Gerry
Collected on:
Aberdein Considine (Inverurie) – Beware Fee Extortion
This review is for a different branch.
Aberdein Considine (Inverurie) – Beware Fee Extortion
Selling a property is stressful and expensive at the best of times but when the selling agent (A&C Inverurie) refused to recognise my right to cancel the agreement as per clause 1 of their T&Cs which states “after an initial 12-week period the agreement can be cancelled by either party with 7 days written notice”. A&C invoke clause 3 which is essentially written to prevent switching to another agency or trying to do a back hand deal with a potential buyer. I was not trying to do or have done either but was still sent a demand for the maximum penalty of £600. This was later followed up with emails and recorded delivery letters threating all sorts of court action and additional expenses if I refused to pay their extortion money. Clause 3 states they “MAY” charge up to £600.
It should also be noted that clause 3 does not reference or state that it invalidates clause 1 it references clause 2 as their right to a “sole agency” agreement.
It’s not an easy decision to delist a property but with only 2 viewings in a year the market was clearly telling me I needed to do some considerable refurbishment.
Earlier in the year I had sold a 600k property through A&C and used them for notary work. In previous years I had used them to draw up residential leases and I would probably have relisted the property in question (500K) with them again when the time came. This poor client focus and lack of business acumen will cost them more in lost revenue as obviously I will never use A&C again.
If you are thinking of listing your property with A&C and for whatever reason have to delist, be very careful, they will come after you aggressively after applying the maximum possible using this discretionally punitive penalty.
I would recommend using alternative estate agencies who are not out to extort fees from their clients.
I am happy to share the terms and conditions with anyone who requests them.
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