Sacked Estate Agent looking for fee

I sacked my estate agent a day after going sale agreed as I seriously believed he didn't act in my best interest. Before I sacked him he had sent me a copy of the letter to my solicitor outlining the purchasers' details. After sacking him, he sent me a letter to say that if I subsequently sold to the purchasers named in his original letter he would be claiming his fee of 1%. I've absolutely no intention of dealing privately with the people that I went sale agreed with. I had no contract with the original EA. If I go back on the market with another EA and the original party end up being successful again, might I end up having to pay a commission to both EAs?

I was reading your other thread, seems to be common in today's market. And to be honest, I would pay the EA 5K to secure a house for us. The bidding war can be very, very tramatic.

However, the EA can only claim his 1% if you go sale agreed with the original bidder. If you readvertise it again with a different EA and the bidder comes into the fray, at that stage you can sell it without the fee. Your new EA can advise you on this better perhaps.

I think it's your duty to name and shame your old EA.

I think it's your duty to name and shame your old EA.

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Don't under any circumstances even consider thinking of doing so here.

redo, are you not aware of how the libel laws work in this country?

Not really. However, without mentioning good or bad, could he not post up a name and leave it at that? Ie name and no shame

...without mentioning good or bad, could he not post up a name and leave it at that? Ie name and no shame

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I can't see how this could make sense.

Btw, if you are unaware of our libel laws, then it is irrespnsible of you to encourage others to break them.

Please stick to the questions asked, i.e. is the agent entitled to a fee or not. I have a feeling that this was discussed on AAM before. A search may provide the answers.

Don't say anything libellous or potentially libellous.

Thanks.

hi

if he did not get you to sign a contract well then his claim is not worth the paper it wqas not written on!

I sacked my estate agent a day after going sale agreed as I seriously believed he didn't act in my best interest

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I don't believe he is entitled to a penny even if you sacked him because you did not like the colour of his front door, but that aside, the fact that you believe he did not act in your best interest strengthens your case. Do you want to outline why you feel he did not act appropriately, and maybe we can advise on the specifics.

Again, no naming.

trading_up said:

Before I sacked him he had sent me a copy of the letter to my solicitor outlining the purchasers' details. After sacking him, he sent me a letter and copied my solicitor to say that if I subsequently sold to the purchasers named in his original letter he would be claiming his fee of 1%. I've absolutely no intention of dealing privately with the people that I went sale agreed with. I had no contract with the original EA. If I go back on the market and they end up being the successful party again, might I end up having to pay a commission to both EAs?

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From your quote it appears the original EA did introduce a purchaser to you. What do you mean you had no contract with the EA? Did he give you anything in writing confirming his fees and terms? I'd be very surprise if you had nothing from him - how were his fees quoted? Verbally or in writing?

Sarah

www.rea.ie

There is nothing stopping another EA introducing the same buyer.

Sarah W said:

What do you mean you had no contract with the EA? Did he give you anything in writing confirming his fees and terms? I'd be very surprise if you had nothing from him - how were his fees quoted? Verbally or in writing?

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I had no written contract. He outlined his fees and advertising cost in a letter. Absolutely nothing in writing that I agreed to this. I did pay him his advertising costs as I thought this was only fair.

To reiterate, I've absolutely no intention in dealing directly with the original buyers. I'll be going to a new EA. My concern is that if I sell to the original buyers through the new EA, the original EA will come looking for another 1% after I have paid 1% to the new EA.

trading_up said:

To reiterate, I've absolutely no intention in dealing directly with the original buyers. I'll be going to a new EA. My concern is that if I sell to the original buyers through the new EA, the original EA will come looking for another 1% after I have paid 1% to the new EA.

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I assume the original EA has provided you with the name of the original buyer. If that's the case, what you could always do is let the bidding go ahead on your property (from what I remember of that other thread, the interest seemed to be there). If it gets to the stage where the final bidders are the original buyers and a different set of buyers, and there's very little in the difference in bids, then just don't sell to the original ones.

Obviously you'd need to explain the situation to your new EA though. Hope you have better luck with that one.

Alternatively, given that you had no contract with the EA, I'd be surprised if you were liable to pay him the 1% (but I'm no lawyer), especially if you have no direct contact with the bidders - how would he know who buys the house anyway (unless, of course, he's a mate of theirs, which would explain what was going on all along).

Just pop down to your nearest CAB and check it out.

Am I missing something?

You want to sell your house. You employed an EA ( you did) and you have a verbal contract with him - the contract does not need to be in writing. You acknowledged the contract by paying his advertising fees.You hate the EA but ..........he got you an exceptionally good price for the house. Now you want to go with someone else and you're worried that if the original highest bidders come back that you will have to pay the original EA but didn't he introduce those bidders so wouldn't he be entitled to his money?

I can understand the problem if he failed to produce a single bidder but that is not the case. Why not just conclude the sale, pay him his money and leave it? If you don't do that, you will have the worry of what ifs............

mf

Hi Trading up. You could say that you are taking the house off the market, wait 2 months and then try another EA. Afaik ,you only have to pay Ad. expenses

mf1 said:

he got you an exceptionally good price for the house.
mf

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All he did was pass on an offer. Now the real crux of it is, he/she wasn't passing on all offers. Trading_up, I'd get in touch with your solicitor and ask for the advertising fees back as he/she was not doing his job that you paid him/her to do.

trading_up said:

I sacked my estate agent a day after going sale agreed as I seriously believed he didn't act in my best interest.

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It is the seller's sole decision to accept or reject a bid presented by EA.
The EA told you a price and you accepted it.
So, why did you go sale agreed if you believe he didn't act in your best interest?

There is always 2 sides to a story and I'd love to hear the other side of this one....

bacchus said:

So, why did you go sale agreed if you believe he didn't act in your best interest?

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After accepting the bid, I sought professional advice and an opinion. That advice indicated that the EA did not act in my best interest. That was what I had initially felt but by that stage prospective purchasers had already been turned away - irrespective of whether I had agreed a sale or not! The vast majority of opinion here on AAM also felt he did not act in my best interest!

bacchus said:

There is always 2 sides to a story and I'd love to hear the other side of this one....

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True - there is always two sides to every story. However, in the absence of the original EA starting a thread, you only have mine! My story is driven by my desire for the best price for my property - not unreasonable. The originals EA's, in my opinion, is driven by a desire to get properties sold as fast as possible - unreasonable in my opinion and I'm paying his fee!

mf1 said:

... you employed an EA (you did) and you have a verbal contract with him - the contract does not need to be in writing. You acknowledged the contract by paying his advertising fees.

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And will a verbal contract have much standing? All I did was asked him what I owed him and he said advertising - I paid him that - that doesn't constitute me entering into a contract with other unknown terms! There is no verbal, written or otherwise contract!

mf1 said:

He got you an exceptionally good price for the house

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Turns out the price wasn't so exceptional after all! I thought the offer was exceptional. This is based on professional advice I have received and results from very very similar properties in the area. So, what I thought was exceptional, turns out isn't! I'm not a professional property valuer - that is why I hired one!

I don't think you have much to worry about if you hand it over to a new estate agent and don't deal directly with the original party. I think you were dead right to sack the original estate agent as he clearly wasn't acting in your best interests. I don't need to hear the other side of the story as bacchus has suggested. What more is there to hear? If he turned prospective purchasers away before you went sale agreed, then he deserved the bullet. As you say, it is perfectly reasonable for you to expect the best price for your house. It is unreasonable for him to put interested parties off before you go sale agreed. Fair play to you for standing up to him!

tradingup said:

that stage prospective purchasers had already been turned away - irrespective of whether I had agreed a sale or not!


The originals EA's, in my opinion, is driven by a desire to get properties sold as fast as possible - unreasonable in my opinion and I'm paying his fee!

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Hi Trading up. Unless I have missed something ,it seems to me that you made some errors. One, you accepted an offer instead of telling the agent that unless a better one turns up after ? days/weeks, you would accept it. Two, you are wrong to assume its unreasonable for EA(for whom I have little regard) to want to get a buyer as quick as possibe for the simple reason that usually they have lots more houses to sell. You would do the same if you were an EA. I ,too, have had problems with an agent who tried to push me into selling to one particular party.

Could not agree more with Casca.
Reading between the line, greed is the root cause of the problem, not the EA.
Trading _up has accepted a bid, and should honour his word. Full stop.