Estate Agents: Fees and Charges

(asked on 11th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on regulating estate agents' fees since his Department's consultation on the home buying and selling process closed in December 2017.


Answered by
Christopher Pincher Portrait
Christopher Pincher
This question was answered on 16th November 2020

The Government is clear that estate agent fees should be set by the market. However, where agents receive a referral fee these must be disclosed to consumers before they make any decision to purchase.

In February 2019, National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team (NTSELAT) published guidance for estate agents which makes it clear they must disclose referral fees. We have asked NSTELAT to monitor this, and in February 2020 they reported that the majority of agents do disclose that they will receive a referral fee. NTSELAT will to continue to monitor and report back any concerns.

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