New sales and rental franchise seeks agents to set up national operation

A senior property lawyer is to set up a franchise agency which he describes as embracing the best of the High Street and online agency models without any of their disadvantages.

The franchise name is to be Homes and Buyers United, and would include at the sales and lettings of all conventional property types and park homes.

The lawyer - who has been in touch with Estate Agent Today but wants to remain anonymous at this stage - says a typical franchisee could run their operation from a High Street office, or a serviced office, or from their home.

“The paramount requirement would be for the franchisee to operate locally and not as an online agency.” explains the lawyer.

The franchise entry cost - allowing an agent to operate sales and lettings within an area under the brand name for an indefinite period - will be flat within each of three categories: city, town and rural. 

There would also be ongoing franchise fees “which I envisage would be based on turnover and there would be fees dependent on the level of back office support being given” says the founder. 

Referral fees would provide what is described as “a significant source of income for the franchisee” and would include relationships with conveyancing, surveying, removal, heating and utility companies; to ensure a high quality of service, those relationships would be reviewed if feedback from customers proved unsatisfactory.

The IT infrastructure for franchisees to draw upon will be cloud based, with a central physical administrative centre, described as being “highly scalable as the franchise business grew.”

The lawyer says he is now looking for “a small number of experienced and forward- thinking agents to come together to invest in and become founder members and shareholders of the company.”

They would be involved in the setting up and running of the franchise. 

Agents interested in the enterprise can email john@agencyfranchise.co.uk.