The HomeOwners Alliance is the latest trade body to condemn the industry practice of conditional selling highlighted in this week’s Panorama programme.

Its Chief Executive Officer Paul Higgins has released a statement saying that she has “increasingly come to believe that estate agents and other property professionals must be banned from receiving financial benefit from both the buyer and seller in the same transaction.

“It creates an inherent conflict of interest. Conveyancers aren’t allowed to act for both sides—and the same principle should apply to estate agents.”

Her comments are the latest as the fall-out from the BBC investigation which, while just 40 minutes long, has already seen a huge fallout both within the property industry and beyond.

Higgins says her organisation has been campaigning on getting conditional selling for years – although an official report five years ago only suggested updated guidance rather than legislation.

Exposed

She says: “As far back as 2017, we exposed this issue with a story that included an audio recording of an estate agent pressuring a buyer. We said then — and still believe — that estate agents should be banned from offering financial services, such as mortgages, to buyers on properties they’re selling.

“In 2018, our research found that 300,000 buyers a year felt pressured into using in-house services. It may be time to revisit and update those figures.

“And I continue to raise this with both NTSLEAT and TPO. In fact, I brought it up at the TPO Consumer Forum on 9th July—before the Panorama programme even aired.”