GM

I'm watching the Overton window shift while trying to appoint an estate agent to sell my house.

The last time we sold a house was in 2011.

Since then things have changed.

Now, you have to fill out a full, legally binding questionnaire on your house detailing things like boundary responsibilities, historical disputes and structural issues.

Historically, these have all been done at the conveyancing stage of a sale, not the marketing phase and divert the legal liabilities from the solicitor to the vendor.

Also, you are required to pay upfront costs and, if the property fails to sell cover further marketing costs of the agent.

This makes their commission even more galling as it means an estate agent will earn around 5 times the fees of my solicitor and 10 times the fees of my builder who actually builds the houses the estate agent sells.