Estate agent Agreements

Estate agents contracts

It can be complicated as different estate agents can have differing contracts for selling your property, but you must be aware that an estate agents contract is a legally binding contract that you should read thoroughly and understand, any point that you don’t find clear or understand you need to ask the agent who is potentially selling your property to clarify these points.

The types of contract offered are as below.

Sole seller agreement

This contract reserves the right of the agent to sell your home exclusively during the term the contract is signed for and will even include finding a buyer in this time yourself , the Agent can insist you still pay the signed for agent fee .

Sole agency agreement

This you will find as the most common agreement offered by an agent, it can bare resemblance to the sole seller agreement, the main premise of this contract is to restrict the sale to the one agent you have signed the contract with, if you sell the property through another agent in this time you could still be liable to pay the fee of the agent you signed the sole agency agreement with. If you find your own buyer you are under no obligation to pay the sole agent their fee as it only covers selling through agents and not something you have done personally.

Multi agency agreement

With a multi agency agreement, you are free to use several agents, whoever sells your property the fee will be due to them, Agents do not like multi agency agreements and for this reason will hike the fee sometimes up to 3 times more than a sole agency agreement. Multi agency agreements are more expensive but serve a purpose if you need a quick sale and having it will multi speeds up the sale as it is being sent out to more potential buyers. Agents do not like these agreements as they spend money on advertising and marketing the property only to have it sold by another agent.

Please make sure you read through the agreements fully, refer it to the agent if you don’t understand any of the points in the agreement, and if still you are unsure refer it to a solicitor to check the terms for you. Some of the things that will be in the agreement are listed below with some explanation.

• Tie-in period

Most estate agents will include a tie-in period for their agreement which will, typically, be around six weeks. The notice period will be between one week and four weeks. It's important that you review these details carefully because some estate agency contracts may keep you legally tied to them for up to six months.
 

• Cancellation fee

You should check the estate agent’s agreement to see whether there is a cancellation fee, which is for when you switch to another agent or if you decide to withdraw your home from the market.
 

• Marketing fees and extras

One of the issues with estate agents is that some will win business by charging what appear to be low fees but then they need to add extra costs into the agreement. This means you'll need to appreciate terms such as marketing fees and extras, as well as being charged for Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) which really should be seen as a standard cost as part of their commission.