Occupiers Call For End To Broker Fee Structures

LONDON-Occupier delegates at last month’s Property Forum who attended a think-tank on consultant fee structures say they want surveyors to take a long hard look at the way they charge. Their preference is for long-term partnership relationships as a means of gaining added value.

In cases where close relationships already exist, the traditional percentage fees have often been replaced by pre-agreed fees, incentive related fees or hourly/daily rates.

Lindsey Abel, project director of the Property Forum said: ‘The topic of advisor remuneration was discussed at the Property Forum two years ago, when a good deal of negativity towards agents was expressed. The feedback from this year’s event shows that little has changed, although in cases where new forms of remuneration have been agreed, there does seem to be greater levels of satisfaction.

‘Property managers feel that the advantage of pre-negotiated fees or hourly/daily rates in terms of expenditure could be lost if these and other ‘hidden costs’ were not capped or controlled.’

Of those property managers who expressed a preference very few would opt for the traditional percentage fee as the optimum approach to the market.