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

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to regulate the payment of referral fees to estate agents for referring customers to particular conveyancing services and the passing on of the cost of those fees to customers.

The Government is clear that fees charged by conveyancers, estate agents and other property professionals should be determined by the market. However, where agents receive a referral fee for recommending services to their clients, these fees must be fully disclosed to clients before they make any decision to purchase.

In February 2019, the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team (NTSELAT) published guidance for estate agents which makes it clear they must disclose referral fees. We asked NTSELAT to monitor compliance and in February 2020 they reported that the majority of agents do disclose these fees. NTSELAT will continue to monitor compliance, and we will continue to keep the case for legislation under review.