Buyer Asking for Price Drop

[MsJinks]

Hi - selling an estate property - as a project house essentially and price reflected that. Received 3 good offers, but on advice of estate agent took the second one as they were so keen partly, and other various thoughts. At this point estate agent advised that it would reduce the chance of them asking for reduced price post survey.
However they have had the survey and are 'shocked' the roof needs doing - I'm not sure why as there's a clear hole where ridge tiles have come away. So they want to reduce by quite a few thousand to 'share' the load. I'm a bit reluctant to bargain as I took a lower offer and they've also irritated me by sending dodgy builders (imo) to clamber around part of the roof without booking this in - I let them look but after wasn't even sure they were legit so a bit concerning. They've also instructed my solicitor to tell me which removal company to use for an item I am having taken out. So maybe personality is influencing my view on price drop.
The mail the EA sent seems to indicate he thinks it's fair so I think he'll push for some agreement to take several k off the price.
I'm not really au fait with buying/selling but I gather this is fairly common, but if the property was priced to reflect work needing doing is it reasonable to ask for more off when you actually find you will have to do things?

I would stand firm and say you ar enot prepared to drop any further. As others have said, the EA acts for you not the buyer. He sounds very dodgy to me. If he refuses to work with you it really would be a blessing! I suspect he’s on a deal with the buyers…

You don't need to sell to them! Just say "the asking price reflected the condition and we accepted the offer. If you no longer wish to but then we will relist"

With any house, especially a "doer-upper" I think you have to treat the initial pre-contract offer as an approximation. The buyer doesn't really know what they're buying and the cost of sorting it out without some legal due diligence, a decent survey and some quotes. So I think it's completely fine for them to make a better-informed final offer when they are better informed! If you're both happy that's when you enter into a contract. They are the ones who have had to lay out money already. But it you genuinely think you can get more for it then refuse.

It would not be sensible to take any of it personally, especially on a probate sale, and you need to try to remove the emotions. If you'll get more money elsewhere then go elsewhere!

Thank you for replies.
I did see on another thread the OP was reluctant to sell at asking price, whilst EA wanted to close but was told this was a bit unreasonable. I guess I'm just thinking EA may believe that this is the best I'll ever get and I'm being so unreasonable as for it to be my fault the sale doesn’t proceed if that makes sense - he'll at least say he believes this anyway, well he has done!
It does, tbh, seem unfair if buyer suddenly withdraws due to no fault of an EA and they aren't then paid for their work - I don't actually know what happens to fees in this scenario, nor do I know if what I'm doing counts as deliberately stopping a sale?

If you don’t accept an offer the house remains for sale and when it sells the EA gets paid. nb some EAs require payment after a certain period whether you’ve sold or not, like Purple Bricks.
If the buyer pulls out and they’ve incurred expenses re searches, survey etc obviously they still have to pay for these. That’s on them.

Check your contract, but usually the fee’s fall due on completion.
And don’t feel sorry for them, they have clauses to collect fee’s from houses they list but don’t sell. Seller moves to other agent and they scoop a fee irrespective of involvement. This is why it is critical you check your terms before going to another agent.

Ultimately this is a business transaction and you need to see it as such. Irrespective of whether you decline the current offer or not, the EA works on your behalf and should be acting in your best interest. That includes frank conversations of course, but trying to pressure you into something isn’t the one.

Are you sure the EA isn't connected, or friends with the people wanting to buy or even getting a kickback?
He doesn't appear to be working for you, seeing you will be the one paying him.
I'd tell him a firm No. The price is the price agreed and the condition was seen on both viewings. No one is to go round inspecting or making quotes for roofs without an appointment and he will be fired along with the buyers if this carries on.
Dig your heels in.

Thanks again. Well the EA said the other offers were so useless he wouldn't approach them, and he definitely wouldn't re-market if I didn't accept the drop and this sale fell through, so he would stop acting for me. Equally of course he said I had to decide immediately and it turned out I didn't have to after all, and have had some time, so I'm not entirely sure what he'll say after my mail re continuing to act on this sale. I think if he didn't at least return to the other offers then he'd be failing to complete his side, but I could be wrong.

I do wonder about EA and buyer tbh as from first viewing I was heavily sold this was the right person to buy - EA did viewings personally and I wasn't there - but also it could be his EA antenna knowing who is solid and who isn't.
I perhaps made a mistake going with set fee not commission and was heavily sold his services when we first met. To be fair he has worked quickly, fast and answered things at any time (not that I expected that)- photos were awesome and took quite a bit of time too that he helped with.
The, very short, contract states the fee based on selling at initial asking price - so maybe I'd be breaking this clause? It also has 8 weeks exclusivity. It isn't really clear to me whether I'd pay him when it sells whoever sold the property.

If the buyer decides not to buy and the EA decides not to act for you again.
Thats fine
Get another EA and those other buyers ( if they are still looking ) will see it up for sale on rightmove and approach your new EA.
I get a definite vibe that you seem to feel beholden to this EA, you are their client it’s not the other way round.

As an aside it’s not the EA choice to approach/ consider all offers in YOUR property. That’s your choice and he has a duty to pass all offers on to you for consideration.
He’s completely overstepping the mark on so many levels.

Lessons learned, I suppose, about signing a contract that you don't fully understand.

Look at the contract re his fees.
If he has 8 weeks exclusivity that means you can’t market with another during that time.
After that usually you can go to another but, as with Purple Bricks, you have to pay whether they sell it or not. That’s because it’s a fixed price and PB prices are very low.

Absolutely and a rookie error all on me - so stupid, especially when I normally check everything and it was a massive thing of my Dad’s, and this his property 🙈
In this case I just thought, stupidly, I’d keep EA till it sold anyway and didn’t look into what it might mean - I had no massive rush and tbh no desperation for top dollar either - sounds very different to my queries in this thread I know, but it’s the whole way everyone is going about it etc that’s made me step back from just taking a lower price as buyer wants and EA insists.
Indeed a lesson learned - I feel EA won’t hold back with teaching me via costs either 🙈 He said he’d charge anyway if I lose the sale - be harsh if he managed to charge twice when/if it sells as well 🙈

@StandingSideBySide - the contract just says ‘Commission (including VAT) as a percentage of sale price payable on Completion’ - in next column it details the fixed fee. The fixed fee is really not cheap, unlike Purple Bricks for sure, and more than others - he sold a good service though 🤷🏼‍♀️.
It doesn’t clarify I guess if it matters who is selling it for these costs. I have paid for photos already and ID checks.

He sounds dodgy as anything. He does not get to tell you you have to sell/reduce!

(The EA) won't act for me if I refuse as he's worked so hard on it - I said surely there'll be fees and he said no, not without a sale. He later said he'd be charging me full fee if I pull out as he's worked hard on it

Sounds like you've got a rogue EA there; either that or - and this is very likely - he's trying to drive down the price for his "property development" mate

I had this myself, together with ever more ridiculous claims that they "didn't know the viewer" even when their valuer had said they did, and dealt with it by getting a different EA on the case instead

Of course there was a risk that they too would know a developer (or even the same one) but fortunately this was avoided after I made it very clear that I hadn't come down in the last shower

You won’t have to pay their fixed fee if you go to another and it sells sometime in the future to another
However
That doesn’t mean you don’t have to pay the fixed fee when / if you decide to go for someone else.
If this EA is part of a group then just phone the head office for clarification.
If it’s not, do you have a friendly solicitor to ask what it means

Of note
We have used EA and after the tie in period ( ie similar to your exclusivity of 8 weeks ) we have moved to other EAs and not had to pay the first ones at all, bar already paid costs for videos ( that sort of stuff thats sometimes paid as extra ). With one, because we paid for photos as separate, we used the same photos even though they were paid for through EAs contacts.

It really depends on the contract …. Normally
If you are paying a % of the sale price then you have to sell to pay so no tie in.
The fixed fee, however, might be a fee you have to pay whether you sell with them or not. That wouldn’t surprise me as they do have costs.

Tbh I’ve never heard of both % and fixed ( over and above separate stuff eg videos ) in one contract….maybe others here have though.

@Puzzledandpissedoff - the EA presents well, and I'm sure wants to be well thought of and (at least apparently) be properly above board - he loves his work for sure.
I really can't tell if he knows the buyer's family - he said the father was a well known businessman when 'selling' this buyer to me - he's actually much better known for other reasons in this area (public and not bad ones) so not sure why this business was even mentioned - he did say he didn't know what this business was, then he did know apparently, but perhaps just trying to respect the buyer's family privacy, as really their lives are nothing to do with me.
The EA did all viewings, which I very much agreed with at the time, however, now wish I'd got my own 'feel' for the buyer/potential buyers as I've lost some faith in the EA, right or wrong, and it's obviously impossible to assess the genuineness of the buyer - I guess i wouldn't know really anyway, but he was definitely sold to me by the EA as a very genuine, lovely potential buyer.
I did say to EA I hoped someone would want to live here but realised that might not happen - but I don't now know if he just tapped into that with fake assurances, the buyer themselves tapped into it, or if it is actually the case. It's all silly pondering though I guess.
I've decided how to answer as pragmatically as I can - and will see what comes next!

@StandingSideBySide - sorry I was as unclear as the contract is to me!
Whilst the basic printed contract states percentage, there is no percentage, just the fixed fee. Instead of writing amount of percentage commission in next column he changed it to the fixed fee.
He's an independent EA so no head office unfortunately.

He wouldn’t be able to write how much the final fee is based on % as that’s based on the end sale price and paid straight to the EA by your conveyancer at the point of completion.
If he’s scrubbed that out and it’s a fixed fee it must say somewhere in the contract that you have to pay his fixed fee whether he sells it or not.
It does have to say it.

Ask him where it says in the contract when, how and if you have to pay.
Should you be thinking about changing EAs that is.

The EA presents well, and I'm sure wants to be well thought of and (at least apparently) be properly above board ...

They always do, @MsJinks - calling themselves Shyster and Scammer wouldn't get them much business - but there's a reason why EAs rank among the least trusted "professions" (which they're not incidentally, as they don't even have any binding regulations, required qualifications or necessary licencing, and it shows)

I'd suggest that the giveaways in your case lie in "he did say he didn't know what this business was, then he did know", and he wasn't going to charge you then he was. Like so many he can't even get his own story straight, but don't bother trying to point these things out because you won't get a word of sense

Just remember above all that this is your house and you get to decide what happens to it, and maybe give a little less credence to EAs whose interest in commission stands far above that of giving any real service

Can you take the contract over to your conveyancing solicitor and have them interpret it for you?

Your contract with ea should state no sale no fee, so he can’t charge you unless the sale goes through. If you later sell to a buyer the ea had introduced to the property you would have to pay the fee. You will have a set no of weeks in the contract before you can change agents or the agent can stop working for you.

OP, this thread is full of people with experience of buying and selling telling you you that this agent sounds suspicious to them. Please stop taking everything he says at face value.

I agree with the suggestion to run tbe contract by your conveyancing solicitor. It sounds worryingly like he might have covered himself...