Contract with Estate Agents

[natalie]

I have having some problems ending a contract with my estate agents. The part of the contract in dispute is

 

"We will act as sole agentsfor a minimum period of 12 weeks. At the end of this period we will continue marketing your home until you give us 14 days written notice to terminate the contract."

 

The estate agents are claiming that I cannot give them notice until after the 12 weeks (hence tying me in to a 14 week contract not 12!)

 

Whereas I think that i can give them notice at any timebut the contract will not cease until the 12 weeksis up.

 

Does anyoneknow who is right? Are estate agents ruled by the financial ombudsman?

 

Thanks

 

Natalie

[alanfromderby]

You can provide 14 days written notice at any time. They state the minimum term is 12 weeks, so that is the minimum term. If they continue to be difficult contact your local Trading Standards Office - the number will be in your local telephone directory.

[BotB]

Estate Agents are unregulated by any official body. Many of them belong to voluntary organisations like the NAEA but that doesn't guarantee anything. Basically, anyone can start up a business and call themselves "estate agents".

 

I would agree that you can end the agreement at any time, provided they have at least 14 days notice that their agency in respect of your house will terminate after the 12th week.

 

For what its worth, I have bought and sold 4 houses over the years and with the exception of the last agents I used to sell my old house, the others were at best mediocre and at worst positively dishonest and had I been able to get proof of it, I would have reported them to the police for fraud. I didn't pay them their commission and they sued me for it and lost, which tells you something about how they came across at the Court hearing. The Judge saw through them for sure.

[natalie]

I decided to take a different approach to my estate agents. I took mytwo year old twins into their office, on Saturday lunchtime (very busy as you can imagine) told them in a very loudvoice that i was not happy with the way they conducted themselves and that until this issue was sorted out I wasnt leaving, then let my babies do all the work!

 

Within half an hour of wire pulling and shrieking and screaming and running around we left successful in our mission.

 

Contract terminated!

[cheddar]

LOL! I took my 3 kids into my old landlord agenst once to kick off about repairs, amazing what it achieves sometimes!

[natalie]

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