Direct selling while agent has sign up

Stealdo

Probably could have titled this better - looking for some info on the situation if you have an agent marketing your house but are approached directly by someone known to you in the mean time interested in buying. Without having signed (or discussed) anything relating to exclusivity would I have any obligation to pay the agent a commission in the event of selling to this person? (obviously I would have to pay his marketing fee)

In terms of dealing with any potential offer that may come from this (it's just an expression of interest at the moment) I would obviously have to keep the agent informed if he is receiving interest from elsewhere. Would the agent be likely to have an issue with this in people's experience? Or would he be happy to compete in this way? (or would it vary from agent to agent)

One last thing - aside from any legal obligation, which I am pretty sure I don't have, I would be interested to here people's views on whether this could be consider as sharp practise to give the house to an agent to sell and then pursue an expression of interest directly yourself without referring the person to the agent.

The_Conductor

I wouldn't worry.
I'm looking at a number of houses at the moment- the sharp practices of Estate Agents appear to have morphed into all-out-warfare between the different agents. Three different agents offered to show me a house that had a 4th agents board on it- all claiming to have a personal relationship with the seller (who given that he is a local bankmanager- is a distinct possibility). I wouldn't worry one little bit. These are lean times for estate agents though- so expect them to play dirty........

Jo King

First off it depends if your agent has sole right to sell or sole agency. If the latter there should be a written contract to this effect. In that case he can look for a fee no matter who sells.
If, as is normal the agent has sole agency then it is a question of whether or not he introduced the buyer to the house. If someone sees his sign or his webpage and approaches you then he has introduced a buyer and can claim a fee. If he is on a no sale no fee arrangement and you conclude a deal with someone whom he did not introduce then he would only be entitled to agreed outlay.
There is no need to tell the agent that you are considering an offer outside of any he has put to you. In fact it might be harmful to your interests to discuss the fact with the agent. He may start inventing ghost offers to get rid of your purchaser. These offers will disappear when your contracts are issued.

Senna

just a quick question on a related note,
one agent shows me a house, but another agents comes and tells me the owner is desperate to sell and will drop the price by 50K at least. if i peruse the house through the second agent, will the first agent (who done a show around for me) also expect to get paid something.
I know both agents quite well, so thats why i'm interested.

astrofool

Senna wrote: »

just a quick question on a related note,
one agent shows me a house, but another agents comes and tells me the owner is desperate to sell and will drop the price by 50K at least. if i peruse the house through the second agent, will the first agent (who done a show around for me) also expect to get paid something.
I know both agents quite well, so thats why i'm interested.

It depends on what arrangement the vendor has.

You could (in theory), play the two off each other, and keep getting the price down by saying you're going for another property going for even less.

Knowledge is power here.

Victor

What does your contract with the eastate agent say?

Potentially, assuming your contact is trustworthy, take it off the market and sell it X months down the road.

Stealdo

Thanks for the advice folks

Jo - could you clarify Sole Agent and Sole Right to sell for me? I'm thinking the the former is simply no other agent will advertise or be involved in a sale while he is marketing it but I would still have the right to sell it myself? The latter probably explains itself.

Victor - I have no contract with the agent other than the verbal one we agreed, and he has not mentioned any restrictions on other agents/me so I think from a legal standpoint there's no real issue. I prefer to play things straight however and so if it was the norm that he would be due a fee in this case I would pay it. The only condition discussed other than a straight forward sale was him saying in the event that it doesn't sell, there will be no fee other than the marketing fee.

In general in this instance if it went ahead it would be a very quick sale to suit the person who has shown interest, they would need it completed within a month, so waiting out a reasonable amount of time is not really an option. I would also obviously like to give him the opportunity to sell it in case rival bids were there.

For now I think I will bite my tongue in terms of saying anything about this until it's a more definite possibility. One other question Jo - when you say if he introduced someone by them seeing his sign and knocking on your door - that would be a grey area. This person became aware of the fact that the house was for sale because they saw a sign up, however they would have been aware of that very soon afterwards if it weren't for the sign, or if I had just written for sale in silly string on the front door - what's your opinion - did he 'introduce' them to me? I would say no.

Victor

Stealdo wrote: »

could you clarify Sole Agent and Sole Right to sell for me

The opposite would be a situation where you have joint agents as might be the case where you have a unique property and are advertising it both locally and internationally.

Jo King

If the person saw the sign and approached you, then they were introduced by the agent! If he has not given you anything in writing regarding his terms and conditions it is unlikely he will sue for a fee.

johnnyskeleton

astrofool wrote: »

It depends on what arrangement the vendor has.

You could (in theory), play the two off each other, and keep getting the price down by saying you're going for another property going for even less.

Knowledge is power here.

If the two agents don't know that they are both dealing with you, you could try and create some devilment e.g. suggest to one that you might pay X amount to see if this will get transformed into "we currently have an offer of X, so you will need to offer more than that". It would certainly make for a good story, if nothing else.