A family in Riyadh that telephones the agent on a Knightsbridge listing and asks “is this a good price?” is asking the seller’s employee. The estate agent is instructed and paid by the seller and bound to get the seller the best price. A buying agent is the opposite: instructed and paid by the buyer, obliged to the buyer alone, and in prime London the usual way an overseas family buys well. The firm is one, and says so.
Buying from abroad
Buying agent or estate agent: who acts for whom, what a buying agent costs, and what off-market really means
Buying agent or estate agent: who acts for whom in London
An estate agent is instructed and paid by the seller, at 1 to 2.5 per cent plus VAT, and owes the seller the best price. A buying agent is instructed and paid by the buyer: a retainer of £2,000 to £10,000 plus a success fee of 1 to 2.5 per cent plus VAT on completion, 1.5 per cent being the London norm, nothing if you buy nothing. A Gulf family buying above £2,000,000, a house, off-plan or at auction needs one. The catch: off-market means first, not cheaper.
The two agents side by side, and who each one answers to:
Estate agent and buying agent compared side by side
| Estate agent (selling agent) | Buying agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Instructed by | The seller | The buyer |
| Paid by | The seller, 1 to 2.5 per cent plus VAT on completion | The buyer, a retainer plus 1 to 2.5 per cent plus VAT on completion |
| Duty | To the seller: best price, best terms | To the buyer: right property, best price, due diligence, completion |
| Sees | Its own listings and its office’s | Everything: all agents’ listings, off-market stock, auctions, developers’ bulk lots |
| Regulated by | Estate Agents Act, redress scheme, anti-money-laundering supervision | The same, where the firm also sells; a buying agent that only buys is not an estate agent in law but should belong to a redress scheme and be supervised for anti-money-laundering |
Source: firm’s practice and fee structure, October 2026; GOV.UK property redress schemes and money laundering supervision guidance for estate agency businesses.
What an estate agent does and who they work for
Markets the property, conducts viewings, takes offers, reports them to the seller, negotiates for the seller, progresses the sale with the solicitors, and is paid when it completes. The agent will tell a buyer what the seller will accept only when it suits the seller; will present a buyer’s offer alongside others in the way that favours the seller; and will, quite properly, encourage a buyer towards the asking price. None of that is dishonest; it is the job. A buyer who treats the estate agent as an adviser is advised by the other side.
What a buying agent does for a buyer in London
Takes the brief; searches the whole market, including property not yet or never advertised; previews, so that the family sees three flats not thirty; advises on price with reference to the Land Registry comparables and the street’s history; negotiates, with the leverage of a buyer who has other options; coordinates the survey, the solicitor, the lender and the currency; attends the survey and the completion; and, for a client abroad, is the person in London for the twelve weeks of the purchase.
Our guides on due diligence from abroad and on buying without travelling describe the work; the buying agent is the one doing it. A good buying agent also says no: to the flat, to the price, or to the whole idea, which the estate agent never will.
How much a buying agent costs: retainer and success fee
A retainer of £2,000 to £10,000 on instruction, deducted from the success fee; a success fee of 1 to 2.5 per cent of the purchase price plus VAT, paid on completion, with 1.5 per cent the London norm and lower percentages above £10,000,000; some agents charge a percentage of the saving from asking price instead, which the firm regards as rewarding the wrong thing.
When a buying agent's fee is earned and payable
The fee is earned when the client completes on a property the agent found or negotiated, and is not payable if the client buys nothing. On a £2,000,000 flat at 1.5 per cent the fee is £30,000 plus VAT, and it is justified when the agent saves more than that on price, avoids one bad building, or finds the flat that was not on the market; in the firm’s experience, usually all three.
What off-market means in prime central London
In prime London a substantial share of the best sales, the firm estimates a third above £5,000,000, are agreed before the property is advertised: the seller tells its agent, the agent tells the buying agents and private clients it knows, and a sale is agreed in days. The seller avoids a public price history and a board; the buyer avoids a competition.
Off-market means first, not cheaper
Off-market does not mean cheaper; it means first. A buyer without a buying agent sees these properties, if at all, after the buying agents’ clients have declined them. The route in is a buying agent the selling agents trust to bring a real buyer, which is a matter of years of completed sales, not of a brochure.
When you need a buying agent in London
Not for a straightforward flat in a block the family knows, bought with a London relative to visit it, at a price the family can check against the Land Registry.
Yes, for a family abroad buying for the first time; for any purchase above £2,000,000; for a house, where the survey and the negotiation carry more; for off-plan, where the developer’s agent is the seller’s agent twice over; for an auction, as our auction guide explains; and for a family that has decided what it wants and has no time to find it. The fee on a £500,000 flat is hard to justify; on a £5,000,000 house it is the cheapest insurance in the transaction.
Buying agent conflicts of interest to watch for
Three to watch. A buying agent that also sells property in the same market, and introduces its own clients’ stock; ask what the firm is selling and whether any of it is on your shortlist. A buying agent that takes a fee from a developer or a lender for an introduction; ask, in writing, whether any third party pays the agent anything in your purchase (the firm receives nothing from any lender, broker, developer, bank or solicitor it introduces, and says so on every page).
Percentage fees and the buying agent's interest in price
And a buying agent paid a percentage of the price, who has an interest in the price being higher; the firm’s answer is that the agent’s reputation depends on the client’s second purchase, not the first, and the fee structure should be understood for what it is.
Ten questions
1. Who else do you act for in this district at the moment, and would any of them compete for the same property? 2. Do you sell property as well as buy it? 3. Does any third party pay you in connection with my purchase? 4. What is the retainer, the success fee, and what happens if I buy nothing? 5. How many purchases did you complete last year, at what prices, and may I speak to two clients abroad?
6. Will you attend the survey, exchange and completion in person? 7. Which redress scheme do you belong to, and who supervises you for anti-money-laundering? 8. How do you find off-market property, and how many of your last ten purchases were off-market? 9. What will you tell me not to buy? 10. What is your view, in one sentence, of what I have described?
Sources: National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team · Property redress schemes (GOV.UK) · Money laundering supervision: registration guide for estate agency businesses (GOV.UK) Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about buying agents and estate agents
Not against rent; it is a cost of acquisition and reduces the gain on sale, as our guide on selling explains.
No; an agent cannot act for both sides of the same sale. Some firms have a buying department separate from their selling department, which is permissible with safeguards and worth a question.
Usually, because the agent knows what the street has sold for, what the seller needs, and when to walk away; the fee is paid out of that difference more often than not, and when it is not, the building the agent said no to is the saving.
A retainer of £2,000 to £10,000 on instruction, deducted from the success fee, and a success fee of 1 to 2.5 per cent of the purchase price plus VAT on completion. The London norm is 1.5 per cent, with lower percentages above £10,000,000. On a £2,000,000 flat at 1.5 per cent the fee is £30,000 plus VAT. Some agents charge a percentage of the saving from asking price instead, which the firm regards as rewarding the wrong thing.
No success fee. The fee is earned when the client completes on a property the agent found or negotiated, and is not payable if the client buys nothing. The retainer is paid on instruction and deducted from the success fee.
A sale agreed before the property is advertised. The seller tells its agent, the agent tells the buying agents and private clients it knows, and a sale is agreed in days. The firm estimates a third of sales above £5,000,000 in prime London go this way. Off-market does not mean cheaper; it means first, and a buyer without a buying agent sees these properties, if at all, after the buying agents’ clients have declined them.
For a straightforward flat in a block the family knows, bought with a London relative to visit it, at a price the family can check against the Land Registry. The fee on a £500,000 flat is hard to justify; on a £5,000,000 house it is the cheapest insurance in the transaction.
No. The agent will tell a buyer what the seller will accept only when it suits the seller, will present a buyer’s offer alongside others in the way that favours the seller, and will encourage a buyer towards the asking price. None of that is dishonest; it is the job. A buyer who treats the estate agent as an adviser is advised by the other side.
No. The firm receives nothing from any lender, broker, developer, bank or solicitor it introduces, and says so on every page. Ask any buying agent, in writing, whether any third party pays it anything in your purchase, and whether it also sells property that might be on your shortlist.
A buying agent that also sells is an estate agent under the Estate Agents Act, with a redress scheme and anti-money-laundering supervision. A buying agent that only buys is not an estate agent in law but should belong to a redress scheme and be supervised for anti-money-laundering. Ask which scheme and which supervisor before instructing.
