Estate agents fees/no signed contract

[Greeneggsandspamm]

I have just sold my late father's property after a lot of aggro and time. There was a lot of messing around when I initially listed with a second estate agent after the first one I used wasn't great. When it came to negotiating a fee with the second agent they verbally said they would match the first estate agent (1.5%) as I think on their contract it said 2%. Anyway I didn't ever sign the contract and we have just exchanged. Where will I stand with all of this? I'm not terribly happy with their service as they wouldn't get back to me when promised and they put a for sale sign up when I explicitly said not to, removed it and took it down again and then just today I've been back ro the property and discovered they had put the for sale sign back up again some months ago without telling me! If I haven't signed anything can I chose to go by what was mentioned verbally?

Did they actually sell your dad's house? Agent 2, I assume?

If yes, they'll sue you for non payment. Doesn't matter what was signed or not. They'll have far more money invested in lawyers than you could ever hope to gather.

Yes they have sold it, I'm just wondering if they will accept 1.5% they spoke about matching or will insist on the 2% I didn't sign the contract for.

Look at it this way - what’s the monetary value of the difference between 1.5 and 2? I bet it’s less than the cost of this going to court.

I'd certainly push back on it, and cc the solicitors so they don't pay the agents to full fee directly.

You presumably don't have an evidence they agreed 1.5% but equally they don't have any evidence that you agreed 2%.

I wouldn't risk court for 0.5%. I would pay them the 1.5% and if they dispute it, just pay the 0.5%.

Are you sure you don't owe both agents? some of them will go after the money even if you don't stick with them and swap.
However I would argue the toss with them because they have no evidence that you agreed 2%, I would give them 1.5% but also check out the contract for the initial EA, just in case there is a clause that means you have to pay them too

How much money are you talking about exactly.