Can the estate agent do this ?? Money after completion

[sunintheeast]

I dont ferl we should pay...We completed on a house just before Christmas - now had an email from the estate agents stating that they are "£500 short after getting the (buyers) invoice and please can we transfer the additional funds to them at our earliest convenience" - the estate agents were shocking throughout the process unnecessary delays etc poor communication - as we have completed and all monies transferred AIBU to just say no it is your mistake ...
Any legal/property people out there - is this normal? legal?

What does your solicitor say?

Nah, Keep out of this one OP. It is up to the professional people to sort this out.

You will have been in a contract to pay a certain amount either a fixed fee or a % of the sale price. It has nothing to do with the buy or buyers solicitor. It’s your solicitor that’s done it wrong and you owe the money as it’s the contacted amount

"Good morning Janice, thank you for your email. I have forwarded it to my solicitor.
Kind regards,
You."

Op, you would have had a contract with the estate agent and that contract and its terms are given to your solicitor who pays everyone at the time of completion. What ever their fee was, would have been paid to them. You get a statement so you can clearly see this. Theres no invoice from the buyer, the buyers solicitor doesn't make up the numbers for your fee to the agent and you know this. Call your solicitors and the check the paperwork your self. Not sure what your expecting from mumsnet when you're explaining something in such detail that completely contradicts the sale process in the uk. If your agent didn't get their full fee from YOUR solicitor then you owe it. You know this.🤔

Your solicitor should sort this out, but if anybody got the maths wrong and the EA is genuinely 500 short then you should pay them. You need to pay them whatever % of the sale price you agreed with them and error is not a reason not to pay, no matter who made the mistake.

But if they are trying to get more than you agreed, or to cover costs on top that you did not agree to, then you do not have to and should not pay.

You agree a fee up front with EA. If it were the solicitors who had forgot to charge you something then that's different as they deal with all the searches, paperwork and transferring funds. But EA can't just change what has been agreed as their fee for not actually doing very much in the grand scheme of things.

Tell them to get fucked.

Then why on earth would you need to pay? They are trying it on. If the buyer's seller miscalculated something, then they can try to get it out of the buyer, but really should swallow the cost, since it's their error and they do have insurance for this.

I would say that, as far as you are concerned, the matter is done; you have paid what you were contractually obliged to in terms of solicitor and estate agents fees and will not be paying anything further.

As others have said

1. check direct with the EA to ensure it's not a scam
2. if the solicitor underpaid them e.g. forgot to add £500 for the agreed photographer's fee then you do owe the money; this is nothing to do with the buyers though (which makes it seem more likely to be a scam)

The purchasers don't owe the EA anything so not sure what that invoice is about. Are you sure this isn't some kind of scam. Is it a direct communication from the EA or your solicitor? I would be wary. I nearly got scammed last month with a hotel booking where the scammer had all the correct details of the booking. Luckily I was suspicious and now I'm extremely wary of unusual communications regarding money.

Why are you asking on MN instead of calling your conveyancer?

You should have a contract with the EA that describes the fees from the sale of your property, usually calculated from a % of the sale price, confirmed from the invoice.

That's the agreed amount is due to them from your sale.

Have you already paid them the full amount as per the contract?

No. They take that up with the solicitors. Do NOT pay them anything. Refer to your conveyance lawyer for clarification.

Check your T&Cs. If the buyers Solicitor made a mistake the difference is likely recoverable. Do you think the Estate Agent or you the seller should be liable? Stand your ground if you want but you’re unlikely to get away with not paying and it could affect your credit rating if they take formal action. If EA was poor you had the option to change or raise a complaint so that would be irrelevant to who is legally liable.

If I wanted to run a scam then getting hold of data relating to recent house sales and sending out a plausible letter that looks like it's from the estate agent would probably work quite nicely.... Check it's genuine before doing anything else.

Yeah, this. I think the wording in the post is confusing things.

Seller is responsible for paying their estate agent fees and their solicitor fees. Both agreed prior to the start of the process.

If they fucked up and quoted you the wrong price.m, that’s hard luck on them. They can’t just change it afterwards and expect you to pay.

If something has gone wrong when the final account has been tallied and the payment sent to the agent was incorrect (£500 short of what was agreed), then you need to pay up.

What does your solicitor say?

Could you ring your solicitors and query it with them. Asking if it is legitimate or can it be ignored?

Let the two solicitors sort it out between them, clearly the mistake originated with one of them or the EA so how is it your problem?

I guess the question is: have you paid the EA the % of the sold price you agreed to.
If they invoiced you based on a lower price and are now correcting to the correct sale price then I imagine you will need to pay. Otherwise, I’m curious to know what the fees they are referring to are.

If the sums are indeed wrong then yes you do have to pay. It should be easy enough to work out what you owe them, what you paid them and what the difference is, if any. You can't just not pay because you didn't like the service you got. Your contract is with the EA and you are liable under that contract until you have settled it.

Whoever "got the sums wrong" is the one who needs to take the hit here. You paid the fees that you agreed upon.