sell a home

[undefined624]

When my father-in-law passed away, my mother-in-law put their house up for sale. The very next day someone was interested in buying it. A few days after that she decided to keep the house. The real estate agent says that she may have to pay a fee and the the potentials buyers can sue her. Does anyone know what kind of rights she has as far as taking the house off the market?

[mimififi]

as far as I'm aware, here in England, you can do what you like until anything is signed...Houses fall through all the time. I believe it is different in Scotland, and I've no idea about the rest of the world.

The 'buyers' can try it, but i think if it went to court, you're mother-in-law could just claim that she wasn't th inking straight after suffering such a terrible bereavement, which is probably true. They say, don't do anything rash, when someone is newly bereaved.....

Hope this helps, and you have my deepest condolences

[woofgang]

Sounds dodgy to me...

If they were only interested in buying it and had not made an offer which your mother in law had accepted, then you Mil has no responsibility towards them. As mimifif says, even then they would have a hard time in court. The estate agents may have the right to charge a fee, it depends what agreement she signed with them.

Is there someone who could point out very nicely that it would be very sad if the local paper got hold of the story of a local estate agent being so unfeeling to a newly bereaved widow?

[mimififi]

good thinking woofgang, I think it would be a terrible shame for a newspaper to find that out about an estate agency which is probably very nice normally, just not seeing the whole picture and picking on a newly bereaved, possibly, elderly, widow......too

[funnywebsite]

There is nothing an estate agent can do. My friend has had 3 buyers trying to buy her house and the reason the first two fell through was they were lead on by brokers and at the end of the day they could not get a mortgage. Nothing is valid till the solicitor has exchanged contracts. This estate agent is scare mongering and should be reported.

[WoWo]

I assume by the way you use the term "real estate agent" that you are in the US. As others have said in England you are under no obligation to sell your house until contracts have been exchanged.

She will have signed an agreement with the agent but again standard practice on this would be that no payment would be payable until completion of the say. She may have to pay a fee is one is mentioned in the contracts she signed

I don't think in any case that the potential buyers could sue in any way shape or form.

[willowman]

Some estate agents have contracts that state that their fee is payable if they introduce a buyer who "is willing and able to purchase". This is to ensure they get their fee if the seller tries to do a private deal with the prospective buyer and bypass the agent. It also means they get their money if they introduce a buyer to the vendor who subsequently sells the property through another agent. So that in effect the seller could pay the commission twice!

This sort of clause does now seem to be disappearing as sellers become more astute. You must look at the wording of the contract your ma-in-law has signed.

The other ABers are correct that the prospective buyer has no legal claim until contracts are exchanged, when there is a firm commitment to go ahead with the sale. I think this smacks of a greedy agent trying to put pressure on a vulnerable person.

Always remember when dealing with estate agents that they rank very highly in the list of professions that are despised - sadly this lumps all the good ones (and there are loads of honourable ones) in with the rogues.