was done a while ago but the market round here has slowed a lot so I think this value is too much now.

The problem is, you both have a vested interest in the valuation. You want a lower valuation so it costs less to buy him out, he wants a higher one so he can get maximum return. Doesn’t sound like either of you is going to budge! I think the best solution here is to put it on the market with some sort of timed end of contract with the EA, if possible.

Some Estate Agents will purposely overvalue a house so you pick them, it can't sell at that price and once you're with them they drop it. I would suggest you pay for a valuation rather than trying to get a free valuation from an estate agency. Some may charge a bit, but I expect you will end up paying less to buy him out and if you explain your situation they may be kind and put it down a bit further, you never know.

There are probably some statistics to access in that case. So if you had it valued in January 2024 and since then property prices have dropped by 3% in your area you can work out a new value yourself. It might be worth a try at least.

Make sure that your contract states that the % fee is paid on the selling price and not the advertised price, we had an EA try this on and as they'd been fairly useless we argued it, successfully.

You need to speak to a solicitor
Yes get three quotes , but don't make them believe you want to sell, that's ridiculous.
Pay a surveyor ?
Why involve people who genuinely want to buy?

You need to sort the issues with your ex out and not involve other people, who think it’s for sale when your aim is not to sell it. Thsts shit behaviour and not ok.

if you’re going to say no, do it now. You can have it valued but not go on the market. But planning to put it on the market, accept and offer then pull out is awful, or put it on the market and never sell is awful, the ea’s don’t need to be brought into your drama.

if you can’t afford to buy him out it needs to be sold. You’re not entitled to it.