Estate agent fees – and how you can save in 2024
Estate agent fees add thousands of pounds to the cost of selling a home. Here we look at what agents charge, how they structure their fees, hidden costs, why it’s important to compare estate agent fees, and how to negotiate and save.
When it comes to selling a house, “how much should I pay the estate agent” is usually the first question. Estate agent fees in the UK can vary enormously, so we’ve researched how much estate agents charge in 2024. Read on for the basics on fees, contract terms, to use our simple estate agent fees calculator and tips on how to compare and negotiate to save thousands on your estate agent fees – saving you serious money
How much are estate agent fees?
Estate agent fees typically range from 0.9%-3.6% depending on which estate agents you use, how many are selling your property – and how well you negotiate.
- A sole agency agreement (where you instruct just one estate agent) – typical fees 1.2% to 1.8% inc VAT
- A multiple agency agreement (using two or more agents to sell your property) – typical fees 3% to 3.6% inc VAT
Average estate agent fees in 2024 are typically 1.42% including VAT. So on a £275,000 house this would mean estate agent fees of around £3,900.
Your estate agent is likely to aim to get the top end of their fee range so it’s up to you to negotiate them down.
What do estate agent fees usually include?
Generally you should expect the estate agent fee will include:
- A valuation of your property
- Providing a written description of your property
- Drawing up floorplans.
- Taking professional photographs of your home.
- Putting up a For Sale board
- Contacting their list of potential buyers
- Marketing your house including on property portals like Rightmove, Zoopla and On the Market
- Organising viewings and usually managing them.
- Negotiating a sale price.
However what’s included can vary by agent, especially if you choose an online agent. These may offer cheaper packages but not be as comprehensive. So always check.
Find and compare local estate agents: check typical fees, success rate & asking price achieved
Estate agent fee calculator
Use our calculator to work out how much commission you will pay your estate agent. Adjust the calculator settings for the commission rate, and use the slider to select your estimated sale price. If you wish, you can see how this compares to ‘fixed fee’ agents like Purplebricks or Yopa. Otherwise, you can set the ‘fixed fee’ to zero to see the total commission you would pay.
Estate Agent Fee Calculator
How a sliding scale can help cut fees
Some estate agents will agree to a sliding scale of commission, to give them a big incentive to sell the property at a higher price.
For example, if you think your home is worth about £300,000, you could suggest:
- 1% fee if they sell your home for under £275,000
- 1.25% if they sell it between £275,000 and £299,999
- 1.5% if they sell it between £300,000 and £325,000
- 1.75% if they sell it for over £325,000
You could suggest the sliding scale if you think an agent is insisting on too high fees. Or if you feel you accepted a high commission rate because the agent gave your property a high valuation but now wants to drop the price because it isn’t attracting much interest. You can also use incentives to reward the speed of the sale, if a quick sale is important.
Why compare estate agent fees?
We’d advise against simply picking the cheapest estate agent based on their fees alone. Or deciding a more expensive option as an indicator of quality. It’s important to compare estate agents fees and services not just to save money but because you want to select the best performing estate agent. In order to find the best estate agent you’ll want to look at their success rate in selling and how good they are at achieving the asking price.
Top performing agents that achieve the asking price can be well worth their commission fee. For example, if a property is listed for £300,000 and the agent achieves this asking price and the commission is 1.42%, you will pay commission of approximately £4,250. But, if another agent charges a lower fee than this or even no fee at all and achieves 98% of the asking price, this has cost you £6000 in a lower achieved sale price (in this instance, you are at least £1750 worse off with the cheaper agent).
Simply enter a few details about your house into our Best Estate Agent Finder tool and you’ll instantly see estate agents in your local area ranked by their success rate, the average days they take to sell and the sale price achieved as a percentage of asking price. Based on your research you may decide that using an estate agent with an excellent track record is a wise investment even if they charge a higher percentage fee.
Find and compare local estate agents with our free tool: compare fees, success rate, speed of sale and track-record achieving asking price
Find and Compare Local Estate Agents
This form will take you to ea4me.hoa.org.uk for the resultsEstate agent hidden costs
When comparing estate agents look out for these hidden costs:
- The estate agent is required by law to tell you what is included in the fee. But you’ll need to check. Does it include advertising costs such as placement on property portals and For Sale boards? Most agents cover these services with their commission, so shop around if you’re quoted additional up-front registration fees, fees for photos, fees for advertising or marketing incentive fees. You should not need to pay these.
- Additionally, there should be ‘no withdrawal fees’ if you change your mind and decide not to sell your property for any reason.
- The Property Ombudsman advises that ‘Fees advertised by estate agents must be shown inclusive of VAT – alongside a statement confirming that VAT is included.’ But we often see estate agent fees quoted excluding VAT (currently 20%). So check your fee is quoted inclusive of VAT to avoid a shock later down the line.
Save on your Energy Performance Certificates
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) costs between £60 and £120. It’s a legal requirement to have one before you market your house for sale. The estate agent can arrange an EPC to be done on your behalf, and this should be your only up-front cost. But you can save by shopping around as it’s cheaper to get EPC quotes from local Energy Assessors directly. There is no obligation to use the estate agent’s provider.
Get instant quotes from Domestic Energy Assessors in your local area.
You should also check that you don’t already have a valid EPC, which may well be the case if the property has been built or sold in the last 10 years. You can check here.
How to negotiate estate agent fees
The next step is to negotiate the estate agent fees – it’s extremely important because if it works you’ll get the same service but you’ll pay less. It isn’t very British to haggle, but in a market where sellers are in short supply, you will probably find agents willing to cut their fees to get properties on their books. If you are going for sole agency, you should aim for a fee of 1.2% (this is 1% + VAT) – or even less for high value properties.
Here’s our step by step guide on how to negotiate estate agent fees:
- Book a valuation visit from at least three different estate agents. As well as discussing valuation and their approach to marketing, ask them what their fees are for a sole agency agreement, and if there are any other costs. Make sure you tell each estate agent that you are seeing other agents, so they know they need to compete. Ask for the fees in writing.
- Go back to the more expensive agents, and tell them the others are offering lower fees. Tell them that you are expecting to pay only 1.2%
- Small estate agents are often more flexible on negotiating commission downwards than large chains, which often follow nationwide policies
- Agents who are trying to win business to increase their market share in an area will probably be more open to negotiation than the more established estate agent
- If you achieve 1.2% you can be pleased with yourself
Find the best estate agent. Instantly find and compare the performance of local estate agents near you.
Contract terms and estate agent fees
Estate agent fees and contract terms for selling your home vary for lots for reasons. Here’s what to look out for:
- As mentioned, estate agents usually charge a percentage fee. This will be a different figure depending on the type of contract you opt for with your estate agent. Read our guide on Estate Agent Contracts.
- High street agents usually offer no sale no fee terms.
- Occasionally, particularly for cheaper properties, estate agents charge a set fee, which can end up as a high percentage of the total property cost.
- Online estate agents usually charge fixed fees and are significantly cheaper.
- Ask agents to email standard contract terms. Remember the fee set out therein will be their standard and you should negotiate. As we explain above you should aim to get a fee that is 1.2% for a sole agency contract.
- Pay attention to the sole agency tie-in period which varies dramatically across agents (4 weeks or 12 weeks are the most popular terms); more than this is unnecessary.
- Review and amend the estate agent contract before signing and ask your estate agent questions about anything that is unclear.
- There are implications for using more than one estate agent. Read our guide on multiple agency agreements.
Online estate agents vs high street
If you feel you are paying too much for an estate agent, you can always use an online estate agent for a fraction of the cost with starter packages starting at less than £100.
However just like with high street estate agents you don’t want to choose on cost alone. You should compare what they can offer you. Try using our online estate agents comparison tool. It details what the base fee of each online estate agent is, a summary of their packages and the sale price achieved as a percentage.
Find and compare the best online estate agents with our easy to use comparison tool.
Who pays estate agent fees?
So who pays estate agent fees? The seller.
The estate agent signs a contract with and works on behalf of the seller. Hence it’s the seller who pays. So if you’re selling a house make sure you add the fee to your moving costs.
However if you’re a buyer you don’t have to go it alone. Buying agents are like estate agents but they work for the buyer. Their job is to find their client the property that best fits what they are looking for, potentially finding properties before they appear on Rightmove and Zoopla, and then negotiate the best price and terms. Read more about how they work, their fees and find buying agents in your area with our guide on Buying Agents Explained
When do I pay the estate agent?
Unless you made the mistake of signing a “ready, willing and able purchaser” contract with the estate agent, then fees normally become due when contracts are exchanged.
However, you don’t pay until the sale is actually completed. You should never pay an estate agent before you have the money in the bank, or if they do not sell your house for you. Agents usually refer to this as ‘no sale, no fee’.
Do solicitors pay estate agent fees?
In terms of how you pay, the estate agent will usually invoice your conveyancing solicitor and they’ll pay the estate agent from the completion monies. This means you won’t need to pay the estate agent directly. But check this with your solicitor.
No sale, no fee estate agents
Estate agents will either charge a flat fee to be paid up front (usually charged by online estate agents) or a “no sale, no fee” commission to be paid only if you sell (usually charged by high street agents).
A no sale, no fee estate agent is great for you as it incentivises the estate agent to sell your property in order to be paid their percentage commission. And if your home doesn’t sell, you pay them nothing. But if your property is worth a lot, then the amount you are paying them, even if the commission charge is a mere 1%, could be several thousands of pounds.
Many online estate agents (e.g. PurpleBricks) have a different way of charging homeowners. Rather than “no sale, no fee”, they charge a fixed upfront fee. This can work out cheaper than paying a percentage of the sale price, but you will have to pay it whether your home sells or not.
Sole agency vs multi agency fees
With multi-agent sales you instruct two or more estate agents to compete with one another and you only pay the agent that makes the sale. It can have benefits; the estate agents know they have competition so in theory they will try harder to sell and for a higher price. But multi agency fees are higher, with the average 3%-3.6% rather than 0.9%-3% for sole agency. Read our guide to multiple agency agreements.
Top tips on finding an estate agent: video
Estate agent jargon explained
There may be some language in your contract that you don’t understand; here is what they mean:
- Open-ended agreements: This means the agent can claim commission if you sell to someone they originally introduced to your home, even if years have passed.
- Ready, willing and able purchaser This means you’ll have to pay the agent for finding you a buyer even if you pull out of the sale.
- Notice period This is the period of time you’ll need to wait between informing your estate agent that you want to end the contract and it actually happening. Notice periods are often two weeks, but the tie-in period discussed below may apply.
- Tie-in period This is the period of time you’re tied into the contract with your estate agent for from the date you first sign. And if you change agents in the tie-in period you’ll be liable to pay fees to your original agent. These typically range from 4 to 12 weeks.
*According to The Advisory, based on a survey of 2000 property sellers in 2018.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to use other services offered by my estate agent?
No. You are under no obligation to use any in-house estate agent services, such as their mortgage broker or partner conveyancer. By all means get a quote but then shop around to compare quotes and service ratings to get the best deal. Estate agents almost always earn a commission on these extra services so you may save money by going elsewhere.
Do I have to pay the estate agent if I sell privately?
Possibly. If you’re signed up with an estate agency and someone approaches you directly, check your contract because you may still need to pay estate agent fees if you sell privately.
And if you decide to stop using your estate agent make sure your contract is fully terminated before you try to sell again. It’s a good idea to ask the agent for a list of people they’ve contacted about your home too. Estate agents will come after former clients claiming they are owed money for the sale of their property where they think they had an active role in making an introduction. If you have a list of who the estate agent introduced your home to and you’ve sold to someone not on that list it should help you argue that you don’t owe them.
Can I sell my house without an estate agent?
Yes. But you’ll need to price, advertise and negotiate your house sale yourself. You’ll also need to organise your own EPC. And you may not achieve the best price as you won’t be able to market on the big property portals like Rightmove and Zoopla. But you will avoid paying estate agent fees.
Other ways we can help
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