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?

This is important, if it falls below 80 it becomes even more expensive and many lenders won't offer a mortgage on 80 or 85 year leases, how many years is it actually for and what are the service fees. It's not comparable to a modern block, do you want to post the details, see if we can help.

And 80 something lease is a big problem.get it extended

You can set it so that the extension is paid by the Sale by completing sale and lease extension same day it us complex but I did that with a flat

"The EPC talked about things I would not be allowed to do. Can't even get secondary glazing!"

The EPC still would have put that as a suggested upgrade on the certificate, irrespective or not of whether you're present or not. These guys have a bunch of boxes to tick and not ticking them is borderline impossible. They can't alter them to say 'listed building, secondary glazing not permissible.'

Anyway, I think your agent was out of order doing an EPC without your permission. No listed building has to have one; they can choose to, but they don't have to. Our local agent charges sellers £130 for them, so wtf did he think he was doing?

You do NOT have to have an EPC to sell a listed house, nor do you need one to rent one out either.

Having it could be doing you more harm than good.

Would you mind telling me what KwH is listed on the cert for heating and hot water, and how many m2 the property is? And do you think the m2 is accurate?

It's tough enough as it is with selling a listed property without folks seeing how much they have to give energy companies.

That said, people who like that sort of property generally already know about the issues with heating them and how much they cost.

Even so, I would consider insisting the EPC gets deleted, unless it's particularly flattering (which, in your case, would be a higher number D rating - but I bet you're nearer E39 or possibly even F).

You can get TRVs fitted on radiators, have a new boiler installed and install low energy lighting. That's about as much as you can do. Possibly floor insulation, but even that has to be done with great care in old buildings and you really, really, really need to know what you are doing in order to avoid damp problems later on down the line.

Oh god, 80 year lease? So, I'm no expert, others will correct me, I'm sure:

When you buy a property you are not allowed to extend the lease for 2 years.

You are bang on the year at 80 that properties attract 'marriage value.'

Extending the lease then becomes exortionate - you have to pay someone a % of how much the property has increased in value as well as for the lease extension.

Any buyers will know they'd fall below 80 years immediately and attract marriage value on the lease, esp if they can't extend for 2 years.

Example: a friend bought a flat in London for 33k in 1995. It's now worth around 385. In 2019 he extended his lease; he had no idea that marriage value even existed. Iirc it cost him something in the region of 27k to get the lease extension.

The other flat in your building that's just gone on for 20k above - how many years are on the lease on the advert? I bet it's more than 100. Hence being more expensive than your flat.

Your bloody estate agent should be telling you that your 80 year lease is the reason your flat is not selling, not a bunch of strangers on the internet.

OP, if you don't deal with this now, before it gets to < 80, it could end up costing you tens of thousands :(

What someone else has listed their flat for is irrelevant. Lot of people are over valuing by huge amounts. At present, the flat is clearly not worth what you think it is because no one has offered the price in a whole year of marketing. It would have sold a very long time ago if it were worth your preferred figure. However, you have now mentioned the lease so perhaps that is the main issue. You should pay to extend that and make it clear to potential buyers. That might help.

Did either agent discuss the short lease with you, personally I wouldn't buy a 80 year lease on a listed property with extremely high service charges with no private outside space and extensive grounds that I'm unlikely to use. I'm sure it's a lovely flat but have you looked at others like conversions that have direct access to a private garden, share of freehold and long leases, maybe not compars your flat to just new build "box" flats although they are very popular, where is the flat?

That sounds like an unfair term to me. Most estate agents have a timescale.

And as PPs have said, you need to get your lease sorted quick smart:

https://www.lease-advice.org/article/extending-a-flat-lease-the-80-year-trap/

Even though reforms are in the pipeline recommendation is for people on an 80-82 year lease to still extend….

https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/for-owners/leasehold-reform/

Sorry, I got the lease length wrong. It's about 103/4 years.

The flat is 72sqm according to EA room measurements and 74sqm according to the EPC. I have attached a screenshot. It's really odd it talks about the roof as I'm on the first floor with people above. My energy bills are really low, my direct debit is about £70-80 a month for both electric and gas. While the windows are poor, I have shutters which help to stop heat escaping when it's cold, plus direct sun for most of the day.

What does the contract say about exclusivity/if someone else sold it? Maybe you could just leave it listed with said estate agent and then have someone else market it for you (maybe at a lower price) and potentially sell it? It’s not exactly ethical but I’ve heard of plenty of estate agents that don’t make anything on x number of properties that don’t sell, but make it up with others. That’s part and parcel of the business- I was led to understand.

The assessor looks at the exterior of the property too and will note its a pitched roof with assumed no insulation, perhaps that should read n/a buf im no expert., having shutters and daylight sun is irrelevant, it's the single glazed windows that are rated. What rating did they give, that's what is registered with the government but it didn't need doing if it was listed and exempt. I wouldn't worry about the difference of 2sqm. How much were you charged for the epc. Why do you think neither agent has sold it.

I had a share of freehold flat and had to extend the lease to over 125 years because at 79 years it was unmortgageable

Sorry wrong post

I think it was rated D. I don't know how much it was, I didn't ask for it to be done and I didn't know he had arranged someone to do it, otherwise I would've said it was exempt.

I think it hasn't sold partly because of the service charge but also because the right people haven't seen it, which is a matter of marketing.

It doesn't say anything about if anyone else sold it. This is how I understand most estate agents operate. My work involves arranging events for my employer, if the event is cancelled, you lose money and that's it, I can't see how being an EA is any different. He belongs to some kind of franchise, although he has referred to "Head Office" so I'm unsure of the actual relationship, so he's not paying for a website and access to Rightmove etc from his own pocket.

Doesn't it depend on who cancels it?

Your employer cancels you lose money. The person buying the service cancels they lose something (usually a deposit)

Again it goes back to the contract. So what happens in your workplace is not relevant.

You can see on the form what rating it was, most are D and are valid for 10 years, the assessor must have been paid by someone, have you asked the assessor or the agent,it won't have been done for free. Your screenshot but on another page will give a reference number, rating and the name of the assessor. How do you think it should be marketed? Who would be the right people, that's the same with any property, it just takes one right person to buy it. Do you think it will only attract certain groups, how has it been marketed so far by both agents,

I'm assuming the EA paid, however I fail to see how that's my problem because I didn't know about it, let alone consent to it being done.

Both EAs have attracted people who clearly aren't that into it. In my mind, the right sort of people might be a couple who need a spare room or office or a retired person/couple who want a large garden but don't want to look after it, people with dogs as the garden is large enough and you can get onto walking paths and common land very quickly. Also very near a private airport, shops, schools etc. but in a rural setting.

My point is that EAs have to be prepared to not sell every single property they take on and should budget accordingly. I wanted my place to sell, he has failed to get any second viewings or offers, despite his very high confidence at first, so I'm not being unreasonable in wanting to cancel the contract. I've not actually gained anything. There's been no professional photos, an EPC that I didn't agree to, and lots of times my property has been accessed without my knowledge. Why should I pay for the privilege?

Would professional photos not help to attract people?

So if the contract states that they will do professional photos and ask permission before doing things like EPC then they've breached contract and so you should be entitled to terminate.
What does the rest of the contract say

I'd see if he has breached the contract but neither agent has sold it for you and without seeing it then it's difficult to envisage what the property looks like and how it compares to others which might help sell it, it sounds like a pied a terre but we don't know how it's been marketed.

I'm not going to sell right now. Going to do the bathroom and possibly my room and see how things are next year or the year after. Hopefully the market where I am would have settled down a bit, flats generally aren't selling that well (not just mine) but if house prices start going up again, it might be easier to sell.

I agree and I was told it would be professional photos, but you can see they're not, plus he took new ones after I replaced the sofa.

For future reference, it is possible for you to vary the terms & conditions of an estate agent's contract with you before you sign it - for instance reducing the %fee if it doesn't get sold within so many weeks, or removing a termination fee if it hasn't received a proceedable offer within 2% of asking price during the time it was up for sale.