Can my estate agent charge a termination fee?

[notomato]

I signed a contract with my estate agent in December to sell my flat. After 6 months, I've had literally a handful of viewings and no offers. On asking to remove it from the market, he is now charging me £360. It does say this on the contract but, surely, after so long without any offers, this is totally unreasonable?

You signed the contract, so you will have to pay I’d have thought.

But I could just say well I'll keep it on the market then and impose unreasonable terms on viewings etc. What I'm really asking, is whether the fee is reasonable? You can put what you like in a contract but if it's unreasonable or illegal then you can't enforce it. I've done everything he's asked to try to sell my flat but I've had only about 5 viewings and no offers. He can't expect me to keep it on the market with him, surely?

I don’t think it’s unreasonable or illegal. You signed the contract. They’ve put work in and should be paid for it.

But surely he’s still done work for 6 months and he’s found 5 lots of people to show round I think that’s quite cheap tbf . He still expects to be paid it’s not his fault your house wasn’t what the people were looking for .

There's nothing unreasonable or illegal about it. You say you've only had five viewings but how much actual work has the agent put into marketing your flat – visibility in their window, mail shots, presence on Rightmove, phone calls to prospective buyers etc? What has the feedback from viewings been?

I’d serve notice and ask them to send an invoice to the money just to cut your losses and be more aware next time you sign a contract. Sign up with a new agent.

Id also leave Google, trustpilot, facebook and getagent reviews for this one. Say that you signed up, weren’t satisfied with the quality of marketing and they only generated 5 viewings and no offers within a 6 month window. Say that you would highly recommend that others use a different agent (don’t mention the exit fee). Hopefully they will see the reviews and offer to waive the fee if you take them down

It was online but very little effort otherwise. When he came round, he said he could definitely sell it, no problem. Great area, great size, right price etc etc. I'm in his Facebook group but there's been maybe one post about it. I was with a different estate agent last year and wasn't charged when I asked them to take it off the market.

I've not been particularly happy. A couple of weeks ago, a viewing took place without my knowledge, just a good thing I wasn't in at the time. He's also been in to take photos without my knowledge, again just lucky that I've been at work. I didn't make anything of it because I thought it doesn't matter if it gets sold. But that hasn't happened.

Most estate agents have a cancellation fee if you cancel within 3 or 6 months. But to expect me to keep it on with him forever when he's got very few people through the door is not reasonable.

You can try arguing that they haven’t substantially performed the contract. What are their obligations and how have they complied with them? Am going to assume it’s a sole agent contract. How long did you sign for?

Good suggestion. He's also possibly part of a franchise (though marketed as being "independent") so I could complain to them, plus there's an ombudsman.

Well there must be a termination/ notice period clause written in, surely. You signed the contract, you signed up for that.

Pretty sure you haven’t signed a sole agency contract with no fixed term? It should either have a termination provision or a term.

My point is, there is no time at which i could cancel for free. It could be on with him for years and I'd still be charged.

Apologies, I'm not sure if I understand your comment. There is no point at which I could cancel for free, no term.

You agreed to it though, by signing the contract🤷🏼‍♀️ that was the time to quibble about whether it was reasonable or not.

Op, you mentioned this is possibly the 2nd estate agent that you’ve used, curious why the property isn’t selling. What feedback have you received/sought from the viewers ?
in regards to the cancellation fee, I’d say it’s fair considering it’s in the contract. It would have been no different if it was instead a up front fee to start the process.

But that’s the contract you signed thus agreeing to the fee.
He has done done work marketing so deserves to be paid. Xx

From experience, this is pretty standard. I sold last year and all the agents I spoke to had a similar clause and fee. Essentially it’s to cover their time and efforts in marketing and adverting the property, plus any time spent showing viewers around the house. Whilst I get your frustration about not selling, I don’t think it’s unreasonable or fair to charge a fee for their time and it’s been stated in the contract. They can’t work for free.

is there anyway you could drop the price as it is nearly always the issue?

So there was always going to be this cancellation fee regardless of how long he kept it on the market, has he charged you any other fee, if this is the only fee then get out now, he has done work which you need to pay for, is he a member of any regulatory group. I'd putnit back on with another agent who is not independent, who won't come round or arrange viewings without your knowledge and advance notice. Have you priced it properly, what's the feedback after viewings.

How many viewings did you get with the other estate agent?

Why did you change?

He presumably has your key. Why did you give him that if you didn’t want him
in the house without you knowing?

Know what to target your complaints as. The exit fee is neither here nor there. You signed the contract knowingly. I’d complain on the review sites about the lack of viewings, and to his parent company and the ombudsman about him letting him in to your home on two occasions (that you are aware of) without notifying you or having your consent.

Plenty of people give agents keys, and the expectation is that they warn you before they come round, not for them to let themselves in Willy-nilly.

You should not have signed the contract OP. You must have read it and knew what you were signing up to?

My agent had a couple of things in the contract which I didn't agree with so I told him, and he said that's fine, cross them out. If you don't agree with the terms, don't sign.

If you refuse to pay the fee, which you were told about in advance and so it's not unreasonable for them to request, and/or if you leave him negative reviews on social media, you risk being blacklisted by all estate agents in the area, and then nobody will agree to sell your flat for you.

EAs talk to each other, trust me.

FWIW if you're thinking 'how much money could it possibly have cost them to do photos/five viewings' - independent estate agencies get charged £2,000 PER MONTH to have a Rightmove account.

I just wouldn't risk it if I had to sell my property. Unless I wanted to risk using a shitty out of town one who doesn't know the market like the local folks do.

Just to answer a few points. I live in a converted house with higher than average service charge due to the age of the building. This was a concern of mine when going with this estate agent but he said oh no it's fine, there are people I will market to who will see that as small change etc. He said the price was in line with other similar flats in the area. A couple of weeks ago, he sent me an email with three options for going forwards: dropping the price, taking it off the market, or staying as things were.

My previous estate agent got many more people through the door but no serious offers (a couple that were just too low to consider) but this one didn't even get any second viewings or offers, whether serious or not. Just incredibly disappointing given this estate agent almost guaranteed he would sell it. I don't have £360 just floating around. It's a lot of money, especially when I've not been happy with the service.

Feedback with the first estate agent was that the service charge was too high. With this one, very odd feedback, one said they wanted a flat on the ground floor (so why see one that's not?!) but for most of the viewings, I've not had any feedback at all, which is why I don't think he's been doing his job properly.