If my sale or purchase falls through will I need to pay any fees? Our quotations are provided on a no sale no fee basis, so if for any reason a matter does not progress to exchange and completion then you will not need to pay any legal fees to us. You will however be required to pay any third party costs such as the cost of the searches, so it may not be possible to refund the full amount of money you have paid on account.
Estate and Letting Agents Changes
In an effort to tackle the practice of “gazumping”, the Government is also proposing to encourage buyers and sellers to sign “lock-in agreements”, under which either party would face paying a financial penalty if they backed out of a deal without justification. The Government claims delayed decisions account for 250,000 house sales falling through annually.
The Government has also announced further measures, including:
- A requirement for estate agents and freeholders to provide up-to-date lease information for a set fee and to an agreed timetable;
- Strengthening Trading Standards so it can carry out more enforcement activity, including banning agents; and
- Producing “how-to” guides for buyers and sellers
The NAEA has welcomed the commitment to further regulation and Russell Quirk, chief executive of online estate agency Emoov, also commented: “This is really great news. The industry and Government have talked to a long time to clean up house buying. If you add both speed and certainty to the process, there will be fewer transactions falling through, less wasted money, and less stress for the consumer.”
He added: “For far too long it has got away with being almost entirely unregulated. How can it be that financial advisers dealing with the loan for the property are vetted, but the people dealing with the asset itself and the trauma of a protracted process are not overseen or licensed?”
