Estate Agency Terms and Conditions of Business
These terms apply to the sale of your property. They are separate from the website terms and conditions.
This is an estate agency agreement between the vendor/s named in the Confirmation of Instructions (You) and Colin Graham Residential Ltd., 319 Antrim Road, Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland, BT36 5DY (Us, We) relating to the marketing for sale of the property named in the Confirmation of Instructions at the agreed asking price.
Where we act as Sole Agent, you will be liable to pay remuneration to us in addition to any other costs or charges agreed if at any time unconditional contracts for sale of the property are exchanged, with a purchaser introduced by us during the period of agency, or with whom we had negotiations about the Property during that period, or with a purchaser introduced by another agent during that period.
Where we act as Joint Sole Agency you will be liable to pay remuneration to us in addition to any other costs or charges agreed if at any time unconditional contracts for sale of the property are exchanged, with a purchaser introduced by us or any other jointly appointed agent during the period of agency or with whom we or any jointly appointed agent had negotiations about the Property during that period or, with a purchaser introduced by another agent during that period.
The marketing fee outlined in the Confirmation of Instructions is payable to us before the property can be marketed. This fee covers our basic photograph package, Floor Plans, Listing on our website and relevant property portals, erection of a for sale board and inclusion on our mailing list.
An introduction is deemed to have occurred if we initiate a person’s reaction to the property. This would generally be where we arrange a viewing, but an introduction is not limited to just arranging a viewing.
Dual fee liability may occur where you have previously instructed another agent to sell the property, or where you instruct another agent to sell the property on sole agency or sole selling rights basis, during or after the termination of this agreement.
Our standard sale fee is as set out in your Confirmation of Instructions (plus VAT) and it is based on the actual sale price. The sale price will be deemed to include any extra prices for fixtures, fittings, goods, chattels, carpets, curtains and other such related items.
Our sale fee becomes due upon exchange of contracts and is payable upon completion of the sale, or 30 days after exchange should completion be delayed or not take place. Where there is no contract the sale fee is due upon completion of sale.
You hereby authorise payment to be made by your solicitor once the sale fee becomes payable. (Subject to your statutory rights)
We do not tie you in to any minimum marketing period and so the agreement will continue until the property is sold or until it is terminated. Either party may terminate this agreement at any time by providing the other party with 14 days written notice. Should you wish to withdraw your property from the market or where we are not entitled to our sale fee a termination fee of £495 + VAT (£594 inc VAT) is payable to us.
You will still have a liability to pay our sale fee, where a buyer is issued with a memorandum of sale by another agent within 12 months of the date of termination and they go on to exchange contracts with you.
Where the sale fee or other invoices are not settled within 14 days of the invoice date, interest on the outstanding balance may be charged, at our discretion, daily, at the rate set out in your Confirmation of Instructions above The Bank of England annual base rate until payment is affected.
A variety of marketing methods will be adopted, in your best interests and we reserve the right to sub-instruct additional agents, where it is believed to be in your best interests. No additional costs will apply, unless discussed and agreed with you in writing.
Unless specific instructions to the contrary are provided, you hereby give us specific authority to erect a for sale board within the curtilage of the property. We accept liability for this board under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992, unless the breach is as a result of a further board being erected by another agent. The For Sale board will always remain our property.
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is required for all properties offered for sale. The EPC must at least be commissioned before marketing and should be in place within 7 days. If it is not in place within 28 days, the property must be withdrawn from the market until the EPC is available.
Where any potential personal interest occurs, we must disclose details to any prospective buyer. Personal interest means you have a business association, family relationship or other connection with this agency, or any employee. Please assist us by advising a member of staff, if you are aware of any.
You agree to complete our property questionnaire to the best of your knowledge and where the property is leasehold, commonhold or a managed freehold you confirm you will contact the freeholder, lease administrator, commonhold association to obtain the information required in the questionnaire. A copy of the property details will be forwarded to you for approval. Under the Digital Markets, Competition & Consumers Act 2024 anything we say or publish about your property must be accurate. It is therefore very important that you read the details carefully and immediately inform us if there is anything that is inaccurate. In addition, we are obliged to pass on any material information that would impact on a potential buyers’ transactional decision and so you must advise us of anything you feel is relevant to this.
We are obliged by law to confirm your identity and the identity of any other beneficial owners of the property. You agree to provide us with information or documents we request to meet this obligation. We can require sight of documentary proof of address, together with acceptable photographic ID, such as a passport or photo driving licence. We may use an electronic verification system. This system allows us to verify you from basic details using electronic data; however, it is not a credit check of any kind so will have no effect on you or your credit history. We may use both of these methods to meet our obligations. Copies/records will be held on file only for the purposes of preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
We must by law to confirm the identity of the buyer/s of the property. You agree that in a situation where we might not be aware of the buyers’ details you will provide us with the names and addresses of the buyer/s to allow sufficient time prior to exchange of contracts for us to fulfil our obligation.
Prospective purchasers may be provided with a range of services including estate agency or letting services, mortgage facilities, life insurance, property insurance, removal services, and conveyancing services by us or third parties, for which fees or commission may be received. We will not discriminate against any prospective buyer because that person will not be or is unlikely to be accepting services that we may (directly or indirectly) provide.
We take no responsibility for maintenance, repairs or damage where the property is unoccupied.
We will not discriminate against any person and will comply with the Equality Act 2010.
A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request, and we are a member of The Property Redress Scheme, www.theprs.co.uk who you can refer to if you are not satisfied with the response we provide to any complaint. By entering into this agreement, you agree that if the Ombudsman asks for information about any aspect of our dealings with you, we can provide the information; whether that be in relation to a complaint, or their monitoring process.
The way we manage and handle your personal information is very important to us. You can see how we will handle your data fairly by going to the Privacy Policy on our website.
This agreement is governed by Northern Irish law and is subject to the jurisdiction of courts in Northern Ireland.
Notice of Right to Cancel - If you are a consumer client and this contract was not agreed within one of our branches you have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day this contract was agreed. To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by sending a clear statement in writing to us at Colin Graham Residential, 319 Antrim Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5DY. You may use the attached cancellation form, but it is not obligatory. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is enough for you to send your cancellation communication before the cancellation period has expired.
Immediate Marketing - We are not legally permitted to market your property until the cancellation period has expired, unless you provide us with specific written permission to do so. Please indicate in the Confirmation of Instructions how you would like us to proceed.
If you do request that we begin immediate marketing of your property during the cancellation period and you do exercise your right to cancel, you will be required to pay us an amount which is in proportion to what has been performed until you communicated your cancellation of the contract. This will include the expenses incurred, plus any other reasonable costs, except where we introduce or have negotiations with the ultimate buyer of the property before you exercise your statutory right to cancel the contract. In such a case this contract will be deemed to have been fully performed, and the agreed agency fee would be due, notwithstanding that cancellation took place.
Cancellation notice
To Colin Graham Residential, 319 Antrim Road, Newtownabbey, BT36 5DY.
I/We hereby give notice that I/we cancel the contract for the supply of estate agency services that was agreed on ................................. in relation to my/our property at: ............................................................................................................. I/We understand that I/we may be liable for expenses / fees, as outlined in the agreement I/we signed. Client/s name & address: ….....................................................................................................................
Signed: ............................................ Dated: ............................. Signed: ............................................ Dated: .............................