In short
Payotte ranks companies, never individuals: estate agencies, mortgage advice firms, conveyancing firms, surveying and valuation firms. One firm will be selected per trade and per area, on a 100-point grid based only on public data: Google reviews (35), age of the company (30), declared and checkable regulator or register (15), local anchoring (15), bonus (5). It is the grid used in France, Belgium and Canada. The ranking is never paid.
Google reviews: 35 points
Rating and number of reviews on the establishment's Google listing, recorded with their date. Formula: 11.229 + 3.696 × ln(1 + number of reviews) + 6.075 × (rating − 4.8), capped between 0 and 35. The record is attached to the establishment only if the area and the name match and the establishment is not closed.
Review floor. The 85/100 tier and above requires a rating of at least 4.0 out of 5 and at least 10 reviews. Below that, the total is capped at 84.
| Rating | Reviews | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 10 | 18 |
| 4.8 | 10 | 20 |
| 4.8 | 50 | 26 |
| 4.9 | 100 | 29 |
| 5 | 300 | 34 |
Age of the company: 30 points
The age of the company, counted in full years from its date of incorporation at Companies House, read listing by listing in the public Companies House search. It is not the experience of an individual. Without a readable date, the criterion is worth 0 rather than an estimate.
| Age of the company (years) | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 | 9 |
| 7 | 15 |
| 12 | 21 |
| 17 | 25 |
| 22 | 28 |
| 27 | 30 |
Checkable regulator or register: 15 points
15 points if the firm displays on its own website its regulator or register, and an identifier (registration or membership number) you can check yourself with that body; 12 points if the regulator or register is displayed without an identifier; 0 if none is displayed. The listing reads "declared, checkable with" the body, with a link to its search page. Payotte does not verify on your behalf: it copies no register.
| Trade | Where you check it yourself |
|---|---|
| Estate agent | Membership of a government-approved redress scheme (for example The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme), checked on the scheme's own member list |
| Mortgage adviser | Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the FCA Register |
| Conveyancer | Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), Law Society of Scotland or Law Society of Northern Ireland, on the body's own register |
| Surveyor | Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), firm search |
| Valuer | RICS Registered Valuer scheme, on the RICS register |
When the number displayed is that of an individual (an adviser or a surveyor of the firm, for example), the listing does not copy it: it states only that the regulator or register is declared and where to check it.
Local anchoring: 15 points
Establishment unit in the area (8), pages devoted to the area (3), activity figures published by the firm itself (2), languages or specialisation useful to the area (2).
Bonus: 5 points at most
Media (2), awards (1), video (1), publications (1), professional association (1).
Selection rules
- Companies only. A sole trader has no listing: the business is indistinguishable from the individual.
- A name that is not that of an individual. A firm whose name contains a first name or a surname is not selected, unless it itself displays a neutral trading name.
- At most 3 listings per company (same company number), including for large networks. Elsewhere, the place goes to the next candidate if it reaches the threshold; otherwise it stays vacant.
- Address checked against the actual area, not the postcode: one postcode can cover two areas.
What a firm's listing will publish
The company name, its legal form and its Companies House number, the address of the establishment, the trade and the area, the declared regulator or register and where to check it, the score out of 100 and its breakdown, the Google rating and number of reviews recorded (with their date), the age of the company, the firm's website and telephone. No individual is named: neither manager, nor solicitor, nor agent, nor adviser; no personal email or telephone, no review text, no photo.
The ranking is never paid
No firm can buy its place or its recommendation. A firm can correct, complete or have its listing removed, free of charge; a correction changes the score only if the grid above provides for it.
Thresholds
85 points and above: top tier, subject to the review floor. 70 points and above: listing selected. From 50 to 69: published with the mention "partial". Below 50: not published, the place stays vacant.