Selling a Property - Property Services Agreement (PSA) / Letter of Engagment w/ Auctioneer Questions

GreenGrass2019

Hi

I may have this in the wrong section, but I wanted to clarify in relation to the PSA (aka Letter of Engagement) signed with a PSP (aka licensee / auctioneer / estate agent) for the sale of a property the following:

• Who needs to counter sign to make this a legally binding agreement, do all owners or only one owner need to sign to put this into force?
• Is the solicitor providing the conveyancing detailed or party to this contract
• In the case of a property with joint tenancy (ie equal owners) - how is it known that agreement / consensus has been reached
• Finally if a PSA has been signed in the absence of the knowledge and / or consent of one of the joint owners, and subsequently place on the open market for sale again without either their consent or knowledge - what are the legal ramifications?

I have done a lot of research on both the PSRA website and the statute itself but I cannot establish a clear black and white answer.

Thanks in advance.

Lenar3556

The agreement you are entering into is simply to market the property.

If someone who holds title to the property ultimately doesn’t wish to sell it, then it’s not going to be sold - unless for example there is a court order in existence.

Any copped on PSP will usually establish these basic facts in early course, otherwise they are wasting their time if they are involving themselves in a dispute.

In terms of any contract, If it subsequently comes to light that a party didn’t have sole authority to enter into such a PSA, and misled the auctioneer, he could conceivably be sued for what would likely be relatively small damages. Although most likely the auctioneer simply would walk away and avoid wasting any more time.

GreenGrass2019

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118098320#Comment_118098320

Many thanks - so in effect it can be signed by one owner? - and the auctioneer turn a blind eye whether they're aware or not of non agreement between co-owners!?

Does the solicitor have visibility of the PSA? Or are they detailed in the PSA?

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118098429#Comment_118098429

why would the auctioneer turn a blind eye? why would they waste time marketing a property if all of the owners are not willing to sell?

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118098429#Comment_118098429

Well given that auctioneers are normally paid a commission on the proceeds of any sale, it would not be in their interest to invest time and effort in negotiating the sale of a property that a tenant in common doesn’t want to sell.

In my experience such an agreement would tend to be signed by one individual, on the understanding that he had the authority to act in such a capacity to sell the property. In terms of a PSP turning a blind eye to a tenant in common who didn’t want to sell at all, I would have thought the reality would be quite the opposite - if he was aware of such a case he would be walking away. Am I missing something here?

The vendors solicitor wouldn’t normally play a role in their clients engagement of an auctioneer.

If a tenant in common comes home some day to find their property advertised for sale without their consent, the first port of call would be to notify the auctioneer of the position and request he desist from negotiating a sale of the property immediately, and remove any adverts. The person who engaged the auctioneer should also be written to setting out the position and advising them that they have no authority to sell the property and to refrain from any such efforts in the future.

Peregrinus

The auctioneer wants to sell the property; it's really not in his interests to get legalistic and nitpicky demanding an account of how the co-owners reached agreement to sell, and proof that they are all in agreement, and fully understand, and were not subject to undue influence, etc, etc.. If one of the co-owners approaches him saying "we've decided to sell, and we'd like you to act for us", in the absence of some glaringly obvious problem he'll accept that at face value because why wouldn't he?

Sure, he runs the risk that one of the co-owners may not be fully on board with the project, and complications will ensue down the line. But that's a risk he's prepared to run. It's not something that will happen very often, and makes more sense to deal with it when it does happen that to put all potential clients through the third degree before accepting their business; they'll just bugger off and find a more accommodating estate agent.

If one co-owner has approached him without the authority of the others and he had gone to trouble and expense only for the whole thing to be called off, the auctioneer will be seriously and justifiably pissed. He does have the remedy of suing the co-owner who instructed him and, if he does, he may very well win. But, tactically, he might decide not to do that in the hope that the co-owners will sort out the problem between themselves and the property will come on the market and he will get the gig. Suing one of the co-owners would pretty much put the kibosh on any chance of that.

GreenGrass2019

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099924#Comment_118099924

I take it its a criminal offence to have placed a property on the open market through an auctioneer without the consent of all co-owners? And legal proceedings can be issued against them?

Peregrinus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107659#Comment_118107659

Why would you take it that it's a criminal offence? I'm pretty sure it's not.

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107659#Comment_118107659

No & Unlikely