Estate agent fees, explained honestly.
How selling fees work in this country, what the fee should actually buy you, and the questions worth asking any agent before you sign anything, including us.
The standard model: no sale, no fee
Most UK estate agents, ourselves included, work on commission: a percentage of the price your home actually achieves, agreed in writing before marketing begins and paid only when the sale completes. Nothing up front, nothing if the home does not sell, and the agent’s reward rises and falls with the result they deliver for you. The model’s virtue is alignment: the agent is paid for the outcome, not the attempt.
A newer tier of online operators charges a fixed fee instead, often payable up front or within a set period whether or not the home sells. The trade is straightforward: a lower headline cost against an agent whose payment no longer depends on your result, and usually against a service where the viewings, negotiation and progression sit with you. Neither model is dishonest; they are simply buying different things, and it pays to know which you are buying.
Sole agency, multi-agency and the tie-in
The agreement basis matters as much as the number. Sole agency, one agent marketing the home for an agreed period, is the standard and carries the lowest rates. Multi-agency, several agents competing on the same instruction, typically prices meaningfully higher and, in a market like ours, rarely earns it: buyers see the same home from several windows and read desperation rather than reach. Joint sole agency sits between, and suits a narrow set of prime situations.
Whatever the basis, check the tie-in: the period you are committed for, the notice required to leave, and whether any clause entitles the agent to a fee after you have left if a buyer they introduced later completes. None of this is sinister, but all of it belongs in plain sight before you sign. We keep our terms short and explain every clause at the valuation, because a seller who understands the agreement is a better client for everyone.
What the fee should actually buy
The commission is not for a portal listing; anyone can buy one of those. It is for the judgement and work around it: an accurate valuation built from your road’s own evidence, photography and presentation that make buyers stop scrolling, viewings conducted by someone who knows the home and the street, negotiation that holds its nerve, and the six to twelve weeks of progression between an accepted offer and completed keys, which is where a fifth of agreed sales in this country quietly die. When you compare agents, compare exactly those things; the choosing an estate agent guide gives you the full checklist.
Why we agree fees individually
Our selling fees are agreed home by home and confirmed in writing at the valuation, because a station-side apartment and a Wentworth rebuild are not the same instruction and pretending otherwise flatters neither. What we publish openly are the schedules the law requires and lettings clients deserve: landlord fees and tenant fees are on the site in full. For a sale, fifteen minutes at your kitchen table gets you the figure, the terms and an honest valuation, with no obligation attached to any of it.
Fees, asked straight
Selling fees are agreed individually, because homes and sales genuinely differ, and we confirm ours in writing at the valuation before you commit to anything. What we publish openly are our statutory lettings schedules; for a sale, the conversation takes fifteen minutes and obliges you to nothing.
Only if the sale price ends up the same, and it rarely does. The fee is a percentage; the price is the whole number. An agent who prices accurately, presents properly and negotiates well can be worth multiples of any fee difference, which is why the right question is what you keep, not what you pay.
Under the standard no-sale, no-fee model, on completion, out of the sale proceeds through your conveyancer. You should not be paying a traditional agent anything up front; if you are being asked to, understand exactly what you are buying.
The fee and what it includes, the tie-in period and notice terms, whether the basis is sole agency or something wider, and any charges that survive if you withdraw. A good agent will walk you through every clause without being asked; we do.
Get the figure that matters first.
The fee conversation takes minutes once the valuation is honest. Start there.