Compliance with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008


The latest guidance specifically addresses the issue of transparency of fees, including referral fees, within the Estate Agency sector.

An Estate Agent should disclose in plain terms

The price for its services, including any ‘’compulsory’’ extras; and
Where a referral arrangement exists, that it exists and with whom; and
Where a transaction-specific referral fee is to be paid, its amount; and
Where a referral retainer exists, an estimate of the annual value of that retainer to the Estate Agent or its value per transaction; and
Where the referral is rewarded other than by payment, an assessment of the annual value of the reward or the value of the reward per
Webbers Property Services Ltd (WPS Ltd) refer business to internal departments (however no referral fee is paid) and external companies, and to this end, full disclosure is set out below.

Financial/Mortgage Services

WPS Ltd refer clients to the services of Together Financial Solutions and receives, on average, a referral fee of £300.00 on legal completion.

Conveyancing


WPS Ltd may provide a conveyancing quotation via Law Firm Services, Brights Solicitors LLP, Coodes, and Risdon Hosegood in conjunction with a selected local law firm.  Where a client instructs the Lawyer to proceed with the process WPS Ltd will receive a referral fee of between £150.00 -£225.00 on legal completion.  This fee is included in the law firm’s quotation prior to instruction and the fee taken is to cover the online transaction management service provided by the Law Firm.

Relocation Agent Network/Guild of Property Professionals


WPS Ltd is part of the Relocation Agent Network and the Guild of Property Professionals which have associated offices throughout the UK.  As members of WPS Ltd receive a referral fee, amounting to 20% of the recommended Agents’ selling fee, should WPS Ltd refer a client who subsequently sells through that agent.  The referral fee is paid from the commission agreed upon between the Agent and the introduced seller.  If WPS Ltd introduces a buyer/applicant to a member agent WPS Ltd receives 1.25% of the sales fee.  This is a national agreement between all members.

OnTheMarket.com


WPS Ltd receives the following fees for registering applicants for property Alerts for sales and lettings: £4 per sales property Alert registered and £1 per lettings property Alert registered. There is no cost to the applicants that WPS Ltd has referred.

Information for tenants


If you apply to rent a property from Webbers and choose the option of “Reposit” it is declared that the Agent receives a commission from “Reposit” equal to 5% of a month’s rent, which on average is £35.  You may also choose to use the “Homeshift” service to set up utility accounts and in this instance, the Agent will receive a referral fee from “Homeshift” of £20 including VAT for each gas, electric or broadband account you take out.

E-surv 

Esurv will pay us £75 for each survey they conduct

Anti Money Laundering

We are required by law to conduct anti-money laundering checks on all those selling or buying a property. Whilst we retain responsibility for ensuring checks and any ongoing monitoring are carried out correctly, the initial checks are carried out on our behalf by Lifetime Legal who will contact you once you have agreed to instruct us in your sale or had an offer accepted on a property you wish to buy.

The cost of these checks is £60 (incl. VAT) to sell a property & £69 (incl. VAT) to buy a property, which covers the cost of obtaining relevant data and any manual checks and monitoring which might be required. This fee will need to be paid by you in advance of us publishing your property (in the case of a vendor) or issuing a memorandum of sale (in the case of a buyer), directly to Lifetime Legal, and is non-refundable.  We will receive some of the fee taken by Lifetime Legal to compensate for its role in the provision of these checks.

Other Referral Partners 


WPS Ltd also refers clients to the following organisations, with no referral fee payable to us:

  • Assured Sale And Progression Limited: £195 per case
  • Bamboo Auctions: £1650 buyers admin fee & sales commission from vendor
  • Homewise Ltd: Validated Applicant Lead £40 fee. 1% property value for properties purchased.
  • Lumon Pay Ltd: Staff receive a £250 voucher direct from Lumon for a referral. WPS get % of Lumon's fee. 
     

 

*All clients have the option to deal with any of the above companies or seek alternative providers of these services.

*Clients are defined as people who have instructed WPS Ltd to sell their property or people who are buying a property through a WPS Ltd office.