Estate agents warned over accepting kickbacks

Agents who suggest a buyer talk to a particular bank, for example, are often rewarded when the buyer takes out a loan.

The reward can be in cash or in other forms such as FlyBuys points.

But house buyers are not always told about the commissions, sparking the institute's warning to its 16,000 members to declare the deals.

Although the institute has stopped short of banning the practice, executive director Boud Hammelburg has demanded swift action and its compliance and operations manager, Christine Le Cren, has been asked to deliver a paper on the issue.

The rewards have drawn the scorn of consumer advocates, who ask exactly whose interests agents are serving - the vendor's, the buyer's, the bank's or their own.

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