{"id":467,"date":"2015-08-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/selling-privately-sole-agency-contracts\/"},"modified":"2016-09-12T15:04:59","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T15:04:59","slug":"selling-privately-sole-agency-contracts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/selling-privately-sole-agency-contracts\/","title":{"rendered":"Selling Privately &#038; Sole Agency Contracts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<!-- SEO Ultimate Plus (https:\/\/seoultimateplus.com) - Code Inserter module -->\n<script async>(function(s,u,m,o,j,v){j=u.createElement(m);v=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0];j.async=1;j.src=o;j.dataset.sumoSiteId='b68b392479b5981b8acf46565e9fe32a0734fc21a1f7c1e60121eaa6ca1a1c64';v.parentNode.insertBefore(j,v)})(window,document,'script','\/\/load.sumo.com\/');<\/script>\n<!-- \/SEO Ultimate Plus -->\n\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" align=\"textTop\" src=\"\/uploads\/media\/Estate Agent Contracts.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #3398cc\">SOLE AGENCY<\/p>\n<p><\/span>&#8220;You can&#8217;t sell privately if you are using an agent&#8221;<\/strong> <\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #3398cc\">&#8230;OR CAN YOU?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">S<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">ole agency means that your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/compare-estate-agents\" title=\"estate agents\">estate agents<\/a> are entitled to commission ONLY if they introduce your buyer and bring about the sale of your property, OR if another estate agent sells the house during the period of sole agency.<\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8216;Sole Agency&#8217; contracts, the most common form, do NOT prevent homeowners from selling the property yourself, either using newspaper advertising or online advertising. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">The Office of Fair Trading rather muddied the water on this by issuing guidelines in 2005 suggesting that if you use an online &#8216;property retailer&#8217;, you may incur additional fees from your agent if the property is sold privately. However, this was misconstrued by much of the press as meaning you cannot sell privately alongside an agent, but the truth of the matter is that the OFT guidelines merely try to set out what the law has always said (the Estate Agents Act 1979 which pre-dates the internet) without introducing any new ruling. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">The OFT guidelines say that if you use an online service which <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\"><strong>says<\/strong> it is not an <em>estate agent<\/em>, but actually <strong>provides<\/strong> an <em>estate agency service<\/em>, this will conflict with a sole agency agreement. Well, yes &#8211; this is fairly obvious really. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">The key here is that to use an online service alongside an estate agent without incurring commission in the event of a private sale, you must check that the online service provides NO agency services. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">Because there are hundreds of property websites that despite their claims to the contrary *are* providing estate agency services, consumers do need to be careful who they choose &#8211; this is the real essence of the OFT&#8217;s guidance. What is classed as an &#8216;agency service&#8217; has no clear legal definition (although the OFT attempt to provide a guide), but these would be typical examples of what a court may view as &#8216;agency work&#8217;: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8211; Operating a register of buyers<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8211; Fielding property enquiries on behalf of vendor<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8211; Arranging viewings<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8211; Handling negotiations and passing on offers<br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">&#8211; For sale signs showing a company telephone number<\/span><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: #3399cc; font-size: 12pt\">Misleading information<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 12pt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">Some estate agents may argue that all property advertising websites are estate agents, (mis-) quoting the OFT guidance on &#8220;property retailers&#8221;, in order that they can claim their commission even where a home is sold privately. We do not agree with this argument (nor do the Consumers Association), although customers contemplating using our service should be aware of the possibility of this tactic being used by agents.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: #3399cc; font-size: 12pt\">Simple steps to avoid problems with your estate agent<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"><\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 12pt\"><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">READ your agents contract before you sign it. <\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">CHANGE anything in the printed terms you don&#8217;t want. You do not have to accept the &#8216;standard&#8217; terms provided by the agent.<\/p>\n<p><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">ADD a clause to your agency contract confirming that no agency commission is due on a private sale and get your agent to agree this before signing up to them.<\/span><\/p>\n<div><strong><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: #3399cc; font-size: 12pt\">Other References<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<div><br style=\"font-size: 10pt\" \/><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">The Consumers Association <\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"><strong>WHICH?<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"> are campaigning for reform of misleading terms in estate agents selling contracts and fairer practices and treatment of customers. <\/span><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">If you are experiencing difficulty with an agent over your contract and the rights your agent is claiming against you, refer to the WHICH? home advice website, for information which may assist you.<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"font-weight: bold\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: #3398cc\">Which Consumer Magazine<\/span><\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" align=\"right\" src=\"\/uploads\/media\/which-magazine-selling-property.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">WHICH? &#8211; Dealing with Problem Estate Agents:<\/span><a title=\"Link to Dealing with Problem Estate Agents by WHICH?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.which.co.uk\/advice\/dealing-with-problem-estate-agents\/index.jsp\" target=\"_BLANK?&#18;???&#18;?&#18;?&#20;?&#20;??\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\"><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<div><a title=\"Link to Dealing with Problem Estate Agents by WHICH?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.which.co.uk\/advice\/dealing-with-problem-estate-agents\/index.jsp\" target=\"_BLANK?&#18;???&#18;?&#18;?&#20;?&#20;??\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">CLICK HERE for Problem Estate Agents page<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\"><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; color: black; font-size: 10pt\">WHICH? &#8211; How to Sell a House<br \/><a title=\"Link to How to Sell a House by WHICH?\" href=\"http:\/\/www.which.co.uk\/advice\/how-to-sell-a-house\/index.jsp\" target=\"_BLANK?&#18;???&#18;?&#18;?&#20;?&#20;?????&#18;?&#20;?&#20;&#16;?&#8376;&#18;\"><span style=\"font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt\">CLICK HERE for How to Sell a House page<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SOLE AGENCY &#8220;You can&#8217;t sell privately if you are using an agent&#8221; &#8230;OR CAN YOU? &nbsp; Sole agency means that your estate agents are entitled to commission ONLY if they introduce your buyer and bring about the sale of your<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/selling-privately-sole-agency-contracts\/\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wl_entities_gutenberg":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[],"wl_entity_type":[602],"modified_by":null,"_wl_alt_label":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wl:entity_url":"http:\/\/data.wordlift.io\/wl0502\/post\/selling_privately___sole_agency_contracts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1433,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions\/1433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"wl_entity_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehouseshop.com\/property-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wl_entity_type?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}