How our introductions work
Each introduction connects one seller with one firm, named to you before your details go anywhere.
On this page
The short answer
When you ask, we introduce you to one firm for your chosen route. The firm is named before any of your details are passed on, and nothing is shared without your agreement.
An introduction is the moment a reader stops reading and a firm starts talking to them. That is where most of the harm in this market happens, so our rules for it are written down before any takes place.
How to ask for an introduction
Start with the route finder on the ways to sell your home: three questions, a recommended route, then a short form. We hold your request and email you the one firm we propose, with its registration details. Your details go to it only when you confirm.
How an introduction works
The stages do not change with the route.
- 01 Read and choose You read the route guides and pick the route that suits your sale.
- 02 Check coverage We check whether a firm we work with covers your area and your kind of property. If none does yet, we find one and name it before anything is sent.
- 03 See the firm You see the name of the one firm before anything is sent.
- 04 Agree or leave You choose whether to be introduced. Leaving costs nothing and nothing is kept.
- 05 One firm contacts you Only the details you agreed to share go to that one firm. No other firm receives them.
- 06 You deal with the firm Any contract is between you and the firm, on its own terms, which you can read before signing.
One enquiry is never sent to several firms to compete over. A seller who wants several quotes can ask several firms directly. Our part is a single introduction, and the same enquiry is never sold more than once.
Your details and how we are paid
Agreeing is a separate, deliberate step, never pre-ticked or implied by carrying on reading. The firm may pay us for the introduction, and that never affects what our research says about it or any other firm; the rules are in our editorial policy. What is collected, who receives it, how long it is kept and how we are paid are all set out in one place, our privacy notice.
The legal steps that come first
Passing a seller's details to a firm is regulated work. Three things must be complete before we do it: our own limited company, registration with HMRC for anti-money-laundering supervision, and membership of an approved redress scheme.
Anti-money-laundering supervision
HMRC's estate agency guidance, updated in July 2026, says a business is within the money laundering regulations if it receives enquiries from potential sellers or buyers and passes them on to its customers. It also says a business must not trade as an estate agency business until it has applied to register with HMRC.1 An introduction passes a seller's enquiry to a firm that pays for it, so we treat it as within scope. HMRC publishes a register of supervised businesses, and our registration will appear on it under the company's name.6
Redress scheme membership
The Estate Agents Act 1979 counts introducing people who want to buy or sell property as estate agency work.2 Since 1 October 2008, everyone who does residential estate agency work in the UK has had to belong to an approved redress scheme.34 There are two approved schemes, The Property Ombudsman and Property Redress.2
For a seller, membership means a route to an ombudsman if our part in an introduction goes wrong. The Property Ombudsman, for example, takes a complaint once the business has given its final response or eight weeks have passed.5
When no firm fits
While a request is held, we look for a firm that covers your area and your kind of property, and name it to you. If we cannot find one, we tell you and delete the request. Nobody is passed to a firm outside its stated coverage to earn a fee, and we do not invent urgency. The research stays open to you either way: the estate agent, auction and house-buying company guides explain how to approach firms directly.
Find the route that fits you
Three questions, about 30 seconds. Your answers stay in your browser.
Question 1 of 3
Your best fit
What you give up:
Why this route
Close second: Property auction.
Selling in Scotland works differently, with a Home Report and offers over a closing date. The guides note where Scottish rules differ.
Get help with your sale
Leave your details and tell us how you would like to sell.
While you wait, the guide covers what to check before you agree to anything.
Sources
(6)
Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research