Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

Estate Agent fee upfront.

26 replies

justgivein · 12/04/2021 21:16

Hi .Is it normal for a Highstreet independent EA to ask for a fee for photos,floorplan and energy certificate to be paid upfront total £160. Last time we sold eight years ago it was no sale no fee.The fee for sale is 0.8% which was quite a surprise aswell .Thankyou.

OP posts:
SnarkyBag · 12/04/2021 21:19

Energy certificate yes and some agents charge for floor plans but many don’t. Never heard of a fee for photos up front tbh

FawnDrench · 12/04/2021 21:24

Yes I think so.
We paid £100 up front for our photos, and presume this also included the floor plan they did, though this wasn't specified.

Re the EPC - you only need a new one after 10 years so it depends on when you moved in - there might already be a current one.
You can download them.
But hopefully your EA will already have checked this...if they're any good that is.

Original poster
justgivein · 12/04/2021 21:31

Thanks.It was a bit unexpected and although he spent an hour and a half with us and was really friendly and helpful it was this fee that put doubts in our mind .We're having two more round soon and he said he would be interested in what they have to say.Do you think if we asked for the photos e.t.c to be included he would accept or not advisable .

OP posts:
FawnDrench · 12/04/2021 21:36

I'd wait and see what the other 2 EAs say.
Always good to get a comparison.
Then decide what's best for you, depending on percentages charged, length of contract etc.

It's not really anything to do with him what the different agents might charge!

Andthenanothercupoftea · 12/04/2021 21:36

We paid £120 for EPC and proper photos. The alternative was the EA doing photos for free. This way the photos belong to us so we can use them to remarket if we want to. The fee is 1% + vat.

Other EAs were 2% including VAT and photos, EPC extra or 1.5% including VAT with EPC and photos as extra.

Original poster
justgivein · 12/04/2021 21:51

That's great advice.Thanks we'll be a lot more confident with the next two now and the questions we should be askingSmile

OP posts:
Hallyup5 · 12/04/2021 21:57

We had no fee upfront. Total charge was 1% of the sale price on completion.

CeibaTree · 12/04/2021 22:27

Yes totally normal to pay for the EPC upfront - the floor plan and photos were done in the same visit for us, but these weren't charged separately, just part of the over all fee at the end.

Comefromaway · 12/04/2021 22:31

The person who did our EPC also did our floor plan. We paid her direct, nothing to the estate agent.

Changingwiththetimes · 12/04/2021 23:05

I don't pay anything up front. My agent paid for the epc, but I've used hm several times before. To be honest, the epc costs about £80, so what photographer is going to do a job for £40? No one of any quality. Sounds like a way of getting more money for something they should be providing as part of their normal fee.

Original poster
justgivein · 13/04/2021 02:08

Yes Hallyup5 and Changingwiththetimes must admit I'm with you would prefer to not pay anything up front because £160 is alot for us at the moment.Hope if next two ask and I'm sure they will about the Independents upfront fee hopefully they'll try and beat it to get the sale and not charge.But we're very impressed with him so will throw it back at him in the hope he'll not charge.Thankyou all for your help.

OP posts:
Didicat · 13/04/2021 07:07

I think we paid £90 for EPC and floor plans, photographer was free, commission 0.75%.

Other estate agents wanted less up front but by charging more commission were set to make a lot more than the upfront fee.

firebrimstone · 13/04/2021 07:57

0.8% is good.

Also perfectly reasonable for them to charge a fee for photos as this is a cost they incur regardless- not v fair if you change your mind and they can't recoup it.

Original poster
justgivein · 29/04/2021 13:05

@FawnDrench

I'd wait and see what the other 2 EAs say. Always good to get a comparison. Then decide what's best for you, depending on percentages charged, length of contract etc.

It's not really anything to do with him what the different agents might charge!

Thought I'd update. Last Independent charged us 1% and nothing up front with no contract whatsoever which was a bit of a shock so going with them.He said contracts too binding/complicated so they go on a handshake/elbow bump which I'm a bit nervous about but didn't think to question it.
OP posts:
DinoHat · 29/04/2021 13:07

Not all of them do. But I don’t think it’s massively unreasonable.

Rainbowshine · 29/04/2021 13:16

You ought to have a written contract, no decent EA would work without one.

elfofftheshelf · 29/04/2021 13:21

Yes, this was outlined in our contract. I think we paid approx £700 upfront for marketing, certificates and the photographs / video (drone etc). The Agents fee was 1.5% of sale price.

Original poster
justgivein · 29/04/2021 13:26

Yes I thought this a bit strange .What does the contract consist of apart from the fee.Im new to this thanks but he said been 30 years as estate agent . I'm not sure what to ask for even though there is no contract, notice of pulling out etc

OP posts:
MayorGoodwaysChicken · 29/04/2021 13:26

I really wouldn’t consider selling my house via someone who thinks a contract is too binding Hmm This is a significant business transaction with a lot of money at stake for you. You need a professional, he sounds like a chancer.

Original poster
justgivein · 29/04/2021 13:33

I'll give them a ring.They are established in my town ,houses all over for sale up to a million..but I'll ring.Smile

OP posts:
readytosell · 29/04/2021 13:47

I had 3 agents value recently. One small one did all photos herself and floorplans as part of deal. Another local chain did floorplans and either free photos from someone in the office, or could upgrade for a professional photographer for 160 quid. Other big chain wanted to charge 280 quid for photos and floorplans!

EPC yes, normal to pay upfront if don't have one, but you can arrange this yourself if you really want to, but you probably wouldn't save a lot.

crazylikechocolate · 29/04/2021 14:12

I sell quite often , normal high street agents will usually charge for an energy cert , it's often farmed out to an independent company / person to do , the last one autumn last year was about £80 , it included floor plans and probably took around 90 mins , on site , he took lots of photos to go home and work with , I believe quite a lot of work went into it . The photos were done by the agent and were ' free ' we agreed a set fee , I could have had a % but was fine with what I went with
The only times I've been asked to pay up front for photos / brochure printing was
One property had a drone photo and was a set fee because it was done by a third party and another company who I didn't go with wanted £1200 up front which included printing out glossy brochures, floor plans and energy cert

Better to sign a contract then you both know where you stand .

Muststopeating · 29/04/2021 14:17

Assuming your house was worth/sold for £100,000 then the first guys fees would be £160 +0.8% of £100k = £960

Second guy fees would be 1% of £100k = £1000.

So second guy is more expensive (and becomes more and more so depending how much over £100k your house sells for). You said you really liked the first guy but you've gone for the second guy who was more expensive?

Is that purely because he doesn't force you into a contract so you can walk away anytime?

Original poster
justgivein · 29/04/2021 14:22

Thanks he's emailing it but did offer written.I tried a chain but the EA said he'd have to get his colleagues round to decide the valuation not sure why because he didn't seem inexperienced. Anyway told them all the price I wanted it on for and they all went with it .The last one made us laugh though said he wouldn't know the value ,could be up to a million Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
justgivein · 29/04/2021 14:25

They second was the chain at 1% who needed his colleagues round to value .We went with the third who was independent the same as the 1st,0.8% EA.

OP posts: