question for estate agents

[fandacious]

When a house is sold, comission is paid to the agent. Is VAT added on to this comission?

 

so i sell my house for a mil. estate agent gets 5%. which is 50k. do i add vat and pay over 57k?

[Delgado]

There will be  a VAT component but much like insurance premiums the quoted percentile is VAT inclusive...

[oclv110]

You must make sure it is negotiated beforehand

[Myra]

Your deed of sale should stipulate how much is paid to the agent, including/excluding commission.  The conveyancers attending to the transfer will then pay over the commission to the agent from the purchase price in terms of the deed of sale.  The deeds of sale that estate agents use usually have very comprehensive clauses to protect them and authorising the conveyancers to pay the commission to them directly (even if the sale falls through).

[Slave]

You'd be lucky to only pay 5%.

 

They mostly come in around 8% and yes, you have to pay VAT on the commission.

[splat]

You could negotiate the rate with VAT included.

[andre_ct]

if i remember correctly, our deed of sale said ex vat...or that was on the contract with the agent

[porky]

No, it all depends on what the offer to purchase says.

 

If it states its INCLUDING / EXCLUDING VAT then the estate agent MUST be registered for VAT - ask your attorney to check with SARS if in doubt.

 

If the estate agent is NOT registered for VAT the commission will be nett and the offer to purchase will reflect this.

 

However this is not your problem to control, your transfering attorney dos all this for you, they pay off the bond,pay the commissions as per the Offer to purchase, pay the councils etc and you get whats left.!

 

 

porky2009-01-05 03:40:37

[AuctionLamb]

the commission estate agents get for selling a house is ridiculous!!

 

when the property sales went well these guys coined it huge by doing very little...now they have work a "bit" harder to actually get commission...

 

[lowracer]

My wife is an agent, and this is what i picked up over the last 3 happily married years

 

You can negotiate the agents commission. sometimes the estate agent will drop the commission in order to get the sale. my wife rarely if ever gets full commission, most of the times it is 5% and less on an erf, and it drops with the total value of the sale

 

Some agencies like Pam Golding supposedly does not drop in commission, so you look at paying 7.5 % agents commision + vat = 8.55 % commission.

 

You have got to be vat registered with sars to charge vat. best is to negotiate a fixed percentage or amount. best is to include it explicitly in the contract for a fixed amount. if you get a lesser offer and they want the sale, they might sometimes negotatiate a drop in commision, of you are willing to take less.

 

 

[JPW#]

Best is to sell privately and to buy via an agent.

[Comebackboy]

Best is to sell privately and to buy via an agent.

 

What a cheap ass!!! Want the best of both... Can loose allot of money if you sell on your own!! Just get a good agent!! Specially in this tight market!!!