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Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice on a tricky situation involving an estate agent claiming fees for a sale that completed over a year ago.
Here’s the timeline:
Fast forward to January 2025, and the original agent has phoned me, claiming they checked the Land Registry and noticed that the buyers were originally introduced by them. They’re now demanding over £5,000 + VAT in fees.
To complicate matters, the original agent has been struck off as a director for money laundering and misuse of COVID support loans. While they still operate the business in the background, their professional conduct is questionable.
Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the original contract as it was electronic and accessed via an app I no longer use.
My questions are:
Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
I’m looking for advice on a tricky situation involving an estate agent claiming fees for a sale that completed over a year ago.
Here’s the timeline:
- In March 2023, we first listed our house with an agent but withdrew it from the market after failing to find a property we liked.
- In July 2023, we relisted with the same agent, secured a buyer in August 2023, but the house we were purchasing fell through, so we withdrew again. The buyer also lost their sale.
- In November 2023, we relisted the property with a different agent. The original buyers (who were introduced by the first agent) viewed the house via the new agent and made a revised offer, which we accepted.
- We completed the sale in February 2024 through the new agent.
Fast forward to January 2025, and the original agent has phoned me, claiming they checked the Land Registry and noticed that the buyers were originally introduced by them. They’re now demanding over £5,000 + VAT in fees.
To complicate matters, the original agent has been struck off as a director for money laundering and misuse of COVID support loans. While they still operate the business in the background, their professional conduct is questionable.
Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the original contract as it was electronic and accessed via an app I no longer use.
My questions are:
- Can the first agent claim fees when the sale was completed through a different agent several months after their involvement ended?
- Does their professional misconduct (being struck off as a director) impact their ability to enforce such claims?
- Without a copy of the original contract, how do I handle this claim?
Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!
