Estate agent Des McGranaghan fined £1,000 for breaching trading standards rules in dispute over seeking his fee after house sale fell through

Des McGranaghan accepted a failure to fully explain the circumstances in which the vendor would have to pay. The 58-year-old also admitted a misleading omission to alert the prospective seller to a redress scheme.

Mr McGranaghan runs offices in the north and west of the city as part of an estate agency business stretching back over the past 30 years.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard Trading Standards Service launched an investigation last year following a complaint by a woman who put her house on the market through his company. The arrangement included an agency fee of 0.75% of the ultimate sale price plus VAT.

Although an agreement was reached to sell the house for £305,000, the buyer eventually pulled out months later because the woman could not find somewhere else to live.

Prosecutor Mark Conlon said Mr McGranaghan then pursued her for £3,397, representing the full 0.75% of the achieved sale price plus costs. “This debt was then referred on to a debt collection agency,” he added.

She refused to pay the full agency fee, alleging that some of the terms had not been properly explained.

Trading Standards assessed the sale technically fell through before the property was taken off the market, the court was told.

It identified a lack of clarity and adequate explanation, required under the Estate Agency Act 1979, from Mr McGranaghan in claiming the fee.

He was also prosecuted for an alleged failure to provide information about a Property Redress Scheme after the issue arose.

In court today he pleaded guilty to two contraventions of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Defence counsel Sean O’Hare argued that they were technical breaches by a respected and trusted estate agent with an impeccable record.

“He has been in business for 30 years, with an enviable reputation in the areas in which he operates,” the barrister said.

Mr O’Hare insisted his client used a standard form of contract without any problems in the vast majority of cases where house sales are completed.

But he claimed the legislation is vague about the final fee that a vendor has to pay.

“It should have been made more clear that if the estate agent finds a purchaser, everybody is agreeable on the price and then the property gets withdrawn from the market, in those circumstances the fee will be paid,” he accepted.

District Judge George Conner was told Mr McGranaghan does have information about a redress scheme posted on the company’s website, literature and office doors.

“But on this occasion the defendant accepts it wasn’t discussed with the vendor whenever she made it clear she wouldn’t be paying any part of the bill,” counsel submitted.

“There was nothing that was any sort of sharp practice on the part of Mr McGranaghan.”

Disclosing that the estate agent has since waived any fee as a gesture of good faith, Mr O’Hare added: “Most of the things were done properly, it all blew out of proportion very quickly.”

Judge Conner imposed fines of £600 and £400 for the two breaches.

He said: “It is a serious matter. The sale of houses is something that is such a regular thing that it needs to be done right.”