Must I pay an incompetent estate agent?

[ClubMan]

The original agent has suddenly contacted us requesting his fee and or the sale to go ahead with the original buyers who he claims are still interested.

What was the outcome of this?

I have engaged a new agent subject to finding out what the old contract had on it.

Check your contract with them for clarification?

I don't really understand why you seemingly never did this:

Why have you not gone down to the estate agents office and looked them in the eye and asked they what was going on?.

 

[Tadaima]

@ClubMan We have ignored this request for the fee at the moment. We will request the original contract and agree we should have done so before now. To be honest, I thought the agent had gone away / was no longer interested as no contact at all. Fear of conflict made me not confront him. He is very alpha in character and very charming. (Part of why he is a good salesman). He would make mincemeat of me verbally in a meeting. Either way, I'm delighted my house is back up on the market. The new agent got a sign up, pictures, video, drone work and it online within a week of asking. Sent me a copy of the contract too.

 

[ClubMan]

What fee is he requesting? He's probably entitled to the marketing costs at least (usually a few hundred euros + VAT) as these are up front costs. Is he looking for those or also his selling fee which is usually a percentage of the selling price? Usually this is only payable on closing the sale.

 

[Ruffian]

You might need to be careful here. If the "new" purchaser should be someone who viewed or bid on the house under the old agent he can claim that he was the one who "introduced" the buyer. Or so I have heard!

 

[Tadaima]

@Ruffian Only 3 buyers viewed it. The new estate agent has their details. @ClubMan. Not sure. I think the marketing. But, it didn't work if he wasn't contactable by potential buyers for the last few months. I know some people tried to contact him re viewings but could not get a reply. One was informed in writing that it was already sale agreed, closing was imminent and at a higher price than the previous sale agreed price.