Blog - Residential sales

Compliance with the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The latest guidance specifically addresses the issue of transparency of fees, including referral fees, within the Estate Agency sector.

An Estate Agent should disclose in plain terms:

1. The price for its services, including any ‘compulsory’ extras; and
2. Where a referral arrangement exists, that it exists and with whom; and
3. Where a transaction-specific referral fee is to be paid, its amount; and
4. Where a referral retainer exists, an estimate of the annual value of that retainer to the estate agent or its value per transaction; and
5. Where the referral is rewarded other than by payment, an assessment of the annual value of the reward or the value of the reward per transaction.

RELOCATION AGENT NETWORK (RAN)

The Frost Partnership is part of RAN with around 750 associated offices throughout the UK, and as a member we receive a referral fee amounting to 20% of the recommended agent’s selling fee. This fee is agreed between the agent and the introduced seller. If we introduce a buyer to a member agent, we receive 5% of the sales fee. This is a national agreement between all members.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

We offer you and all our clients the opportunity to consult with independent Financial Services companies. It is your decision whether you choose to deal with one of these companies. Should you decide to use one of them The Frost Partnership will receive a referral fee of £360 inclusive of VAT, or a percentage of the fees generated by the Financial Services Company, whichever is the greater. You will not have to pay anything with regard to this to The Frost Partnership.

SOLICITORS

We offer you and all our clients the opportunity to consult with a panel of conveyancing solicitors. It is your decision whether you choose to deal with any of the panel of solicitors. Should you decide to use one of them, The Frost Partnership will receive a referral fee of up to £390 inclusive of VAT from them. You will not have to pay anything with regard to this to The Frost Partnership.

In regard to both of the above – we will not discriminate or threaten to discriminate against any client because the person is, is not, or is unlikely to be accepting services that are directly or indirectly offered. We will not discriminate against any person under the definitions of The Equality Act 2010.

AUCTIONS

The Frost Partnership offers clients the services of Go To Auctions. The Frost Partnership will receive 50% of Go To Auctions’ fee which is charged to the buyer. Sellers should be aware that this method of sale could result in a higher or lower price being achieved for their property than the conventional method of selling.

All clients have the option to deal with any of the above companies or seek alternative providers of these services.

We are required by law to conduct anti-money laundering checks on all those selling or buying a property. Whilst we retain responsibility for ensuring checks and any ongoing monitoring are carried out correctly, the initial checks are carried out on our behalf by Lifetime Legal who will contact you once you have agreed to instruct us on your sale, or had an offer accepted on a property you wish to buy.

The cost for the above check is £68 (incl VAT) for vendors and £72 (incl VAT) for buyers which covers the cost of obtaining relevant data and any manual checks and monitoring which might be required. We will receive an administration fee from the fee taken by Lifetime Legal for work undertaken by us. This fee will need to be paid by you in advance of us publishing your property (in the case of a vendor) or issuing a memorandum of sale (in the case of a buyer), directly to Lifetime Legal, and is non-refundable.