Buyer’s Agent vs Selling Agent in Prime Central London
By Griskin
Published 12 March 2026
Reading time: 6 minutes
In a Prime Central London transaction, the estate agent works for the seller. The buyer's agent works for the buyer. The two roles are paid by different parties, owe their duties to different parties, and are incentivised to produce different outcomes. International and domestic buyers regularly underestimate this distinction, and in a market where the average property sold 10.3 percent below asking price in late 2025, the cost of misunderstanding it is measurable.
This piece sets out, plainly, what each role does, where the structural conflict lies, and how to identify which one is actually working for you in any given transaction.
What does a selling agent do in London?
A selling agent, more commonly called an estate agent, is instructed by the seller of a property to market and sell it. The seller signs a sole agency or multi-agency agreement, the agent lists the property, conducts viewings, and negotiates offers on the seller's behalf.
The selling agent is paid by the seller, usually 1 to 2.5 percent of the agreed sale price, contingent on completion. Their legal and contractual duties are to the seller. Their commercial incentive is to achieve the highest possible sale price within a reasonable timeframe, because their fee scales with that price.
This is the standard model that operates across Knight Frank, Savills, Foxtons, Beauchamp Estates, and every other estate agency in London. It is well-understood. It is not the issue. The issue is what happens when an unrepresented buyer enters this transaction assuming the agent showing them the property is somehow neutral.
What does a buyer's agent do in London?
A buyer's agent represents the buyer. They source properties, assess value, advise on price, lead the negotiation, and oversee the legal progression through to completion. They are paid by the buyer, not the seller, and have no listings of their own to sell.
Their fee is typically structured as a retainer plus a success fee on completion, totalling 1 to 2.5 percent of purchase price for a standard engagement. Their legal and contractual duties run to the buyer. Their commercial incentive, on a properly structured engagement, is to secure the right property at the right price, not to close any specific transaction.
A buyer's agent has no listings, takes no referral fees from sellers or developers, and earns nothing if the buyer walks away from a deal that is not right. That last point is the structural test. An advisor whose income depends on you completing the transaction in front of you is not, in the strict sense, your advisor.
Where is the structural conflict?
In any standard London property transaction, four parties sit at the table: the buyer, the seller, the selling agent, and the buyer's solicitor. Three of those four are professionally aligned with the seller's interests, with the buyer's solicitor handling legal compliance rather than commercial negotiation.
The buyer is alone on the commercial side of the table. The selling agent, however courteous and helpful, is contractually obligated to act in the seller's interest. They cannot disclose the seller's bottom line. They cannot tell you the property has been on the market for nine months and the seller is under pressure. They cannot suggest you offer twelve percent below asking. Their duty is to extract the best price for their client, who is not you.
This is not a criticism of selling agents. They are doing the job they are paid to do. The structural problem arises when buyers misread the relationship and treat the selling agent as a neutral facilitator. They are not neutral. They are professional negotiators on the other side of the table.
When does the distinction matter most?
The buyer's agent versus selling agent distinction matters more in some transactions than others. Three factors increase its importance.
Off-market activity. A meaningful share of Prime Central London transactions in 2026 occur off-market, before properties are publicly listed. Selling agents control which buyers see these properties first, and they make introductions based on relationships, perceived speed of execution, and the likelihood the buyer will pay a strong price. An unrepresented buyer is rarely first in line. A buyer's agent with established relationships is, because the selling agent knows the introduction will not waste their time.
Pricing nuance. In a market where headline asking prices regularly diverge from real market value, where 45.3 percent of Prime London listings underwent a published price reduction in Q4 2025, judging value from listings alone is unreliable. Buyer's agents have access to comparable transactional evidence and can advise on what a property is genuinely worth, not what it is being asked. A selling agent will not provide this analysis, because their job is to defend the asking price.
High-stakes negotiation. When the difference between asking price and achievable price is six or seven figures, negotiation becomes a professional competence rather than a personal interaction. A buyer's agent does this several times a month. A buyer doing it for the first time, however commercially sophisticated they are in their own field, is at a structural disadvantage.
How do you identify which side an agent is on?
Three questions clarify the relationship in any conversation with a London property professional.
Who is paying them? If the answer is "the seller, on completion", they are a selling agent. If the answer is "the buyer, via retainer plus success fee", they are a buyer's agent. If the answer is unclear, vague, or involves "split fees" between buyer and seller, the relationship is dual agency and the agent is not fully aligned with either side. Dual agency is permissible in the UK but creates obvious conflicts and should be entered into with eyes open.
What are they instructed to do? A selling agent is instructed to sell a specific property. Their conversation will gravitate to that property, its features, and reasons to act. A buyer's agent is instructed to find the right property for a specific brief. Their conversation will gravitate to your requirements, your timeline, your budget discipline, and what you should be filtering for.
What happens if no transaction occurs? A selling agent earns nothing if the property does not sell, which is why their incentive to close any reasonable offer is high. A buyer's agent on a properly structured retainer earns the retainer regardless of whether a transaction completes, which preserves their independence to advise you not to proceed. The fee structure tells you about the incentive structure.
The bottom line
The selling agent works for the seller. The buyer's agent works for the buyer. In a Prime Central London transaction where the average property sold below asking price in late 2025 and where 82 percent of buyers secured at least some discount, the question is not whether independent representation matters. It is whether the buyer is positioned to capture the value the market is actually offering.
For buyers who already understand this distinction and are simply looking for confirmation, the answer is straightforward: engage a buyer's agent on a clean fee structure, with no seller-side conflicts, and let them do the work the selling agent cannot do for you.
If you are considering a Prime or Super-Prime London purchase and want to discuss whether buyer-side representation makes sense for your specific transaction, you can reach Griskin at info@griskin.co.uk or +44 7427 533 006. Initial conversations are confidential and without obligation.
By Griskin
Published 12 March 2026
Reading time: 6 minutes
In a Prime Central London transaction, the estate agent works for the seller. The buyer's agent works for the buyer. The two roles are paid by different parties, owe their duties to different parties, and are incentivised to produce different outcomes. International and domestic buyers regularly underestimate this distinction, and in a market where the average property sold 10.3 percent below asking price in late 2025, the cost of misunderstanding it is measurable.
This piece sets out, plainly, what each role does, where the structural conflict lies, and how to identify which one is actually working for you in any given transaction.
What does a selling agent do in London?
A selling agent, more commonly called an estate agent, is instructed by the seller of a property to market and sell it. The seller signs a sole agency or multi-agency agreement, the agent lists the property, conducts viewings, and negotiates offers on the seller's behalf.
The selling agent is paid by the seller, usually 1 to 2.5 percent of the agreed sale price, contingent on completion. Their legal and contractual duties are to the seller. Their commercial incentive is to achieve the highest possible sale price within a reasonable timeframe, because their fee scales with that price.
This is the standard model that operates across Knight Frank, Savills, Foxtons, Beauchamp Estates, and every other estate agency in London. It is well-understood. It is not the issue. The issue is what happens when an unrepresented buyer enters this transaction assuming the agent showing them the property is somehow neutral.
What does a buyer's agent do in London?
A buyer's agent represents the buyer. They source properties, assess value, advise on price, lead the negotiation, and oversee the legal progression through to completion. They are paid by the buyer, not the seller, and have no listings of their own to sell.
Their fee is typically structured as a retainer plus a success fee on completion, totalling 1 to 2.5 percent of purchase price for a standard engagement. Their legal and contractual duties run to the buyer. Their commercial incentive, on a properly structured engagement, is to secure the right property at the right price, not to close any specific transaction.
A buyer's agent has no listings, takes no referral fees from sellers or developers, and earns nothing if the buyer walks away from a deal that is not right. That last point is the structural test. An advisor whose income depends on you completing the transaction in front of you is not, in the strict sense, your advisor.
Where is the structural conflict?
In any standard London property transaction, four parties sit at the table: the buyer, the seller, the selling agent, and the buyer's solicitor. Three of those four are professionally aligned with the seller's interests, with the buyer's solicitor handling legal compliance rather than commercial negotiation.
The buyer is alone on the commercial side of the table. The selling agent, however courteous and helpful, is contractually obligated to act in the seller's interest. They cannot disclose the seller's bottom line. They cannot tell you the property has been on the market for nine months and the seller is under pressure. They cannot suggest you offer twelve percent below asking. Their duty is to extract the best price for their client, who is not you.
This is not a criticism of selling agents. They are doing the job they are paid to do. The structural problem arises when buyers misread the relationship and treat the selling agent as a neutral facilitator. They are not neutral. They are professional negotiators on the other side of the table.
When does the distinction matter most?
The buyer's agent versus selling agent distinction matters more in some transactions than others. Three factors increase its importance.
Off-market activity. A meaningful share of Prime Central London transactions in 2026 occur off-market, before properties are publicly listed. Selling agents control which buyers see these properties first, and they make introductions based on relationships, perceived speed of execution, and the likelihood the buyer will pay a strong price. An unrepresented buyer is rarely first in line. A buyer's agent with established relationships is, because the selling agent knows the introduction will not waste their time.
Pricing nuance. In a market where headline asking prices regularly diverge from real market value, where 45.3 percent of Prime London listings underwent a published price reduction in Q4 2025, judging value from listings alone is unreliable. Buyer's agents have access to comparable transactional evidence and can advise on what a property is genuinely worth, not what it is being asked. A selling agent will not provide this analysis, because their job is to defend the asking price.
High-stakes negotiation. When the difference between asking price and achievable price is six or seven figures, negotiation becomes a professional competence rather than a personal interaction. A buyer's agent does this several times a month. A buyer doing it for the first time, however commercially sophisticated they are in their own field, is at a structural disadvantage.
How do you identify which side an agent is on?
Three questions clarify the relationship in any conversation with a London property professional.
Who is paying them? If the answer is "the seller, on completion", they are a selling agent. If the answer is "the buyer, via retainer plus success fee", they are a buyer's agent. If the answer is unclear, vague, or involves "split fees" between buyer and seller, the relationship is dual agency and the agent is not fully aligned with either side. Dual agency is permissible in the UK but creates obvious conflicts and should be entered into with eyes open.
What are they instructed to do? A selling agent is instructed to sell a specific property. Their conversation will gravitate to that property, its features, and reasons to act. A buyer's agent is instructed to find the right property for a specific brief. Their conversation will gravitate to your requirements, your timeline, your budget discipline, and what you should be filtering for.
What happens if no transaction occurs? A selling agent earns nothing if the property does not sell, which is why their incentive to close any reasonable offer is high. A buyer's agent on a properly structured retainer earns the retainer regardless of whether a transaction completes, which preserves their independence to advise you not to proceed. The fee structure tells you about the incentive structure.
The bottom line
The selling agent works for the seller. The buyer's agent works for the buyer. In a Prime Central London transaction where the average property sold below asking price in late 2025 and where 82 percent of buyers secured at least some discount, the question is not whether independent representation matters. It is whether the buyer is positioned to capture the value the market is actually offering.
For buyers who already understand this distinction and are simply looking for confirmation, the answer is straightforward: engage a buyer's agent on a clean fee structure, with no seller-side conflicts, and let them do the work the selling agent cannot do for you.
If you are considering a Prime or Super-Prime London purchase and want to discuss whether buyer-side representation makes sense for your specific transaction, you can reach Griskin at info@griskin.co.uk or +44 7427 533 006. Initial conversations are confidential and without obligation.
