Profession

Estate agents in the UK: redress scheme and checks

No licence is needed to be an estate agent in the UK, but residential agents must belong to a redress scheme. What to check, and what fees to expect.

Checked on against the sources at the bottom of the page.

In short

In the UK, “estate agent” is not a licensed profession: in the sources we read, no licensing regime for selling agents appears. What the law does require is that anyone doing residential estate agency work belongs to a government-approved redress scheme, and the Estate Agents Act 1979 provision involved extends to the whole UK. An agency also has to be registered with HMRC for money laundering supervision. There is no official scale of commission: the agent must tell you the amount, or how it is calculated, before you are committed.

What the estate agent does

The estate agent markets a home for a seller, arranges viewings, passes offers to the seller and helps the negotiation until the sale is agreed. Agents also work for landlords (lettings), which is a separate set of rules.

The agent does not do the legal work. The transfer of ownership is handled by a solicitor or licensed conveyancer (see the conveyancer). The agent does not value the property for your lender, and is not a surveyor (see the surveyor and the valuer). For the sequence of a purchase, see buying a home in England and buying a home in Scotland.

The title and where to check it

What the rule says. The Act lets the Secretary of State require, by order, “persons who engage in estate agency work in relation to residential property” to belong to an approved redress scheme. The legislation.gov.uk page marks the provision as extending to the U.K. A penalty charge notice can be given by an authorised officer of an enforcement authority to someone breaching the duty (s.23B). National Trading Standards writes: “It is a legal requirement for anyone engaging in residential estate agency work to join an approved scheme”. It calls its Estate Agency Team “The UK’s regulator for the estate agency industry”.

GOV.UK lists two approved schemes, The Property Ombudsman and The Property Redress Scheme. Its page covers lettings and property management in England and Wales only, and says that in Wales the requirement is applied through Rent Smart Wales licence conditions.

Nation by nation.

  • England and Northern Ireland, selling: redress scheme membership, as above. We did not find, on an official page we read, a separate rule for letting agents in Northern Ireland, so we say nothing about it.
  • Wales, lettings: a licence through Rent Smart Wales.
  • Scotland, lettings: letting agents are on the Scottish Letting Agent Register; we did not read a page of the register stating that registration is compulsory, so check the Scottish Government’s guidance.
  • Anywhere in the UK: an estate agency business must be registered with HMRC for money laundering supervision. GOV.UK writes: “It’s a criminal offence to trade as an estate agency business without being registered”. That is anti-money-laundering supervision, not a licence to practise or a test of competence.

Where to check. Use the National Trading Standards Property Agent Checker: nationaltradingstandards.uk/property-agent-checker. It is described as: “Search our list of Estate and Letting agents, to check their registration with an approved independent redress scheme”. The Property Ombudsman also publishes a register (tpos.co.uk/register-of-businesses), searched by trading name. For lettings, there are the Scottish Letting Agent Register and the Rent Smart Wales register. Check one firm at a time, for your own transaction.

Terms of use of the registers.

  • National Trading Standards: the checker page and the legal page publish no terms on copying or reuse. The only wording is a disclaimer: “The information available on this Web site is designed to provide general information only.” and “Information may be changed or updated without notice.”
  • The Property Ombudsman: the register page states no use conditions, but the site’s copyright page says the materials “may not be reproduced without permission” and: “you are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, adapt or change in any way” the content of the website, “for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of The Property Ombudsman Limited.” It does not mention scraping or lists. Payotte treats it as ruling out copying or storing the register.
  • Scottish Letting Agent Register: “All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated.”
  • Rent Smart Wales: no terms of use on the page, only “Copyright © 2026 | Rent Smart Wales”. Payotte does not copy it either.

What it costs

No official scale exists. Commission is a matter between you and the agency, usually a percentage of the sale price or a fixed fee: we give no figure, because no official source we read sets or publishes one.

What the law does say (Estate Agents Act 1979, s.18, which we read): before you enter into the contract, the agent must give you “particulars of the amount of the agent’s remuneration”; if the amount cannot be known yet, the agent must explain how it will be calculated. The agent must also tell you about payments that are not part of the remuneration. If the agent fails to do so, the contract “shall not be enforceable by him” except by court order. Ask for the fee in writing, whether VAT is included, and what it covers.

For the full cost of selling, see selling a home: costs.

How Payotte chooses the firm

Payotte selects one firm per trade and per area, on a published grid based only on public data:

  • only companies are selected, never a person: no agent is named;
  • the title is published on the listing so that you check it yourself, at the official register, free of charge;
  • the selection is never paid for;
  • no firm is listed yet in the UK section;
  • Payotte never queries a register in series, and does not copy any register.

Questions to ask

  • Which redress scheme are you a member of, and can I see the certificate?
  • What is your fee, in writing, including VAT, and how is it calculated if the price changes?
  • Is the contract sole agency, and for how long? What happens if I end it early?
  • Which payments are outside the fee (photographs, floorplan, marketing)?
  • Do you receive a fee for referring me to a mortgage adviser, conveyancer or other service?
  • Who will actually handle my sale?

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a licence to be an estate agent in the UK?

In the sources we read, no. What applies is redress scheme membership for residential work and registration with HMRC for money laundering supervision.

Is redress scheme membership the same in all four nations?

For selling homes, the Act’s provision is marked as extending to the U.K. For lettings, GOV.UK’s page covers England and Wales, and Scotland and Wales have their own registers.

Can I negotiate the fee?

Nothing we read sets a scale, so the fee is a matter of agreement. The agent must give you the amount, or how it is calculated, before you are committed.

How do I check an agent is in a scheme?

Use the National Trading Standards Property Agent Checker, then ask the agency for its certificate.

Does Payotte confirm an agent’s membership?

No. Payotte publishes the title; you check it at the register.

Sources