The estate agent who sold my house was n...

Asked by Shelly on 13-02-2024 06:58:52
Question posted in the Property Law category relating to Gauteng

The estate agent who sold my house was not honest and upfront from the beginning.

When we signed the mandate, I disputed the commission of 7%, but he said just sign the mandate so that we can start marketing your property.  We will discuss the commission when we get potential buyers.

We signed the mandate on the 14/10/2023.  He only sent me my copy on 21/10/2024.  Shortly after that he sent me a signed offer to purchase.

I signed the offer and returned it to him.  Then he gave me the attorney's number and asked me to contat them and sign.  I made an appointment with the attorney and went in to sign, only to find that the agent had escalated the commission rate without us agreeing upon it.  He requests 8% excluding VAT.

I'm refusing to give him that because I firmly believe that he had a buyer before he came to see my house, reason being:

He refused to market my house for the price that other houses similar to mine are marketed forHe said it is very difficult to sell a house in my area, yet mine was sold in less than a weekHe said that professional photographers will come out to take photos, that did not happen.In fact the buyer said that she only saw the house on his phone and he took her to the house to view and she made and offerThe buyer also said that the agent know her price range and what she could affordHe said he was running up and down and it cost him R2500 for diesel per week, yet he only came twice to the property.Once to market the house and the second time to sig the offer to purchase.

Now I'm disputing the commission and the attorney says that the mandate was signed and they have to pay accordingly.  The agent later agreed to reduce the commission to 7% excuding VAT after I confronted him saying that is is not lawful to ask for 8% plus VAT when nothing was specified in the agreement.  

I signed the mandate without any percentage specified, because we were supposed to agree on th commission and the agent included the percentage when he sent me a copy on the day of signing the offer to purchase.  I was misled and misinformed.  

Is there any way that I can get relief or assistance on this matter

If you would like to view the entire answer, you will need to either login or register a FREE account.

Disclaimer

DISCLAIMER: Advice or answers from Lawyers on South African Legal Advice are not substitutes for the proper advice of an Lawyer. South African Legal Advice is a public forum and questions and responses are not private or confidential or protected by the attorney-client privilege. The Lawyer who assists with your question is not your Lawyer, and the response above is not to be considered to be legal advice. You should not read this response to propose specific action or address specific circumstances, but only to give you a sense of general principles of law that might affect the situation you describe. Application of these general principles to particular circumstances must be done by a lawyer who has spoken with you in confidence, learned all relevant information, and explored various options. Before acting on these general principles, you should hire a lawyer licensed to practice law in the jurisdiction to which your question pertains. The responses above are from individual Lawyers, not South African Legal Advice. The site and services are provided “as is”. This site is not for emergency questions which should be directed immediately by telephone or in-person to qualified professionals. Please carefully read the Terms of Service.