Flat Sale Drama - Sole Agency Agreement 20 weeks.

[lonelyfemale]

I signed up with an estate agent over 2 months ago (circa 16th June) but have lost my copy of the sole agency agreement...the buyer they found has just pulled out because of something to do with managing agent's sellers pack...but they were very vague as to what.

Anyway I have to hold out another 2 months or longer I guess for a new buyer. But I just wanted to know what the longest a property could stay on an Estate Agent's books without selling was? As I'm not giving my flat away, especially with house prices as they are.

Ask your solicitor to find out why they pulled out. Disinstruct them immediately. No one has such a long sole agency period. You will see, they won't use that point as an argument.
Find another agent. Why 2 months for another buyer? This is a busy time. Get a new agent who will have a fresh enthusiasm for your flat.

Well I'm not sure if I've upset the Licensed Conveyancer...(I don't have a solicitor but they do the same and charge nearly the same).

I sent her an email today asking a dumb question like will you charge abortive fees if I don't get a new buyer after a certain point.

The estate agent put forward an offer an initial offer without asking for me to start ball rolling on lease extension (as I have the 2 year ownership rights to do so) but then put in another £2k higher offer to do so, then subtracted this offer to go back to the first one....on the basis I just get the 'quote/ball rolling'...to start the lease extension they would pay the rest.

The solicitor/licensed conveyancer has all my paperwork at the moment as I gave it to them on signing their contract, ready to start process with otherside's solicitors and exchange/complete as soon as possible.

Now solicitor is saying tough luck on the £125 because it wasn't in writing and wanted to know if I would be re-marketing the property. I said I would be re-marketing the property.

I think I should be able to disinstruct the estate agents at some point but obviously now stuck with licensed conveyancer until I get a buyer and sell flat....otherwise she will want to charge abortive costs for all her work. I would also suspect the buyer's solicitors will want to charge for their work etc as well....but I only have to pay my solicitors and the estate agent once the sale has been accepted and gone through.

The estate agent (who I am told can speak to everyone in the chain) said that the buyer pulled out because of something they didn't like in the managing agent's 'buyer's pack'....which seems weird to me because the managing agent hasn't even sent me the quote to extend the lease yet...which I paid for 2 weeks' ago.

Anyway, not sure whether I can ask the licensed conveyancer about changing estate agent...but I will go in there personally tomorrow as when you speak with people face to face you get to gauge more information.

Still really frustrated with it all.

Thanks for your response.

Your solicitor/licensed conveyancer will normally be happy to keep your file on hold until you have another buyer. They won't care which Estate Agent you use to sell it. If you prefer to market your flat with another Estate Agent, you will need to get out of your current contract, so do read the terms and conditions (get them to send you a copy if you can't find your copy). A lot of solicitors/licensed conveyancers work on a no completion no fee basis - perhaps check whether yours is one of these?

Presumably you paid for the management pack and the buyer's solicitor would have received a copy. It may be something within the pack like the amount of service charges or increasing ground rent that has put them off, or maybe there are major works in the pipeline (have there been any Section 20 Notices issued?). If you were prepared to start the process for a lease extension then I'm sure that there would be a cost involved - maybe the buyer didn't want to pay the amount being requested or thought that you should contribute towards the cost. Maybe the buyer struggled to get a mortgage offer if the remaining lease term is short. There are actually a number of reasons why purchasers pull out, not everyone understands leases and its obligations, which can frighten some people and they walk away without really investigating the issues. The buyer's pack is nothing to do with the lease extension - that is a separate issue.

Leasehold flats do take longer to exchange/complete. There are more enquiries because the freeholder/landlord/management company all have to respond to leasehold queries and there are often defects in the lease which take ages to sort out.