Progress Notes
Complaint
The Sellers, complained that, as the housing market had been so quiet, they had suspended
the marketing of the Property but had reached an understanding with the Agent that they should still keep the Property in mind if any potential buyers showed an interest in similar properties. The Sellers believed this had terminated their agreement with the Agent. However, six months later the Agent called the Sellers to arrange a viewing which
resulted in an offer and the Property being sold. The Sellers claimed that due to the lack of active marketing, they should be given a reduction in the commission fee. They also complained that the Agent had not passed information on to the Buyer as they had requested and failed to record and pass information on to their staff, leading to the Sellers
being unnecessarily inconvenienced during the transaction.
Investigation
I was satisfied that the Agency Agreement had not been terminated as no formal notice of termination had been given and that the Agent had introduced the Buyer and negotiated the sale. The Agent’s progress notes recorded that they had passed the information in question on to the Buyers as requested by the Sellers. Furthermore, the information the Sellers had specifically referred to as being unnecessarily chased for was recorded in the progress notes which would have been available to all of the Agent’s staff. However, I also observed that the Agent’s progress notes contained no entries for the final three weeks prior to completion.
Outcome
I explained that, as the Agent had introduced the Buyers who had proceeded to exchange of contracts they were due the commission fee as recorded in the Agency Agreement. However, I was not persuaded that monitoring and reporting by the Agent was entirely satisfactory, given that they had failed to demonstrate any sort of action during the last three weeks of the transaction. I supported that part of the Complaint and made an award of £50.
Learning
All actions by an agent should be contemporaneously recorded in their progress notes in order to prove exactly what work they carried out and when this occurred.