Estate agent advice - selling leasehold flat in London

JayS90

Hi all,

I was just looking for some advice on selecting an estate agent to sell my leasehold flat in London (Beckton, postcode: E6). I was a first-time buyer when I purchased it in April 2020 so I've never sold a property before.

Paid £275,000 for it. The lease has 102 years left. The service charge averages £1800 p/a and the ground rent is £150 p/a.

Ground floor flat, 3 x parking permits as it's a private road. 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (family bathroom with a bath & en-suite with a shower off the main bedroom). New windows installed in 2022, property is in very good condition and a buyer would certainly be able to move straight in and carry out some minor decoration if desired.

It's right-to-manage with a limited company that has two residents as the directors of the company. A property management company is contracted to deal with the day-to-day running of the development. The service charge can vary, but as I am one of the directors I have been strict on ensuring that the contracted management company keep costs as low as possible when budgeting for the year ahead.

I'm being realistic given the current market conditions for sellers. Before I had anyone round I decided that my rock bottom would be £280,000 - the small increase of £5k would cover the new windows we had installed, which is really the only major thing we've done to improve the place if you don't count fixtures, fittings and decorating. After doing my own research I haven't found a flat in this development that has ever sold for £300,000 or more.

I've had five estate agents round to value it so far:

Foxtons	£300,000	2.5%
Portico	£300,000 - £325,000	£4k + VAT (flat fee)
Bairstow Eves	£265,000 - £280,000	1.35% + VAT
100 Key Properties	£265,000 - £280,000	£3k + VAT (flat fee)
Purplebricks	£265,000 - £280,000	£1,299 incl. VAT (flat fee)

Foxtons are expensive and I'm certain that the person who came to value the property just told me what I would want to hear, likely intending to get me in the door and then drop the price later. I also feel the same way about Portico.

The Bairstow Eves, 100 Key Properties and Purplebricks valuers were more realistic, arrived with more research (print-outs of sold and listed properties in the area) and didn't promise unrealistic sale prices.

They are all no sale no fee except for Purplebricks, which puts me off them along with the fact that it would cost extra for an agent to carry out viewings. Is there any substance to my aversion to Purplebricks based on what I have said?

I feel like Bairstow Eves or 100 Key Properties may be the better choices. Bairstow Eves have a strong presence in the area, have been established for a long time and seem to have a strong sales record. 100 Key Properties' office is based out of the area but they do have a presence in the area having sold properties here previously. Both seem to have reasonable fees. Is there any substance to my attraction to Bairstow Eves/100 Key Properties based on what I have said?

If my calculations are correct these are the costs for each of them inclusive of VAT and based on £280,000 sale price:

Bairstow Eves	£4,536
100 Key Properties	£3,600

They both list properties on the same platforms (Rightmove, Zoopla etc.). However, Bairstow Eves include a premium listing in their package and 100 Key Properties charge extra for it. Is it worth the additional cost (or a portion of it) to have premium listings?

Any recommendations of other estate agents I could approach would be welcomed.

Any advice, guidance or feedback on what I have said would be greatly appreciated 😊

TIA!

saajan_12

Agree with your assessment, I'd be looking at BE or 100Key. Agents will often value high precisely to get your business, when in reality most homes are bought off Rightmove and the amount a buyer will pay doesn't vary by agent. Other than perhaps the PurpleBricks-esque outfits where they are known to be slow and can actually lose a sale as a result.

100Key is 1.00% - 1.13% + vat assuming a sale price between 265-300k. That is a pretty good rate considering the property value, lower than Bairstow Eves.

Bairstow Eves being a % based fee, theoretically they have more of an incentive to push for a higher sale price as their fee increases too, but in reality this is usually not the case because the piddly extra £135 from geting you £10k isn't worth the legwork when they're getting £x000 for flogging the property cheap.

Re premium listings, to compare like for like how much is the add on for 100Key? Personally if someone is looking in a particular area eg near a particular station / high street, then theres 10-20 properties available, and 1-2 new ones each time they check, so they end up looking at the whole list and being premium doesn't help much. I personally wouldn't think its worth £1000 but if it was £100 extra, sure why not.

JayS90

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137281#Comment_82137281

Thanks so much for your reply!

Glad to hear that it seems like I'm on the right track with my considerations towards who to go with.

100 Key Properties left me with a brochure that included two generic Rightmove branded leaflet inserts with the prices, I'd have to confirm the actual cost with them in case it varies but the leaflets state:

Premium listing - £250
Featured listing - £500

What you said about premium listings makes a lot of sense, and more or less matches my own behaviour when browsing properties on Rightmove. If we do go for 100KP I'll confirm the additional costs with them and likely not bother if they're close to the advertised price I mentioned above.

Thanks again for your advice, I genuinely appreciate it ☺️

Albermarle

I'm being realistic given the current market conditions for sellers. Before I had anyone round I decided that my rock bottom would be £280,000 - the small increase of £5k would cover the new windows we had installed, which is really the only major thing we've done to improve the place if you don't count fixtures, fittings and decorating. 

Just adding £5K for new windows to what you paid for it, to get a 'rock bottom' price is not very logical. Sorry to point this out but in real terms the flat has lost about £70K as general inflation has been about 25% over the last 6 years. ( although of course you have benefitted from living there for 6 years) so in a way £5K is neither here nor there.

What you need to do is think very carefully about how you react when offers start to come in ( as hopefully they will) . For example what if the only offer is £260K ? Or someone offers £290K but have not sold their own property yet. What should be the asking price and if there is little interest at that asking price, would you reduce it ? Do you need to sell quickly or can you hang on for a year or two in the hope the market picks up? Best to think these scenarios through in advance, rather than reacting on the spot.

eddddy

JayS90 said

They are all no sale no fee except for Purplebricks

…

However, Bairstow Eves include a premium listing in their package and 100 Key Properties charge extra for it.

Premium listing - £250
Featured listing - £500

Do you only pay the £250 or £500 if 100KP sell the property?

Or do you have to pay it even if they don't sell the property? If so, it's not really "No sale, no fee".

In that case, are there other "hidden costs" like withdrawal fees, marketing fees, photography fees etc which you have to pay, even if the property doesn't sell?

If you haven't already, ask each estate agent for a copy of their contract / terms of business. And read the contract from multiple perspectives, for example:

• How much do I have to pay the estate agent, if they successfully sell my property?
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if they are useless and I want to move to another estate agent?
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I change my mind about selling before accepting an offer?
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I change my mind about selling after accepting an offer? (e.g. "Ready, Willing and Able Buyer" clause.)
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I accept an offer, but the buyer eventually walks away?

You might also want to look at 'minimum contract period' and whether you want to negotiate that down. Plus any other differences between the contracts.

(You might be thinking that you definitely won't change your mind about selling - but what if an unexpected life event occurs?…

• You lose your job
• Serious illness or death of a family member
• Relationship breakdown

Or you can't find a new property that you like within your price range - so you decide to give-up and stay where you are.)

JayS90

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137563#Comment_82137563

I think I should have said I'm "trying to be realistic" 😅 but my wife is really trying to push for more despite my opinion, which is why perhaps I've illogically tried to justify the 280k with the windows lol but no need to apologise, I welcome your perspective and you make a valid point.

We're still wrestling with the price to market it at, and I completely agree that we need to think through all those types of scenarios you mentioned. If I gave you a little more context would you be willing to give your opinion some more?

Regarding speed of the sale, our mortgage product ends on 31 Jan so ideally we want to have sold by then. If not then we should be ok financially to make monthly payments on Nationwide's standard mortgage rate until we've sold. Our mortgage debt should be approx £180k by end of Jan, Nationwide's SMR is currently 6.49%, I think that works out to £1,258 p/m? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Of course that SMR interest rate could change, would you agree it's likely to go up rather than down? I've been making overpayments of £300 p/m while our standard monthly payment has been £810.54 on a 5-year fixed at 1.49%.

We've viewed the end of our 5-year fixed as the point we want to sell in order to buy a freehold house, it's not absolutely necessary so we could hang on but we don't really want to.

If someone offered £290k we would probably accept it even if they hadn't yet sold their own property, as we're not really in a rush which is made easier by knowing we could afford the SMR monthly payments. Does that actually make sense at all?

If someone offered £260k I'm assuming we wouldn't have to accept it straight away, would we be able to go back to that offer if we didn't receive any in the range we're seeking say for example after a month or two?

JayS90

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137733#Comment_82137733

Thanks for this, great advice specific to estate agents.

Regarding the premium/featured listing cost, I'm not really sure if it'd be payable if they don't sell the property but will certainly ask. If I'm honest I doubt I'd go for it as an extra anyway as I don't really see a huge benefit in having them.

100 Key Properties were the only agent that left me with a copy of their T&Cs of Business. What do you make of the below?

• How much do I have to pay the estate agent, if they successfully sell my property?
  £3600 inclusive of VAT.
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if they are useless and I want to move to another estate agent?
  Within the 12-week minimum term: an early termination marketing fee of £350 + VAT, in addition to any other fees properly due (assuming this would include something like the premium/featured listing).
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I change my mind about selling before accepting an offer?
  After 12 weeks: nothing, if the property is withdraw entirely and not re-marketed by another agent within 6 months of termination.
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I change my mind about selling after accepting an offer? (e.g. "Ready, Willing and Able Buyer" clause.)
  Half their fee + VAT, plus agreed marketing expenses.
• How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I accept an offer, but the buyer eventually walks away?
  Half their fee + VAT - and any outstanding marketing expenses - if the purchaser exchanges contracts but fails to complete.
• You might also want to look at 'minimum contract period' and whether you want to negotiate that down. Plus any other differences between the contracts.
  It's 12 weeks for 100 Key Properties, but I will certainly get a copy of Bairstow Eves' T&Cs of Business and compare all of this.

Regarding the following:

• You lose your job
  Of course anything is possible, but I work for an NHS Trust and for various reasons my job is considered very secure
• Serious illness or death of a family member
  This has already happened recently, and is related to the situation by way of us intending to purchase my family's home from my mother
• Relationship breakdown
  I'm not angling for a divorce! lol but in all seriousness very unlikely

Or you can't find a new property that you like within your price range - so you decide to give-up and stay where you are.)

Further to what I mentioned above about purchasing the family home from my mother, if we do this it will come with a gift of equity so I'm 100% certain that it's in our price range. I appreciate it would definitely be something to consider if we were not buying off of a family member, but it should be quite a straightforward purchase. I didn't tell any of the agents about this as we were still considering it as an option, but I think we're almost settled on moving forward with it.

eddddy

So that doesn't really sound lake a "no sale, no fee" contract.

There's references to paying "any other fees properly due" and paying "agreed marketing expenses" - even if the property isn't sold. You need to find out more about those fees.

FWIW, I'm selling 2 properties with 2 different estate agents at the moment on true "no sale, no fee" contracts. If a property doesn't sell for any reason (my fault or somebody else's), I don't pay the estate agent a penny.

I suspect that you might have misunderstood (or maybe mistyped) this bit:

How much do I have to pay the estate agent (if anything), if I change my mind about selling before accepting an offer?
After 12 weeks: nothing, if the property is withdraw entirely and not re-marketed by another agent within 6 months of termination.

It sounds like you're saying:

• 100KP fail to find a buyer during their 12 week minimum term, and you terminate the contract (having given the correct notice)

• If you instruct another estate agent within 6 months, you have to pay 100KP a fee (you don't say how much that fee is).

If that's correct, that would be an outrageous condition.

Are you sure that the contract doesn't say something like this instead:

• If you sell using another estate agent within 6 months, to a buyer introduced by 100KP, you have to pay 100KP the full £3600?

That would be a standard condition that you'd find in almost all estate agents' contracts. But that means there's a risk of paying 2 estate agents for your sale - i.e. paying double fees.

So you have to take steps to stop that happening.

JayS90

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82137980#Comment_82137980

Thanks for your reply, genuinely appreciate your input on this.

Would you mind taking a look at their T&Cs of Business for me?

poseidon1

Don't wish to be a bit of a Cassandra bearing in mind the significant research you have done in deciding on your selling price.

However, putting aside your ruminations on which agent to use, have you determined what level of actual flat sales have actually proceeded to completion within your postcode in the last 6 months or so?

The macro economic position for flat disposals in England and Wales ( Scotland is different) is actually quite bleak with 80 to 87% of flats remaining unsold after 6 months on the market. See article below where you will see London comes off especially badly in this regard -

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/aug/08/flats-in-england-not-selling-slashed-prices-buyer

https://valuq.co.uk/insights/four-in-five-flats-didnt-sell-in-six-months-2026

Have you reason to believe your particular pocket of London is more buoyant in this regard?

Targeting being able to sell before your current mortgage deal has terminated in January seems a bit ambitious especially when financial conditions for first time buyers ( your likely target marketplace) is taking a turn for the worse with mortgage rates increasing because of contagion in the government gilts market, and lenders becoming more cautious on flat valuations for mortgage purposes

Unpalatable as it might seem, the reality maybe that you may have to consider selling your flat below your original purchase price and taking a loss, if you wish to get out from under sooner rather than later.

You will be better placed to determine the realism of your hopes/ expectations the sooner your flat is actually on the market.

RelievedSheff

I think you are setting yourself an unrealistic deadline of having the property sold by January. Even in a vibrant property market you would be struggling to hit that target!

I think you need to be preparing to be making more than a few monthly repayments on your lenders SVR or look to switch product to a tracker rate with no early repayment charges.