Additional services on a property sale, offered without pressure

1 day ago
3 min read

Introduction

An estate agency earns a percentage of a sale price it does not control, in a market it does not control, against competitors who will undercut the percentage. Fee income per instruction is squeezed from both ends, and winning more instructions is expensive.

The services around the transaction are a different matter. A seller needs conveyancing, an EPC, photography, sometimes a mortgage adviser, sometimes removals — and they will buy all of it from somebody. Whether any of that runs through you is a matter of whether you organised it.

Referral fees and panel arrangements are regulated in most places, and the rules on disclosure differ by jurisdiction, so treat everything below as commercial structure rather than compliance advice and check your own obligations.

1. Additional services on a property sale should be raised at the valuation

The instruction conversation is the only moment you have everybody's attention.

Ask what they have arranged already

Conveyancer, mortgage, survey, removals. Most sellers have arranged none of it and are quietly dreading sorting it out. That dread is the opening.

Offer the whole sequence, not a list of names

Sellers want the transaction handled, not a directory. Presenting it as one coordinated process is worth more to them than any individual referral. Say who does what and when.

2. Disclose everything, plainly and in writing

This is where agencies get into difficulty, and the fix is simple.

State any fee you receive

If a referral earns you money, say so, in writing, before the seller decides. Transparency costs you almost nothing and protects the whole arrangement. Put the figure on the terms of business.

Never make a referral compulsory

Tying an instruction to using your conveyancer is both bad practice and, in many jurisdictions, prohibited. Offer it and let them decide.

3. Choose partners on service, not on the fee

A bad referral costs you the sale, not just the referral income.

Judge conveyancers on speed and communication

A slow conveyancer collapses chains and destroys your pipeline. The referral fee is irrelevant next to that. Measure average time to exchange by firm.

Review partners on outcomes, not on what they pay

Track how transactions handled by each partner actually perform. Drop the ones that cost you completions. Review the panel annually rather than never.

4. Price your own services properly

Some of what agencies give away is real work.

Charge for premium marketing where it earns its place

Professional photography, floorplans, video, drone. These affect achieved price and can carry a fee rather than being absorbed.

Do not discount the core fee to win the instruction

An instruction won on a cut percentage sets your income for the whole transaction. Compete on the process instead.

5. Lettings and management change the arithmetic entirely

Sales income is lumpy; management income recurs.

Convert suitable sellers into landlords

A seller who cannot achieve their price may let instead. That conversation turns a lost sale into years of management fees.

Build the management book deliberately

Recurring revenue smooths a business whose sales income depends on a market nobody controls.

Conclusion

Raise the whole transaction at the valuation, because that is the one moment you have the seller's full attention — ask what they have already arranged, and offer the sequence as a coordinated process rather than handing over a list of names.

Disclose any fee you receive in writing before they decide, never tie an instruction to using your partners, choose conveyancers on speed and communication rather than on what they pay you since a slow one costs you completions, charge properly for premium marketing instead of absorbing it, hold your core percentage and compete on process, and convert the sellers who cannot achieve their price into landlords. Check your own jurisdiction's disclosure rules before setting any of it up.