"Mike Mitchell" wrote
| Apparently as long as someone has been referred to the property
| by the current agent (I assume up until close of business on
| the day of expiry of the sole agency agreement), that -
| henceforth former - agent gets the commission if the viewer
| does go ahead and buy the property, even if the viewer took
| a week or so to make a decision.
| What I'm not quite sure of is, the property will be on at a lower
| price with the new agent. Am I supposed to inform the viewer of that
| (if he does put in an offer)? In other words, he will probably see the
| property on with the new agent as of tomorrow or Monday and won't want
| to pay the current asking price if the new price is lower. However, he
| was referred to the property via the current agent at the higher
| price.

If the sale progresses towards conclusion and the viewer only finds out
'second-hand' that it is being advertised at a lower price, he might be
rather less than impressed and take the viewpoint that if you have (from his
viewpoint) been playing silly beggars he can do the same and do one of those
'wait until the day before completion then ask for another £5 off' haggles.

I'd be upfront with him, tell him you're now inviting offers around a new
lower marketing price (as Rick suggests, because you're no longer including
certain things in the sale, no need to sound desperate). Hopefully he will
make an offer and, because the sale price is lower, that former estate agent
is going to get a bit less in commission (it should be %age of the actual
realised price, not the marketing price) than he was expecting, which will
serve him right for not pulling finger out earlier on.

Owain