Guest JudgeMental Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Completed on a property today. Sold through new agent taken on recently on multiple agent basis. it transpires that buyer originally viewed house with first agent approx 7 months ago. first agent called solicitor claiming fee, second agent saying as it was more then six months ago they have no claim. solicitor refused to pay and transfered all monies to moi. Solicitor thinks it will probably end with both agents taking me to court. and I will have to ask the court to join the cases..... I know what i would like to do with both of them *-) any opinions gratefully received.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Hi I would suggest that you write to both estate agents saying that this is a disagreement between them and nothing to do with you. Explain that you have placed the fee moneys in a separate identifiable account and that when the two of them have finished their deliberations they should approach you as to how to distribute the monies. It is important that you state that you are simply the "custodian" of the money and that you do not own it. Tell them that until they write to you jointly with a solution to the problem that THEY have - nothing to do with you, no further correspondence will be entered into. Copy in the solicitor concerned, then sit back and wait. They will have to sort the problem out. Any legal action against you will fail at the first hurdle because the dispute is not against you but between them. Their threat against you simple bullying. However my only concern would be that if you DID pay one and not the other, then the one you did not pay could have grounds against you depending upon the wording of the agreement you signed. Best to chuck it back at the two of them to sort out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Thanks Clive,your comments make sense but for now solicitor has advised not to write to them as it would be an admission..... so will have to wait and see how things pan out. Why me! :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 From my experience, you need to check your the contract that you signed with both agents, they tend to have a 6 month clause that if someone they 'introduced' subsequently buys the property within 6 months of them being the agents, then they are due their commission. However, if you dispensed with their services more than 6 months ago and the sale completed after this 6 months period was up, then normally you wouldn't have to pay a jot to them. This is basically to stop you having an agent, getting them to do all the advertising etc on a 'no sale, no fee' basis and then taking it off the market and 'secretly' selling it to someone they introduced a few weeks later, thus depriving them of their 'earned' selling fee for introducing the buyer - not allowed to be cruel to Estates Agents you know!!! From what you are saying it's not clear whether or not you were still employing the 1st estate agents - you say you had multiple agents, was the 1st agent still marketing your property up until it was sold? If that's the case I'm not sure if it is so clear cut. I also assume that: - the 1st agent showed the buyer around but buyer didn't continue. - the 2nd agent actually did the sale with the buyer - did they also show the buyer around? If so you might be able to argue that the buyer had not decided to buy at the first viewing but a subsequent viewing had made them do so. If not, then I think the first agent might have a case. Assuming the buyer had made another visit with the 2nd agent, had you actually done any changes to the property that might have made it more appealing to the buyer since his first visit and therefore made him want to buy it? Not sure how it actually pans out legally I'm afraid, but I'd certainly make sure that the money is kept separately as has been suggested so it can be clearly seen that you are not trying to keep it from the 'genuine' party. Good luck!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I do hope you only signed up for 'sole agency' not sole selling rights because if you did you could find yourself liable for both sets of fees? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Judge this happened to us. we wanted to buy a close friends house she had it on with Bairstow theifs . We knew she was selling BUT through word of mouth namely hers not the Estate Agents I already knew the house . they wrote to her and threatned her she told them as far as she was concerned it was a private sale .. never heard anymore ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Rich, first agent was on a "sole agency" agreement - phew! When second taken on recently (in addition to first one) both original and new (selling) agent agreed a new rate on a "multiple agency" basis. As Mel says if contract still running what does that mean for six month rule? selling agent adamant regards 6 month rule but then he would be wouldn't he :-D Michele unless you register with an agent and viwew the property via them I would think their claim to a fee is not valid. Good init - it could only happen to moi *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveH Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Hi again Judge I would disagree with the solicitor. Not responding tends to be seen as an admission of guilt. I would suggest getting a second opinion as I wonder if the solicitor you mention has a "relationship" with the estate agents? and does not really want to rock the boat and so has dumped the problem in your lap. I do know that with house conveyancing at a low, if a conveyancing solicitor gets blacklisted by the local estate agents his income falls! Maybe a chat with your local CAB - they have legal bods on hand that could suggest a way forward. Sorry but in my opinion, ignoring it is not an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Clive, early days as we only exchanged yesterday lol I am not going to write to them until they write to me. while I appreciate your comments on estate agents and solicitors being in bed together, in this case I have used the chap before and he goes out of his way to be helpful. he admitted these circumstances where beyond him, and contacted the law society and got the details of 3 solicitors expert in contrast law. I will contact them if necessary. have spoken with selling agent and asked him to sort it out with other agent- but this is unlikely to happen.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Judge make sure that your solicitor does NOT pay the bill for you, it is quite common for this to happen from the proceeds of any sale regardless of whether or not you are buying something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 Mel B - 2007-11-21 9:39 PM Judge make sure that your solicitor does NOT pay the bill for you, it is quite common for this to happen from the proceeds of any sale regardless of whether or not you are buying something else. it was the solicitor that refused to pay and forwarded al the monies to my account, less his fee obviously *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flicka Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 I suggest you use your own Judgement and use the noose on your thread for both of them. They will soon stop arguing with that raround their skrawny necks. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 flicka - 2007-11-21 11:24 PM I suggest you use your own Judgement and use the noose on your thread for both of them. They will soon stop arguing with that raround their skrawny necks. :D :D :D :D :D :D :D Blimey, do you think? lol in all seriousness, happy to pay second agent as he was great and secured a sale very quickly. first where rubbish and this is just sour grapes BUT my hands are tied and cant pay until situation resolved... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 Judge ... if you'd only just exchanged how come you got the money? You only get that on completion! *-) Unless of course, may I suggest in all reverence that his Lordship is totally confused by it all and, not meaning to denegrate his Lordshipness, means that his Lordship he has just recently completed in which case the money would be available for the solicitor to give to his honourable cake scoffing curly-hairedness-ship. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 Mel, I started thread with these words " completed on property today" :-D It was amazing, 2 weeks from offer to completion. offer on a friday, survey tuesday, morage offer wednesday, they paid for quick searches. and exchange and completion on the following Monday. it can be done the record I believe is one week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J9withdogs Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 My mum swapped houses (with a cash adjustment) with people in the same village and it took a staggering 3 months for the solicitors to sort it out. The solicitors' offices were on opposite sides of the same street and they POSTED everything to each other! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 JudgeMental - 2007-11-22 4:05 PM Mel, I started thread with these words " completed on property today" :-D It was amazing, 2 weeks from offer to completion. offer on a friday, survey tuesday, morage offer wednesday, they paid for quick searches. and exchange and completion on the following Monday. it can be done the record I believe is one week Sorry Judge it was just the way you wrote it that made me think you might be a bit confused between exchange and completion, it's surprising the number of people who don't know the difference! You are getting on a bit after all my sweet! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 keep us posted with this one eddie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 JudgeMental - 2007-11-21 2:25 PM Rich, first agent was on a "sole agency" agreement - phew! When second taken on recently (in addition to first one) both original and new (selling) agent agreed a new rate on a "multiple agency" basis. As Mel says if contract still running what does that mean for six month rule? selling agent adamant regards 6 month rule but then he would be wouldn't he :-D Michele unless you register with an agent and viwew the property via them I would think their claim to a fee is not valid. Good init - it could only happen to moi *-) If you haven't already done so, I think you'll just have to sit down and read the original "sole agency" agreement with the first agent, and the subsequent "multiple agency" agreement with both agents, to see what both say about the duration of the respective agreements and their respective entitlements to fees. It should be clear that the second agreement amends the first, as it relates to the same property, is with the same firm, and apparently amends the percentage fee. The only glitch would be if you don't have copies, or if the amendment was merely verbal whereas the original was written. Don't the agents share the fee under multiple agency agreements? They often offer better terms for sole agency, so I would guess the multiple agency agreement to be on a higher fee overall. Is it possible the percentage fee was stated as being due to each of the agents under the agreement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Thanks Brian nice to have you back! No resolution as yet although letters have started to flow. thanks all for your thoughts and suggestions.... First agent : Did not provide list of previous viewer’s at end of sole contract period.(how are you to identify their interest in a previous client otherwise?) When advised by seller name of buyer at time offer was accepted they played dumb. Kept this information to themselves and did not advise seller of past relationship with buyer. But waited till after completion to claim fee directly from solicitor. Second agent : On viewing house with second agent, when buyer admitted that they had seem property with other agent. 2nd Agent failed to disclose this fact, either too their client or first agent. Instead they kept quiet and rushed sale through in 2 weeks. Hoping to get cash quickly leaving their client open to a claim from first agent Solicitor has advised me not to pay either agent. I have put the money in a separate account. The monies are no longer mine (thanks Clive :-D) The monies are for which ever agent is legally initialed to it. I will only pay one set of fees. I have suggested agents liaise with each other and agree to split fee or whatever it is really not my concern. I will only pay when I have written assurances from both agents mutually agreeing a settlement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geof Angi Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Judge Not sure if this helps, but how long was your contract with the first agent. I would have thought if it had time expired and the buyer came again through the second agent the first had no claim Geof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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