Put off a house due to agent fees

[Chunkycookie]

We have found the perfect house. It’s but a project which we have done before and can so again, and it’s in the perfect area.

Only, the agent they are with charges extortionate fees to the buyer.

They will accept an offer of 310k, but at that price, the fees to the agent that we as the buyers pay are nearly 8k!

I’ve never heard of anything like that before. it’s really off putting. We are going to have to offer less to reflect those fees.

Anyone else heard of this? I’ve bought and sold 6 houses in my time, I would never consider an agent who charged the buyer fees, way to put people off!

Really unsure of what to do.

Possibly but it just sounds a lot. I wonder if OP has heard or read correct and the 1% and 3k fee are the same fee but has mistaken it for 2 separate fees.

@Coconutter24 that is possible as in ‘whichever is the greater’, I did post wondering if it was a badly written website or poor communication - so a similar hypothesis.
As for profit - I’ve never seen poor owners of an estate agency! (Owners not necessarily being the same as the estate agent who might be an employee in some businesses before I get jumped on)

Was it springbok? We recently saw a house we loved with them and refused to proceed on the same basis - it was £7k or something on top of purchase price. No one ever answered the phone and they took 24 hours to get back to you about any query - I wondered if the seller had any clue what they were like as it severely hindered the sale of their house and completely turned us off!

I wouldn't pay a fee as a buyer either. They are working for and appointed by the sellers. What is the buyer paying 8K for exactly? I definitely wouldn't pay an upfront fee, which you would lose if the sale fell through for any reason and so far in excess of what the seller would usually be expected to pay. Really cheeky!
If you really like the house, email them to say you that you are considering making an offer but are not happy to pay a buyer's fee and see what their response is.

You’d be nuts to proceed on that basis - there will be plenty of similar houses without batshit greedy estate agents.

Of course it's not illegal. And FRICS is for chartered surveyors.

Which EA is this?

This is a common myth. If they get in the way of the sale, which they are with their fees then they can't claim

We tried to buy a dream house about ten years ago that was being marketed by a non-standard estate agent and did something similar. I didn't resolve the issue unfortunately because the seller had signed a contract that she couldn't get out of. I ended up getting dragged into numerous phone calls with her and it was very emotive because we really wanted the house and she in a really difficult position, which was made worse by the crazy contract she'd signed with the agent. Then then estate agent then got wind of the fact we'd spoken and threatened her with legal action because it was also in her contract that she couldn't talk to potential buyers directly. I'd think long and hard about contacting a seller again directly because of issues with a non-standard estate agent. And as a seller I'd alway read the small print of my contract with the estate agent very closely!

@GlasgowGal82 Sadly I do wonder in this instance what contract has been signed with the EA, as it may mirror your experience.

I think the OP is perfectly justified in asking the EA, or I would suggest the vendor why this method of sale is being used. There is an outside chance the vendor may not know about the buying fees.

I've seen some weird fee set ups with those modern method of auction deals but always avoided as it seems to place all the risk on the buyers. No thanks.

How does it work?
If you refuse to sign on the dotted line then there is no contract between you and the EA. You make an offer to the vendor, they accept and then what ...? The EA can't enforce against you because there is no contract. Do they get the money off the vendor i.e. they are back to the traditional model? If so, why bother with all this in the first place.

@Chunkycookie

when I sold my late parents house in 2022 both the solicitors feee and the estate agent fees came out of the sale before I even got the money

Is is Foxtons?

I bought a probate property a few years ago. I paid no fees except to do the land registry (which to be honest I was really annoyed about as I did not think it should have been my responsibility but the stupid solicitor missed it at the time and it came up about a year later).

I've never heard of buyers fees. What happens if the sale falls through? Would you have any liability? In probate sales the fees are usually taken from the proceeds of the sale.

It also doesn't make senses as the EA is hired by the vendor. They have the vendors interest at heart, a contract with the vendor, yet the buyer foots the bill?

Can you find another home for sale by the same agent (different town) with same terms and post a link so that we can assess.

The executors/solicitors have to pay any tax and debts before they distribute money to beneficiares

https://springbokproperties.co.uk/

this is who we saw the property through when they wanted to charge us.

Just take those fees into account when making your offer if you really want the house.

Agree with pp, sounds like the modern method of auction, which is nothing like a traditional auction.

Be very wary. Not only do the buyer have to pay the fees but if you back out for any reason you still have to pay the fees, ie a very bad survey.

Looking at the description of the agents, it looks like one of those ones who buy the property ( at a lower price than market value). And then sell it on. The house owner probably no longer owns the house.