Estate agency work

The Estate Agents Act 1979 is specific about:

• who is an estate agent
• who cannot be an estate agent

If you are doing estate agency work, the law applies to you whether or not you:

• call yourself an estate agent or describe yourself in some other way
• work for yourself or for someone else.

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Who is an estate agent

By law, you are an estate agent, if:

• you deal with people who want to buy or sell freehold or leasehold property, in England or Scotland. This includes commercial and agricultural property
• you do this as part of a business
• you act on instructions from a client.

But there are some important exceptions to this - see activities not controlled by the Estate Agents Act.

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Who cannot be an estate agent

You cannot be an estate agent, if:

• you are an undischarged bankrupt (but you can work for another estate agency, as long as it is not your own company)
• the Office of Fair Trading bans you from this work.

Back to: Estate Agents Act