What is a general agency and how is it different?

How the two differ in practice

Under a sole agency, one agency holds the listing for the term and runs the campaign. Under a general agency you can have several agencies working on the same property at once, each under its own agency agreement, and the fee is earned by the one that brings the buyer.

That changes the economics for the agencies involved. Each agency is spending time on a property it may not be paid for. Ask each one directly what it will do on a general agency and what it would do on a sole agency, and compare the answers.

It also changes what a buyer sees. The same house can appear through more than one agency, with different photography and different wording.

Terms, and the rights that come with each

Every agency you sign with is a separate agreement with its own fee, its own marketing schedule and its own wording about when a fee is earned. Section 126 of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 applies to each of them: no entitlement to commission or expenses without a written agency agreement signed by you and the agent.

The two statutory cancellation rights are written for sole agency agreements for residential property. Section 130 gives cancellation by 5pm on the first working day after the day a copy is given to you, and section 131 gives either party the right to cancel once 90 days have passed where the term runs longer than 90 days. On a general agency, the term and the way it ends are whatever the agreement itself provides, so read that clause closely.

Competing claims on the same buyer

The point to keep track of is which agency introduced which buyer. If a person enquires through one agency and later buys through another, more than one agency may say it introduced them, and each agreement has its own wording about introductions and about what is payable after it ends.

Keep a written record of who was introduced by whom, including names and dates, from the first open home. If competing claims do arise, take both agreements to your lawyer before you accept an offer rather than after.

The same record answers the everyday questions as well: who is holding the next open home, who is following up which enquiry, and who you call about an offer. Set that out with each agency at the start, in writing, so the arrangement is clear to you and to a buyer.