UKC

I am trying to see a house using a well known national brand of estate agents. They have been thoroughly incompetent, though out the whole process. There aren't any photos of the outside space, the floor plan is wrong and they have been unable to do viewings after dark.

To test how incompetent they are a friend of mine called them on Saturday morning to request a viewing, they didn't call us to check if we could do the viewing for a couple of hours and then didn't call him back until 11:50 on Monday, after telling me that they had left him several messages.

In short they have lied to me, failed to arrange an appointment with a prospective buyer and failed to respond to reasonable requests such as fixing missing photos and incorrect floor plans.

Can I tell them that I set them up, or could that land me in bother?

In reply to ablackett:

Why are you being so polite in not naming and shaming. Reeds Rains were complete arses to us when we rented a house. Buried in page 34 of a 50 page contract were the terms that allowed them to sign us up with Spark Energy, presumably in return for a kick back. Sadly I had lost the will to live by page 20 which was setting out the terms under which we were permitted to hang washing.

In reply to ablackett:

Just print out your post, go into the estate agent ask to speak to a manager, show him/her your post. If you don't like what they say, inform them to stop marketing your property and either go with another estate agent or market the property yourself.

As long as your friend is willing to testify in court you have enough evidence to stop them chasing you for a fee.

(If current agent has introduced the eventual buyer to the property then that complicates things - but can normally be sorted without any legal problems)

In reply to ablackett:
Is the house being sold via other estate agents too? See if they're better and take your business elsewhere

In reply to ablackett:

I suggest you read whatever document you signed first, there's sometimes a clause in there about how long you have to stay with an agent before you can move although I think in practice these clauses are often ignored and you'll be free to go to another agent. Its not rare to see a house appear on the market with one agent and switch to another quite soon afterwards.
In reality, most estate agent related things are open to negotiation (including the fee, did you negotiate on that or go with their standard rate?).
I'd go in and speak to them firmly but politely and tell them you want to leave them. They're unlikely to refuse, its too much hassle, although they may try and offer you concessions or similar to keep you.

Do some research before you choose another agent, go in posing as a buyer and see how they treat you and how professional they are, do they have a lot of properties of your type on their books etc? There are some good agents out there but they are rarely national chains!

Note: I have no connection with any estate agent but I've bought and sold a lot of houses.

In reply to ablackett:

Go to another agent. Now.

If they whinge about clauses point out the obvious. They haven't got any money from you so they're not going to sue you, just put it down to experience. And if you think the agents are incompetent and useless just wait till you get to the solicitors.........

I've sacked them midway through house conveyancing and swapped to a more efficient lot twice.

In reply to Babika:


They do sometimes and there are legal precedents by which the courts will uphold the contract, so be careful. It's better to try and negotiate a release from the contract. If they are being incompetent that will probably give you grounds to terminate it, but don't just walk away from it and go to another agent, without explaining in writing why you think they are in breach of it, otherwise you can legally find yourself liable for two lots of commission. As someone else pointed out above always read an agent's contract carefully before signing it. If you don't like their terms don't enter into a contract in the first place.

In reply to Trangia:


Best advice ever. I [and probably we?] tend to just sign things - often very important things - perhaps to get it done and over with. I think we shouldn't do that.

In reply to ablackett:

Make sure you look at the contract you signed with them, a lot of contracts contain clauses whereby if you ask them to stop marketing the property and then you successfully sell it within a specific timeframe you then still owe some money to the original agents.

Who are the agents btw? No reason not to name.

In reply to Removed User:

Most contracts will also place responsibilities on the Agents to market the property in some sort of agreed manner and/or adhere to a code of practice. IF the OP believes the Agents have not carried out their responsibilities then there is a case for both sides to 'rip the contract up'. This is best done by speaking to the Agent.

In reply to Eeyore:

But the OP is dealing with a large chain company who would likely contest the accusation that they have failed to market and that'd lead to a court case. Realistically unless the OP is willing to waste time and money trying to prove they haven't done what he's paying them for they are gonna end up settling long before that.

In reply to Removed User:

You may be right - I'd never let this get anywhere near a court. I was just trying to point out that the Agents have responsibilities as well as the seller. I've taken this approach with a national chain before and we agreed to mutually waive the contract.

In reply to Eeyore:

Will be interesting to see who the agents are for the OP and if they are the same as yours maybe he'll have some success as well!

In reply to Removed User:

In my experience ALL the corporate ones are lying conniving thieving b******s. The smaller local ones vary and some are ok. Not all though. Caveat emptor for sure. Oh and read the contract and rewrite it if necessary.