Can anyone explain Scottish estate agent withdrawal fees and missives?

[TirednessOnToast]

Can anyone help re marketing a house in Scotland
(& if I get that far later 'exchanging missives') please?

I have bought in Scotland before but it was 20 years ago so I can't remember.

I am hoping to sell my house.

I have had a contract through to sign from estate agent.
I'm interested in what happens if I withdraw - & at what stage.
There are 3 bits that seem to contradict each other?

Can anyone help me read this? (I'm tired & anxious)

Does it mean:
If I go on the market but withdraw before a 'reasonable offer' (over offers over?) is made then I pay £500 Withdrawal Fee?
If I accept an offer then withdraw I pay 50% of the Sale Fee (1%+vat)
What is the difference between 6.3 & 9.1? I am confused!

Obviously I will not take this as legal advice & will call the firm but if anyone can help me make sense of it first I might make less of an arse of myself?
thankyou x

the relevant bits are:

6.3 We will be entitled to payment of our fees and other costs agreed if a ready willing and able purchaser is introduced to you by us in accordance with your instructions even if you subsequently withdraw or exchange of missives for the sale does not take place, irrespective of your reasons. A purchaser is
defined as somebody who has exchanged unconditional contracts for the purchase of the Property

9.1 If a purchaser is introduced by us (or our joint agent) and sale terms are agreed in accordance with your instructions, even if you subsequently withdraw or if the exchange of Missives does not take place, irrespective of your reasons, we reserve the right to charge you 50% of our sale fee in addition to any outstanding expenses if you withdraw from the sale of the Property. Should you re-instruct us within 6 months any fee monies paid will be deducted from your sale fee.

9.2 If you instruct us to sell your property as per the terms of our “Terms of Business- Property Sales” and in accordance with your instructions, we bring it to market and during the campaign you subsequently withdraw or take it to another agent then we reserve the right to charge a £500.00 withdrawal fee.
This is to cover the work carried out in relation to taking your instructions, listing the property, and meeting our legal requirements re money laundering regulations.

TERMINATION
Our instructions to act may be terminated by either party by giving 28 days written notice. If this happens, all up front marketing expenses and any other costs that we have incurred on your behalf must be paid by you immediately. This will include any costs which we would have otherwise absorbed within our fee if a sale took place.

bump

(sorry it's long)

Bump

At a very high level it means you are liable for a proportion of agreed fees if you pull out of a deal that you have accepted or if you decide not to continue to sell for any reason including going to another agent.

The percentage fees would only apply if you accept an offer, for example just having an offer on your property doesn’t mean the EA had successfully done their job, the offer could be too low/buyer not suitable etc..

It’s fairly standard, some (decent) EA’s won’t charge a fee if you have a good reason for pulling out of the marketing phase or they are unable to obtain any offers but in general it’s their to protect them from not getting paid for the work they complete.

@Meeplemakeglasgow Thank you! I'm a bit nervous as a) EA said house would value at 190k so offers over 185k. In fact it valued at 200k but EA now says same o/o. Also elsewhere in contract it says: 'any offer they deem reasonable during a period of 12m' (but they charge more if it stays on that long too) So clearly if I get an offer of 185k & don't accept they'll charge.
(I'm already paying £800 marketing)

The agreement isn’t set in stone, tell them what offer you would find acceptable if it worries you (via e-mail so you have a record).

It would be difficult for them to argue that an offer under HR would be acceptable though.

@Meeplemakeglasgow thank you.
Hoping you are still around for 2ndary Qu if ok?

My house is 1880's so a number of 1's and a few 2's on HR.
Unfortunately the (very nice) surveyor also found a patch of wet/dry/infestation in ceiling of basement under hallway floor. He has thus marked both wet/dry rot, woodboring infestation for both and floors on the report as 3's. He advised getting a specialist out if I were to stay (as 'a matter of urgency') but also as prospective buyers will probably do their own report & drop any offer by '000's'.
He said to counter this potential problem to get a well respected local person to do a report to give an idea of repair size/costs.

I asked EA for a pause to let me do that. Also for clarification re costs
(I asked they confirm 'a reasonable offer' is over o/o price too). They replied to say: 'no need to commission your own report as buyers will do that' & only reply re costs was £500 vs 50% that I'd already stated. 'Brochure is ready, please sign T&C and do ID check' & we can get property on market' Feeling steamrollered.

I am clearly a nervous seller but I feel like I am irritating them & my suggestion to get this HR issue checked out seems sensible (certainly Surveyor said to)

I'll also now need to insist that it goes on at o/o 195K not 185K (HR '200k)
as any buyer will chip the price down now I feel? (& if not it covers price of fees)

If you feel they are rushing you and not taking the time to talk to you then there are no shortage of estate agents to take your business to.

Dry Rot sounds scary but is incredibly common, coincidentally our house had dry-rot when we bought it, we had a survey done and the repairs cost about £3k (2021 so might be a bit more now).

Most large dampness/rot specialists will give you a free written quote, it would encourage buyers of they know roughly how much the repair would cost, may still get their own but would certainly do you no harm.

An Estate Agent is fundamentally a salesperson, they want to sell your house as quickly as possible.

The reality is they don’t really care if they get £20k less or £20k more for your property, what is a life-changing amount of money for you has little to no effect on their commission.

Like most things in the property world I would advise you to trust your instincts.

Thanks @Meeplemakeglasgow
I'm not sure I can change now? I've not signed T&C but I have agreed to the photos (done) & they are clearly quickly writing up the brochure (not seen yet) so I think they will charge me the £800 anyway (should be less if property not on Rightmove yet but I bet they push for the £800 & then say pics belong to them)
I'm in a small area so only 2 agents to choose from (other is literally across St)

But, thank you for your reply as I agree that they are clearly just pushing fast for their sales commission rather than caring if I get 20K more or less. To me that is huge (Carer for a young disabled adult, so long term low income situation)