What to do with a seller whose property is outside your area

You cannot list a house on someone else's patch. You can still get paid for the seller. Here is how an out-of-area referral works, and what the fee should be.

4 March 2026 · 5 min read

What do you do with a seller whose property is outside your area?

Pass the seller to an agent who works the area the property is in, and agree your referral fee before the introduction, usually a percentage of their selling fee. It is normally paid on completion when they are paid. That way the seller gets an agent who knows the street and you are paid for the relationship you built.

The instruction you cannot take

It happens to everyone. A past client rings about the flat they inherited two hundred miles away. A landlord you know wants to sell a house in a city you have never worked. You cannot list it, so you hand over a name if you are feeling helpful, and that is the end of it.

The seller is real and they trust you. The only problem is geography. The work sits on ground you do not cover.

What a clean out-of-area referral looks like

  • Find an agent who actually works that area, by town and postcode, not a national brand.
  • Agree your percentage of their selling fee in writing before the introduction.
  • Say when it is payable: normally on completion, when they are paid.
  • Keep the seller's details with you until the other agent accepts.
  • Track it to the sale, with one reference both of you can see.

What the fee usually is

A seller referral is typically 15% of the selling agent's fee, agreed upfront and paid on completion. On a £300,000 sale at a 1.5% fee, that is around £675 for a seller you could not have listed yourself.

Why these referrals usually pay nothing

Somebody promises to look after you for sending a seller their way. Nothing is written down. The deal completes months later and you find out from someone else. It is rarely bad faith. It is just that nothing was recorded at the point where recording it took a second.

How we handle it

You send BrokerBuddy a voice note with the property and the area. It comes back with the members who cover that patch, ranked by Buddy Score and fit, and your fee is set before anything moves. The referral is tracked to completion, so the money follows the work. The full walkthrough is on the seller referrals page.

← All guides

What co-broking actually means for a UK estate agent5 min read→Referral fees for estate agents: how to pass a lead and still get paid6 min read→Going self-employed as an estate agent: the network problem5 min read→

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