How to Choose a UK Property Investment Advisor: Questions to Ask

Ask one question first: who pays you, and does anyone else pay you anything on this transaction. Get the answer in writing. If an advisor is paid by the person selling, by the estate agent, or by a developer with unsold stock, then the seller is their client and you’re the buyer they need to find. That isn’t necessarily dishonest, but it decides whose side they’re on when the price is being argued.

Everything below assumes you have asked that question and are still interested.

The questions worth asking

Who pays you, and how much of it’s contingent on me buying something? A fee entirely payable up front means they get paid whether or not you ever complete. A fee entirely payable on completion pressures them to push a deal over the line. Staged is better than either. Mine is 10% on instruction, 40% at memorandum of sale, 50% on completion, so nine tenths of it depends on delivering a property you actually agreed to buy.

Is your fee fixed, or a percentage of the price I pay? A percentage fee pays them more when you pay more. Every pound negotiated off the purchase price cuts their own income. Ask them to explain how they manage that conflict, and listen carefully to the answer.

Show me your last five deals: the address, the asking price, and what your client paid. This is the awkward one, and it’s the most useful. Anyone can produce a case study. Ask for addresses and prices, then check them yourself. You can buy a title register from HM Land Registry for £7 and it shows the owner and the price last paid. A sourcer who has genuinely bought at a discount won’t mind. One who can’t produce five addresses hasn’t done five deals.

What is your fall-through rate? A perfect record means they’re new, or they’re counting selectively. I’ve sourced 16 properties and not every one of them completed, because nothing is binding in England until exchange. I say so because pipelines look like that.

What happens to my money if the purchase falls through? Get the exact position in writing before you sign anything. Mine is that the search restarts and there’s no second fee.

Are you supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering? Property sourcing businesses that fall within the estate agency regime must be registered and supervised. If they can’t tell you their supervisory position, stop.

Which redress scheme do you belong to? Estate and letting agents must belong to a government approved scheme such as The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. It gives you somewhere to take a complaint that isn’t the person you’re complaining about.

Do you hold professional indemnity insurance, and for how much? Ask for the level of cover, not just a yes.

Who views the property, and do I get the raw footage? Ask whether the person advising you physically stands in the property, or whether they’re forwarding an agent’s listing. Ask for the unedited walkthrough video, including the parts that aren’t flattering. If the answer is a brochure, they’re a middleman.

Can I speak to a client who didn’t buy? Anyone can supply a happy customer. The person who paid a fee and didn’t end up with a property will tell you far more about how a firm behaves when things go wrong.

Checks you can run yourself in ten minutes

Companies House. Look up the company. Check the incorporation date, whether accounts have been filed, who the directors are, and whether the named person with significant control matches who you’re dealing with. A three week old company with no filings is a different proposition from an established one.
The redress scheme’s own register. Don’t accept a logo on a website. The schemes publish searchable member lists.
The ICO register. Anyone processing your personal data should be registered.
A title register. £7 on GOV.UK confirms whether a claimed purchase happened at the claimed price.
The address on the website. A registered office at an accountant’s or a virtual office is common and not sinister. No address at all is.

Red flags

Guaranteed rent or guaranteed yield for a fixed number of years. The guarantee is only worth the balance sheet of whoever gave it, and those companies fail.
A “reservation fee” wanted today to hold a property, before you have seen a title, a survey or a contract.
Off-plan overseas developments sold at investor seminars with headline yields and no comparable evidence.
Pressure. Any sentence containing the phrase “this one won’t last”.
Yields quoted gross, with no discussion of management, voids, insurance, safety certificates or repairs.
Refusal to put the fee in writing before work begins.
Being told what you want to hear on the first call. A good advisor will tell you what is wrong with your plan.

What good looks like after you have signed

Written buying criteria that you agreed and can hold them to. Properties rejected on your behalf, with the reasons given. A deal pack with the flags in it, not just the highlights. A negotiation that starts below the asking price with evidence attached. Weekly updates during conveyancing without you having to chase. And someone who says “don’t buy this one” at least once, because most stock doesn’t survive proper checks.

My answers

I’m buyer-only and take no commission from sellers or agents. My fee is fixed and agreed in writing before work starts. Sixteen properties sourced at 10 to 20% below market value, four of them written up in full with the numbers. 23 Beech Grove was first listed at £125,000 and bought at £90,000, now let at £850 a month. 55 Hunt Lane was bought at £61,500 against £70,000 for an investor who has never set foot in the UK. Our registrations are listed on our compliance page, and the fee model in full is on what it costs.

What to do next

Write the questions above into an email and send it to every firm on your shortlist. Compare the written answers, not the phone calls. The firm that answers plainly, including the parts that don’t flatter them, is usually the one to work with.

Then read five questions every investor should ask before buying and what a secure UK property sourcing service actually is.