What Does No Sale, No Fee Estate Agents Actually Mean?

If you have heard the term 'no sale no fee estate agents' bounding around the market, you’re probably also thinking that it sounds too good to be true…

Selling your house can be an expensive process, with fees seemingly everywhere you turn—solicitor fees, estate agent’s fees and removal costs to name a few. You’re not alone if you’d rather not pay all these fees if your property doesn’t actually sell on the open market.

The good news is that ‘no sale no fee’ can be a good safety net in case you don’t find a suitor out there…but what does it actually mean? Who could you go with and, crucially, what’s the catch?

Table of Contents

• What are ‘no sale no fee’ estate agents?

• What’s the catch with ‘no sale no fee’?

• What exactly are estate agent fees?

• Which estate agents offer ‘no sale no fee’?

• What is the alternative to ‘no sale no fee’?

What are ‘no sale no fee’ estate agents?

‘No sale no fee’ estate agents do what they say on the tin: if your property doesn’t sell, then you don’t pay any fees. This will mean you only pay your estate agent a percentage of the sale price on completion, which you will often hear referred to as a commission fee.

Remarkably, just under 53% of properties on estate agents’ books across the UK in 2023 actually sold, according to data from TwentyCI, which means almost half of those agents missed out on commission fees.

Naturally, with this in mind, estate agents are incentivised to sell your property, so going with one that offers ‘no sale no fee’ can be a good move. It’s a more traditional way of paying your estate agent, but the rise of online estate agents has also added other payment methods to the mix, such as fixed fee structures. 

The route that is best for you will depend entirely on your circumstances, from what your market value is to how quickly you want to sell, so it pays (often literally) to do your research.

What’s the catch with ‘no sale no fee’?

You’d be right to question the route that any estate agent wants to take you down—after all, they’re businesses that need (and will do everything they can) to make a profit. That includes those that offer ‘no sale no fee,’ so don’t simply go for the first one you see.

Online ‘no sale no fee’ estate agents charge a premium for the ‘luxury’ of paying on completion. When compared to paying an upfront fee, however, some online estate agents actually charge double via the ‘no sale no fee’ option.

Don’t believe us? Just have a look at the examples below:

There can be a premium on paying your online estate agent fees, even if you do get to choose when you pay them—many of them, such as Purplebricks, offer ‘pay upfront’ or ‘pay on completion’ options for flexibility, but these shouldn’t be confused with ‘no sale no fee’ offers. Be sure to read the small print before proceeding with any sale option.

Another thing that can catch sellers out when it comes to ‘no sale no fee’ is the length of time you might be required to have your property on the market. Many estate agents will define a minimum timeframe and some might even want to be the ‘sole agency’ throughout the process, which means you can’t use another estate agent at the same time to sell your property. 

Yopa, for instance, operates on such a structure for ‘no sale no fee’ and dictates a minimum period of 16 weeks for them to advertise your property on the market. Your property may well sell within that timeframe, but bear in mind that it might also struggle to find a buyer, so you could end up tied down for a frustrating amount of time when you could be selling elsewhere.

The pros and cons of ‘no sale no fee’

What exactly are estate agent fees?

Estate agent fees are sums of money paid to the estate agent for advertising and selling your property for you. You will hear it referred to as a commission fee as a percentage of the sale price, which you will pay on completion.

Such fees vary wildly across the country, as our CEO, Karl McArdle, pointed out in our ‘Purplebricks vs Estate Agents’ article: 

"The latest UK House Price Index report from December 2024 shows the average UK home is valued at £268,000. Estate agent commission rates can vary, with some contracts reaching as high as 4.5%, though most high street agents typically charge between 1-2%.”

That means if you sell your home for £268,000, these are the fees you can expect to pay:

• £2,680 at 1% commission

• £4,020 at 1.5% commission

• £5,360 at 2% commission

• £8,040 at 3% commission

Can I refuse to pay estate agent fees?

Before you enter a contract with an estate agent to sell your property, you will need to be given the ‘pre-contract information’, which will include the following:

• Details of their charges, the circumstances when you’ll be liable to pay and the total fees (or at least how they will be calculated)

• A breakdown of any other charges that you will be liable to pay, such as expenses

• Details of any services that they’re offering, or intend to offer, to any prospective buyer (for example, house repayments, insurance, or selling the buyer’s property)

• Details of any services that they’re offering, or intend to offer, which give a financial benefit to anyone connected with or known to the estate agent

If this information isn’t given to you before you enter into a contract, then you can refuse to pay the fees and the estate agent won’t be able to claim payment of these fees until they have obtained a court order against you.

If the estate agent does get a court order against you, the court can decide to grant the order for the full or reduced amount or they may even completely refuse to grant the order, which will mean you won’t have to pay anything at all.

The decision will depend upon what the court thinks about how much the estate agent is to blame for failing to comply with the law and the damage you suffered as a result.

Do I have to pay my estate agent if I pull out of a sale?

If you withdraw from the sale, it is normal to expect to be charged to cover the costs the agent has incurred. Although this will not be commission (as the sale didn’t go through), there are still the costs of marketing, photography, floorplans, etc.

You may even be charged some or all of the estate agent’s commission, depending on whether or not you signed a contract containing a ‘ready, willing and able purchaser’ clause, which means you still have to pay the estate agent commission for finding a buyer, despite withdrawing from the sale.

Another thing to note is the ‘sole selling rights’ clause, as mentioned above as a ‘sole agency’ clause, which you may want to avoid. This will mean you can’t sell your property with multiple estate agents—even if you find a buyer yourself, you will still have to pay commission to the estate agent.

Do estate agents charge upfront?

Some estate agents offer upfront payments, while others charge upon completion, with the luxury of the latter always coming out more expensive than the former.

Paying upfront can be seen as a bit more of a gamble because, although you will pay a cheaper price compared to a commission fee on completion, you run the risk of your money ‘going down the drain’ if the estate agent fails to sell the property.

Which estate agents offer ‘no sale no fee’?

If you’re looking for ‘no sale no fee’ estate agents that operate online, there are multiple options. Here’s a quick comparison to help you make a decision:

As part of your research, we’d highly recommend checking out Trustpilot reviews of online estate agents like Purplebricks—they can be extremely helpful when it comes to narrowing down your options.

What is the alternative to ‘no sale no fee’?

As a homeowner, you have the choice to sell your property however you want—the choice really comes down to speed, cost and convenience.

If you’re prepared to wait and hope that your house sells on the open market, going with a ‘no sale no fee’ offer from an estate agent might be the way forward. If you don’t want to be tied down to minimum terms for having your house on the market, you might consider selling to a cash buyer like The Property Buying Company.

We’ll make you an offer of a percentage of your property’s market value and you could have the cash in your bank within days—get in touch today for your free, no-obligation cash offer.