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.

The usual procedure is to get three valuations and use the average of the three to get to the price used for valuation in these circumstances.

I'm not sure it makes any difference, sounds like the OP has no intention of selling the property.

That only works though if the valuations are fairly similar and they don't seem to be in this case. My exh got an estate agent to value our property at £225K under the actual value so even if I had got two valuations at the actual value the average would have been way lower that it should have been. I was told in situations like that you need a surveyor to do the valuation as they are obligated by law to give a fair valuation.

Op think sensibly what’s the odds of buyers being found and he agrees ro not proceed and just let you have the house? You can’t force him to continue to own half.

I’d just let it go on the market for what he thinks it’s worth and if by some miracle it sells at a high price then you both come out with more money.
but it probably won’t sell and then you could try again at buying him out for what you believe it’s worth

I don’t think his valuation is why she can’t afford to buy him out, she’s never said that.

No, she said she can afford to buy him out. She thinks the amount her ex is willing to sell for is too high.

At that much of a difference it would have been disregarded anyway and another valuation done and put in place.
The estate agents should have been reported to a higher authority.

Ah yes you’re right, my bad, she can afford it if it’s valued less than he thinks a lot less.

Estate agents don't carry out valuations though, they provide marketing advice. If you want a valuation you need to go to a surveyor.

@FatG when I bought out my partner I had three Estate Agents value the house and also looked up what similar houses nearby had sold for. I did not put the house on the market - so I paid the Estate Agents for the valuations. One did it for free but I was upfront. This happens all the time. Don’t put it up for sale unless you intend selling it. At the time it cost £100 for each valuation and I was happy to pay. They put it in writing. Edited to add cost.

@Mildura tell the person I quoted, I bought my house with out estate agents.

Their valuation came with a clause saying that basically their valuation is not worth the paper it's written on as it's only a guide. I don't think I could have reported them, although I would have loved to.

@RoachFish that's appalling x

I know. I emailed the estate agent in question and cc'd the owner of the agency telling them that they are the worse kind of cowboys and what they are doing is enabling financial abuse plus a lot of other stuff.

I have never defended an estate agent before, but it is not fair for you to get them to do all that work for no fee, just because the two of you can't agree on a valuation. Pay for a proper survey, even if it is all out of your pocket. If your ex is over valuing as much as you think, it will still save you money in the long run. If he isn't then you will receive a fair amount in any sale if you can't afford to buy him out.

Estate agents don't perform valuations, unless they're also qualified as a surveyor.

OK. I don't know what the correct word to use is then. They come in and tell you what they think the property is worth to get an estimated selling price.

Does it matter that I’m the man? She is the one overvaluing to get more out of me. She is the major breadwinner and I need somewhere for the kids because she’ll only have them every other weekend.
I can afford to buy her out.
She wants too much.
I have paid a Rics surveyor to get a figure, which she also disputed, but sold prices around here seem to have dropped since then so I think it is worth even less than that now.
I agree using EAs and teasing buyers to solve this is awful but I can’t see any other way. We both want to avoid going to court.

Yeah they do.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/news/articles/property-news/estate-agent-property-valuation/

I was being facetious, because you thought you were being clever.
You didn't actually have to @ roach
Edited because I put phone down to answer the door, and it it predicted bringing not being and I didn't notice

It’s a withdrawal fee you would pay, that’s different to the price on completion.

I guess the other (and fairest?) way is to sell the house and split the money. Which is what will have to happen if you can’t agree.

@FatG but you don't need to drag other people in to your family drama.
Seek proper legal advice

Maybe try and show her that the prices have gone down and propose something slightly above what it would be now if you think she'd go with that. Is there any negotiating taking place or is she just knocking every suggestion down without even trying to find a solution?