Estate Agent Fees

[sherryberry]

Please can someone help on this.

My Dad put his property on the market with Agency A. When property was not sold after 8 months he terminated the agreement with Agency A and signed up with Agency B. Agency A said that they had a potential buyer Mr G and wanted to note his and their interest in the property with the new agency. We sent Agency B a copy of Agency A's letter noting the potential buyer. After nearly a year, Mr G finally sold his property and bought my dad's property.

When the solicitor legally completed, Agency A sent in their bill which was paid. Agency B sent no bill to solicitors. Three weeks later, Agency B sent my Dad a bill for �3500 for selling the property. We have argued that they did not sell the property but they are now threatening legal action. They said they did not receive a copy of the letter we sent them noting Mr G's interest from the previous agent (which seems very convenient to me!).

Any help would be appreciated. Is there any case law that would back it up? My Dad is insisting that he will not pay their bill but he did sign an agreement with them. He said he does not mind having a CCJ because he does not intend to apply for credit in the next 6 years.

Hope someone can help. Thanks.

[Nether Edge]

Answer will depend on each Agent's Conditions of Business. When you terminated Agent A, what was A's entitlement to fees? When Mr G was referred to Agent B, what was agreed about fees?

[MustafaTickl]

As between A and your father the matter is ended and there is nothing more to be said about that.

As between B and your father if you read the agreement with B very carefully you will find a clause or sentence or reference which says in essence that if another agent introduces a purchaser during the period of the agreement then the client (your father) will have to pay B the fees and expences stated in the agreement. All agents agreements say this in some way. Your father should therefore pay up. A word of warning - if it goes to court although the amount may be within the Small Claims limit the agent will instruct solicitors and a barrister. Where a matter should not have proceeded to court, such as this, the small claims court can (and must) award a business its costs (irrespective of the "no costs" rule of small claims) so your father will be down a further �2000 at the very least. Even if B acknowledged existence of the letter to which you refer this would still be the situation, it would require a formal variation of the original agreement signed by both parties to make any change,

[StarskyH]

I would agree with the other answers in part but not wholly. The matter is one on contract. You will need to see if there is a clause in the contract with Agency B regarding sale via other parties. If there is then you have a problem to get over. This might be achieved with the letter you say was sent noting the interest of Agency A. What would be useful is if you have some proof of posting the letter or of receipt by Agency B. I feel however that if a clause exists in the agreement however onerous it is likely to be held in court. Now turning to costs here I disagree wholly with the other answers. The matter is one for the small claims court. Irrespective of who they appoint there are fixed fees that are payable. You can find these at www.dcs.gov.uk. Only if the other side were to ask for exceptional costs would these fees be departed from, irrespective of who represents them. The only consideration the court will give in considering exceptional costs is whether or not there was a valid and worthwhile defence to the action. Normally the costs you would face would be circa �75 service fee and circa �150 costs.

[sherryberry]

Thank you all for your answers and help.