Referral fees are under threat
Trading Standards is asking agents to complete a survey to solicit their views on, and payment via, referral fees from conveyancers, surveyors and lenders.
The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) has today launched a survey to find out how widespread the use of referral fees from solicitors, surveyors, financial advisors and removal firms is among estate agents.
It says the results of the survey will be fed into the Government’s ongoing investigation into referral fees.
The survey asks agents to anonymously divulge whether they take such fees from these kinds of third parties, and whether they think referral fees should be retained, made more transparent, or banned.
NTSEAT’s survey has the backing of both The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme and follows the government’s recent call for evidence by a working group set up by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
“The responses [so far] to whether government should take further action to enforce current transparency regulations regarding the disclosure of referral fees were overwhelmingly supportive,” says James Munro, Head of NTSEAT (pictured, left)
“But at the inaugural meeting, it was decided that more information was required from agents about the nature of the fees they currently receive. The results of this survey will feed into the working group.”
Reassurance
Agents who think it might be a bad idea to let government and NTSEAT know the full extent of the referral fees were reassured today by Property Ombudsman Katrine Sporle (pictured, right).
She said that: “We are not asking for agents to incriminate themselves, but government is concerned about transparency and wants consumers to be able to make informed choices,” she said.
Sean Hooker of the Property Redress Scheme has urged all agents to complete the survey so that, he says, “a complete as possible picture of what happens on the ground is available to the policy makers”.
