Viewed a property and now it’s with a different agent. What to do?

[User112]

Should I call agent 1 or 2 to view it again and possibly offer?

Call the agent who it is on with now, they will have a list of everyone who the previous agent showed round.

I would call the agent who you viewed it through.

The agent who it is on with now may very likely not be due a fee if you buy it, so it is possible they may not put your offer forward in the most positive light. The original agent will probably do all in their power to get the owner to accept your offer as you could represent the only chance of them getting the commission.

It's tricky. I moved agent and if I had sold to someone who had seen it through the first agent, I would have had to pay 3% in fees, which is a shitload (they keep a list of people who viewed through Agent A.) How long ago did you view it? With my contract, if I had sold it to someone who had seen it more than six months ago, I wouldn't have had to pay Agent A. You need to know what the A contract says. I'd go to Agent B, because they will be keen to make the sale happen and may have more of a sense of how to proceed. Agent A is motivated to get involved again and frankly, you probably want them cut out of the loop.

Under a normal sole agency contract (not sole selling rights), if you have recently viewed through agent A, and then approach agent B and view through them the vendor could be to be liable for 2 sets of fees. Which could make you seem a less favourable buyer in the eyes of the vendor.

However, if you go back to agent A and express interest in making an offer they will call the owner and say “that person we showed around 3 weeks ago now wants to make an offer”

Going to Agent B with a view to ‘cut out’ agent A complicates things and could cost the vendor more in fees.

But as mentioned above, it does depend somewhat on what the respective contracts say, which only the vendor will know.

Quite a lot of agents will negotiate with each other to split the fees between them in this scenario (believe it or not) as anything else is just too much bother.

I'd start off with an enquiry to Agent A. Have you left it a long time since you viewed?

It’s been about 2 months since I first viewed the property

Would imagine the agents will split the fee so it doesn't matter.

Definitely safer to go for agent A.

If you go through agent B, agent A will come after the vendor for fees and to avoid this agent B will have to prove that you first became aware of the property thanks to their marketing, which they won’t be able to do because you viewed through agent A.

If you cut B out, they will have no claim to their fee so the vendor will only have to pay A.

This happened to us a few years ago. Viewer with EA 1 made an offer after we changed agents to EA 2. We had months of hassle trying to stop EA 2 claiming a fee. They said they had 're-introduced' the buyer therefore should be paid.
We let EA1 take over and paid them.
While this won't affect you as a buyer it will be easier for the vendor if you deal with EA 1.

The agents won't split the fee. Agent 1 is due the fee if you viewed within 6 months of their contract. Call Agent 1. I work in property

You stick with the agent you viewed it with.