Hi Steam thanks for your input. I have the following emails between the property negotiator and I which I would be relying on. What do you think my chances are? Hi property negotiator, A cheque made out to summerfresh will be fine. Thanks for your help. Regards summerfresh Property Negotiator (propertynegotiator@estateagents.co.uk) 16/07/2013 To: 'summerfresh' Hi summerfresh I will get a cheque made out in your name if you like for party 2 to pay and the same with Mr and Mrs party 1. Let me know who to make payable. Regards Property Negotiator Sales Negotiator Estate Agents Tel :- fax :- E-Mail:- propertynegotiator@estateagents.co.uk Summerfresh 16/07/2013 To: propertynegotiator@estateagents.co.uk Hi Property Negotiator, With reference to our conversation yesterday regarding a £250 contribution from all 3 parties in the chain to the extra month's rental I will incur by pushing the purchase of the house through this Friday, please answer the following. Please clarify this with Mr Party 1 how and when he will pay the £250. The same also for Mr Party 2 regarding the £250.00 from him Regards summerfresh

After several months of email ping pong with the agency Director I'm back to square 1. He delivered a letter to party 1 who replied denying agreeing to the negotiators proposal. He never managed to obtain the new address of party 2 or so he claims and I'm sure they too would deny entering into this agreement. It seems that I'm back to my original option of small claims court.

Hello again all and thanks for all your kind replies and advice. It seems I've opened a legal pandora's box here which wasn't my intention but anyway to update the thread my meeting with the company director was quite positive in that he says he understands my position and that he agrees that those who entered into an agreement should honour it and to that end he is prepared to assist me in collecting the outstanding monies from the other two parties by delivering a letter to them from me requesting payment of the money due or face legal action. I personally am in agreement with this as it is them who consented to the agreement in the first place and therefore should be the ones who pay up. In the course of our discussion the director stated that he did not believe his former employee would have been misleading or dishonest in his representation of the facts (this was a position I intimated might have occurred). Furthermore the company director stated that if court action becomes necessary his former employee can be contacted and called as a witness if necessary. I hope what I have done makes sense, or am I being gullible, again? Once again any advice is greatly appreciated. Regards Summerfresh

Thanks for your advice mjt2013 I have agreed to meet with the company director on Thursday so hopefully there will be a positive outcome.

hi everyone I have had some news on this, @ Mould, I have sent the letter as per your template and am pleased to report that the Director at the Agency replied by email with the following: Dear Mr Summerfresh Thank you for your letter dated 2nd Dec 2013. I stand by my decision in that we are not liable for the said amount and that if you wish to proceed with legal action we will defend ourselves. I too have passed this to my legal team who have confirmed we are not liable and that there is no case against us. From what you have told me the agreement was set up between you, Party 1 and Party 2 and at no time was this set up or a agreed to by ourselves therefore all action should be aim toward them. I have responded to all letters you have sent us. Kind regards Director That was this morning, he then telephoned this afternoon and proposed to act as a go between to help me collect the sums due from the other 2 parties. His position is that I should claim from the 2 parties rather than the estate agency but he cannot give me the other party's addresses due to Data Protection therefore his proposal to mediate. We have agreed to have a meeting at his office this Thursday to discuss this proposal further. He has confirmed this with the following email: Hi Summerfresh Thank you taking my call and nice talking to you. I can confirm I will help you all I can with you claim against Party 1 & Party 2. I have booked in a meeting for me and you on 5th Dec @ 2pm in my office. I look forward to seeing you then. Kind regards Director I have drafted the following letter in response to the above: Dear Mr Director, RE: Purchase of ____________ and subsequent contract agreed thereon with _____________, 2013 I write in response to your emails and telephone call of today in which you expressed a desire to resolve this matter amicably and hopefully without the need for costly and time consuming litigation. I am pleased to confirm that I too would prefer to avoid the costly and time consuming procedures involved in bring about a court case. In this light I am pleased to confirm that I will attend your office at 14:00 hours on Thursday December 5, 2013 to meet and discuss a way forward with this issue. Finally I point out that this meeting in and of itself does not mean I am ruling out the possibility of legal action, but simply that I am complying with the legal obligation to attempt to resolve a dispute in accordance with the Practice Direction on Pre-Action Conduct and therefore am open to discussions which would lead to the recovery of the sums due to me. Yours sincerely Summerfresh Am I doing the right thing? Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions on all of this would be most appreciated. Regards Summerfresh

Hi Mould, Thanks for the detailed template letter. It seems like you're very familiar with this type of scenario or you've dug up some very helpful information. I will certainly be amending your letter to my situation and will send it to the estate agency by special delivery. Thanks very much for your time and effort in helping with this issue. I will post back when there is some relevant news on this Regards Summer

Hi Supervillain, Thanks for your reply. I would have written to the other parties but I do not know their new addresses. In my last email to the director at the agency I asked him to provide their new contact addresses but he just ignored that email. I only had the agents word (and the emails) that he had discussed this with the other parties and had their agreement. If I had discussed this arrangement directly with the other two parties then I definitely would not have brought the agent into this. In fact had he supplied their addresses I would have contacted them directly but unfortunately he has been most unhelpful. I appreciate your advice and that you took the time to reply. I think I will follow the suggestion by Mould and hopefully get a result. All the best. Summer

Hi everyone as I'm new to the forums I hope I'm posting in the right place. My problem relates to a verbal agreement made when I bought a house in July this year. My offer was accepted in June and there were 2 other parties above me in the chain. I was renting privately and had to give a month's notice to vacate. The sales negotiator who was dealing with the house I was buying was aware of this but regardless called me on July 12 to say the other parties would like to exchange contracts on July 19th. I explained that as I had to give a month's notice, I could only exchange contracts towards the end of August as I was not prepared to pay rent and a mortgage in August. He phoned back shortly thereafter and suggested that if the 3 parties were to split my August rent (£750 so £250 each) would I exchange on July 19th. I agreed to that but unfortunately did not get my solicitor to put it in the sale agreement. What has happened since then is that the other parties have moved to their new homes and the sales negotiator I was dealing with has left the company. Fortunately I had emailed him on July 16 after I agreed to his proposal asking him to confirm with the other 2 parties how and when they would pay the £250. He emailed me back to say that he would arrange to collect cheques made out to me from the other 2 parties and then contact me to collect them from the agencies offices, so there is an email from the company email account confirming this arrangement. I have written to the company explaining this, and enclosed a copy of the emails between the sales negotiator and I, but the director who replied to me by email confirms he was aware of the arrangement but insists it was a private arrangement between me and the other parties and nothing to do with the agency. The party I was buying from I had only met once when viewing the house I bought and the 3rd party I have never met let alone spoken to. Do I have a case to take this company to small claims court for £500 (being the £250 from each of the other 2 parties in the chain)? Apologies for the long post but I felt it important to explain the whole situation so as to hopefully get some accurate replies. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thanks summer