House sold after estate agent contract expiry - HELP!!!

[stressedmover]

Hi - hopefully someone can help!!


We put our house on the market for a fixed commission with an estate agent that has been next to useless.


The fixed commission contract that we signed took us up to the end of May. We sold our house in June, after the expiry date of the contract with them. However, the buyer was someone who had seen the house through the estate agents we signed the contract with.


Do we have any legal right to pay less commission to the estate agents, considering that the sale happened AFTER the contract expiry. We did not sign any further contract with them, to extend. I wondered if there was something like a 'finder's fee' that might apply in this case, rather than full commission.


Many thanks in advance for any help. We are asking because the estate agency service has been abysmal from start to finish, not because we are tight

[Jeannie D]

The first thing you need to do is to check the contract you signed with the estate agent. Usually, there is a clause in there that states that if you sell to someone introduced to you by the EA, you will still have to pay their commission even though the actual contract may have expired.

[SteveSmith]

Agree with Jeannie, check your agreement as any agent worth their salt will have something in place. It is likely they will be due their full commission (and whilst they've been useless, if the buyer came from them, they've done their job). You might be able to agree a fee down though, if they really were that useless!

Hope that helps!

Steve

[Layla T]

Hi

Hope you've resolved your problem.

If not, you definitely need to refer to your contract. I agree with the advice you've had so far. The agent you used will without doubt have a paragraph in the contract that refers to a period of time after the contract expires / whether or not you've instructed another agent. With mine it's 6 months.

It sounds like you've had a bad experience with the agent however if you try to see it from their or any agent's perspective, they have marketed your property and paid out for the advertising that ultimately led to the sale of your property. Often this applies to someone who viewed at a time when they weren't in a position to buy but over the following months their circumstances changed and they came back to you. The new agent can't take credit for that and should not be entitled to the fee.

It really depends on whether you're lucky enough to speak to a manager or director of your old agent who will acknowledge the bad service they gave you and offer you a discount on their fee as a gesture.

Ultimately though I'm afraid I'm pretty sure you will have to pay them.

Hope this helps. Need any more advice I'm happy to help


Layla
Simplybuy.net