Expert: liznarr - 8/22/2007

Question
Can I legally get out of the contract with the real agent who is selling my place and go to another one (not from the same brokerage), if I don't get along with him and simply don't like his attitude? What penalties or consiquances am I looking at? thank you very much

Answer
Hi Olga,

You did not say whether your “contract” is a listing contract or a Contract of Sale.  I am going to assume that you are asking about a listing contract/agreement.

A listing contract or agreement is a legally-binding contract, but if your agent has breached any of his duties set forth by law; then you have grounds to request a release on the basis of Agency breach.  You can check your state’s Real Estate Commission web site for applicable laws pertaining to agents and CLIENT duties.  Go to www.google.com and type in words such as “(your state) + real estate commission” and somewhere in the list of hits returned, you should find the web site for your state’s Real Estate Commission.

If you just plain-and-simple do not get along with your agent and do not like his attitude, I don’t know that that would qualify as a breach.  If his attitude has been downright obnoxious, that might be a different matter, depending on the circumstances and what he might have said to you.  In any event, I would suggest that you speak with your agent’s Broker-in-Charge (BIC) and see if he/she will agree to release you.  

If your agent has paid for any advertising during the listing period, offer to reimburse those expenses as an inducement for a Release.

If …

(1) You were to relist with another company without a proper Release, and

(2) Your property were to go under contract during the period of time remaining on your current listing agreement with the NEW company, and

(3) Your property were to reach a successful closing under number 2 above,

… the BIC could (if he chose to) bring an action against you to enforce the payment of the commission agreed to in your listing agreement.  Thus, you could end up being liable to pay a listing commission twice.  As you can see, it’s very important that you try and get an unconditional Release from the BIC.

In addition to the above, the BIC could (again, if he chose to do so) try to recover any expenses incurred by his company on behalf of your listing incurred during the period of time you were listed if you just walked.   

If the BIC will not give you a Release, you are, however, well within your rights to request the BIC to assign a different agent to your listing (from the same company).  The BIC actually “owns” the listing, not the agent, so the BIC can always reassign another agent to work with you.

Good luck to you, and feel free to write again if you have additional questions.

Regards,
Elizabeth