Allsop reviews: who it sells for, and what it costs
Read from Allsop's own fee, reserve and complaints pages and from Companies House, with the date against each fact.
On this page
The short answer
Allsop reviews on Trustpilot scored 3.1 of 5 from 52 reviews on 23 September 2026, on an unclaimed profile where the firm has not invited its customers.15 Allsop's residential catalogues are largely investment stock, and Allsop publishes no seller fee.164 Buyers pay a flat £2,000 including VAT on most residential lots.7
Allsop, point by point
- Seller fees published Entry fee, commission and solicitor fees are named, with no amount for any of them.4
- Buyer fee published £2,000 including VAT on residential lots of £10,000 or more, £300 below that.7
- Reserve terms published A reserve may exceed a single guide price, since the seller may fix it just before the lot is offered.9
- Company behind the brand Allsop LLP, OC315531, active with accounts not overdue.1
- Client money protection Held in a separate account under the RICS scheme.12
- Redress scheme membership The complaints procedure names Property Redress; the member search could not be queried.11
- Success rate defined Rates appear in press releases; lots offered are never given.10
- Review profile claimed The Trustpilot profile is unclaimed and the firm does not invite reviews.15
Who Allsop sells for
Allsop says its sellers range from owner occupiers and private investors through to pension funds, property companies, receivers, trustees, banks, government bodies and local authorities.6 That list puts owner occupiers first, and the catalogue is a better guide to what the firm mostly sells.
The September 2026 residential sale carried 275 lots, of which 18 were guided at a million pounds or more.16 The stock on its residential pages is largely investment: freehold blocks, tenanted flats, student property, houses in multiple occupation and ground rent investments. Allsop publishes no breakdown of vacant against tenanted lots, so this is what the catalogue shows rather than a figure the firm gives.
Who owns Allsop?
Allsop is owned by its members. Allsop LLP, the limited liability partnership that runs the auctions, files a statement that there is no registrable person with significant control, because control sits with its members rather than with a shareholder.2 The register therefore does not name the owners, and the members list is available for inspection at the office instead.3
Based at 33 Wigmore Street in London, Allsop LLP, number OC315531, is regulated by RICS, and its accounts are filed with nothing overdue.13 Allsop describes itself as the UK's largest and most successful property auction house and dates the firm at 120 years old.17
Firm record, read 23 September 2026
What does Allsop charge a seller?
The price to a seller is not published. Allsop names three seller costs and prices none of them. Its page headed with that question lists them without amounts: an entry fee covering the catalogue listing, marketing and advertising; commission charged after the property sells; and solicitor fees.4 Its selling guide says terms of appointment, including entry fees and commission, are agreed with each seller.5
What happens if the lot does not sell, or what withdrawing costs, is not published either. Because Allsop agrees commission seller by seller, the single figure quoted on other websites could not be confirmed, and it is left out here. Neither SDL Property Auctions nor Bond Wolfe publishes a seller fee either, so this is how the trade works rather than a quirk of this firm. It still leaves you unable to compare three auctioneers on price without three phone calls.
The flat buyer fee, and what it does to your price
At Allsop, buyers pay a fixed sum rather than a percentage premium. On residential lots sold at £10,000 or more it is £2,000 including VAT, falling to £300 below that, and on commercial lots it is £1,500 plus VAT. There is no fee to bid, and the successful bidder also pays a deposit of 10 per cent.7
The £2,000 residential buyer fee as a share of the lot price7
A flat fee is lighter than a percentage on an expensive lot and much harsher on a cheap one. A bidder must find the fee on top of their bid, so on a cheap lot it comes out of what they can offer you. Compare that with the percentage model at SDL, where the buyer fee runs from 1.2 to 4.8 per cent, and with the flat £2,700 at Bond Wolfe. Allsop is RICS regulated, and the RICS auction standard requires charges of this kind to be clear from the start of marketing.18 Our auction fees guide lines up the firms that publish figures.
Can the reserve be above the guide price at Allsop?
Yes, against a single figure guide. The notice on each Allsop lot page says a reserve may exceed a previously quoted single guide price, because the seller may fix the final reserve just before the lot is offered. Where the guide is a range, the notice says the reserve stays within it.9
A reserve is the confidential minimum price at which a lot can be sold. Allsop's explainer says the reserve is typically in the range of the guide, though not always, and may be set at, above or below it.8 For how that sits against the advertising rules on guide prices, and what three other auctioneers publish, see guide price and reserve price explained.
What the published terms mean for a seller
- The reserve is confidential and may exceed the guide What that changes when you sell: A low guide draws interest without capping your protection, but it also sets expectations you then have to beat.8
- The reserve can be fixed just before the lot is offered What that changes when you sell: You keep control late, so agree in writing that it cannot move without your say so.9
- A flat buyer fee of 2,000 pounds on most residential lots What that changes when you sell: Expect bids on a cheaper lot to be trimmed by more, proportionally, than on an expensive one.7
- Entry fee and commission agreed case by case What that changes when you sell: Nothing is standard, so everything is negotiable, and nothing is binding until it is written down.5
What is Allsop's success rate?
No success rate Allsop publishes can be checked. Its press releases give rates such as 84 per cent with 127 lots sold in August 2026. The number of lots offered at each sale is not published, and no definition of the percentage appears anywhere we looked.10
Allsop's dated record, from its filings and results
- 6 October 2005 Allsop LLP incorporated1 Partnership number OC315531.
- August 2026 £39.8m raised10 Press release: 84 per cent success rate, 127 lots sold.
- September 2026 £37.4m raised16 From a 275 lot residential catalogue, 18 lots guided at £1m or more.
Each sale's total is published.10 What is missing is the lots offered, and whether withdrawn lots or post auction sales are counted. The RICS standard Allsop works under says published results must be accurate, and a conditional sale cannot be counted as sold until it completes.18 In a catalogue that is mostly investment stock, the better question for an owner occupier is how many vacant houses like yours were offered in the last three residential sales, and how many sold.
Regulation, and where a complaint goes
RICS regulates Allsop LLP, which holds client money in a separate account protected through the RICS client money protection scheme, and sends complaints about estate agency work, including an auction sale, to Property Redress.131211 The scheme's limits and exclusions are not set out on the client money page, which links to RICS instead.12
| What the complaint is about | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Estate agency services, including an auction sale | Property Redress, under Allsop's own procedure11 |
| Surveying work | A provider approved by the RICS regulatory board, under the same procedure |
| Residential lettings | The Property Ombudsman, whose register lists the separate Leeds lettings company, not Allsop LLP14 |
I would ask Allsop to confirm in writing that it is a member of Property Redress, the scheme its complaints procedure names for estate agency work such as an auction sale, because the scheme’s own search could not confirm it. Do not take The Property Ombudsman’s register as the answer: the Allsop entry there belongs to a different company, its lettings business in Leeds.
Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation The Property Ombudsman reported in 2026 that auctions generate more than four times their share of complaints across the sector, most of them from buyers.19 That figure comes from the ombudsman's own caseload and says nothing about Allsop, whose complaints procedure points to Property Redress.11
Allsop reviews on Trustpilot, and why they tell you little
Allsop reviews on Trustpilot are few and uninvited: the profile held 52 reviews on 23 September 2026, scoring 3.1 of 5, and is unclaimed.15
- 3.1 of 5 Trustpilot score15
- 52 Reviews in total
- 71% At one star
Trustpilot's notice on the profile says the company has not invited its customers.15 Fifty two reviews is a tiny sample for a firm selling thousands of lots a year. An unclaimed profile tends to collect complaints rather than a spread of experiences. It also covers the whole firm, including a lettings and management arm that is a separate company in Leeds, not the auction business you would be selling through.1420 It is evidence that the firm does not court reviews, not evidence that seven in ten customers are unhappy.
What we could not confirm
Questions people ask
Is Allsop the right auctioneer for an ordinary house?
Often not. Its catalogues are largely investment stock: blocks of flats, tenanted property, student lets, ground rents and commercial lots. It says it acts for owner occupiers too, but a single vacant house sits among hundreds of investment lots aimed at buyers looking for yield.
What does a buyer pay at an Allsop auction?
A flat buyer fee rather than a percentage: 2,000 pounds including VAT on residential lots sold at 10,000 pounds or more, 300 pounds below that, and 1,500 pounds plus VAT on commercial lots, on top of a 10 per cent deposit.
Who regulates Allsop and where does a complaint go?
It is regulated by RICS and protects client money through the RICS scheme. Its complaints procedure sends estate agency complaints to Property Redress, and surveying complaints to a RICS approved provider. Only its separate lettings company appears on The Property Ombudsman register.
If your house is an ordinary house
Auction earns its place when a property is hard to mortgage, as subsidence can make it, when a date matters more than the last few thousand pounds, or when competition will beat negotiation. A vacant family house in a street where homes sell meets none of those tests, which is why the agent route comes first for it. If speed is the point, a direct sale is faster than any auction cycle. Selling at auction sets out when the trade is worth making, and the three ways to sell works through what an agent, an auction and a buyer would each leave you.
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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.
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Sources
(20)
Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research
- ALLSOP LLP, company OC315531
- ALLSOP LLP, people with significant control
- Legal
- How much does it cost to sell my property with Allsop?
- How to sell property at auction
- Who sells property at an Allsop auction
- How to buy property at auction
- What is a reserve price in property auctions
- Lot overview: standard guide price and reserve notice (example, lot 124, Consett, commercial auction 30 September 2025)
- Past auction results
- Complaints procedure
- Client money protection scheme
- Allsop, firm listing, office reference 007775
- Allsop Letting and Management, business search
- Allsop reviews
- Allsop releases 275 lot residential catalogue for September auction
- About us
- Auctioneers selling real estate (incorporating Common Auction Conditions), RICS professional standard, UK, 7th edition
- Property auctions generate four times more complaints than the wider housing market, says Ombudsman
- Trustpilot's review labels