§ Mr. Thomas Coxasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the increase in estate agents' fees including VAT for the purchase of a house selling at £15,000 since June 1970.
§ Sir G. HoweI have been asked to reply.
Under the Restriction on Agreements (Estate Agents) Order 1970 it has, since 30th June 1971, been unlawful for estate agents to agree among themselves on the charges they would make for their services for the purchase or sale of unfurnished houses. Since it is now open to 202W buyers and sellers to negotiate with competing estate agents the fee to be charged, no comparison is possible with the scale of charges which was widely in operation in June 1970. However, since 1st April 1973 value added tax has been chargeable at a rate not exceeding 10 per cent.