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Reaction to BBC Panorama on conditional selling

Journalist: Tom Dunstan, FTAdviser

ended 15. July 2025

Last night, Panorama ran an exposé on the estate agency Connells, accusing it of systematically engaging in the practice of conditional selling to pressure buyers into using their in-house mortgage services, often to the cost of good customer outcomes.

The episode was covered on FT Adviser here: https://www.ftadviser.com/conditional-selling/2025/7/15/conditional-selling-by-estate-agents-enough-is-enough-say-brokers/

If you saw the programme last night, what was your reaction to it? Was it encouraging to see conditional selling exposed on prime time television? Do you think this could represent a turning point against the practice, particularly in the context of FT Adviser's campaign against conditional selling?

14 responses from the Newspage community

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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
The natural reaction is to be shocked as a result of the episode, and the broker community has been highlighting these actions for some time. However, we equally need to remember that there are good agents out there who do put their clients' best interests at heart, and that includes independents not part of larger chains. The simple fact is that estate agents need to be regulated, and their regulator needs to have teeth.
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Jack Tutton
Director at SJ Mortgages
It is important to see the issue of conditional selling highlighted in such a major way via a prime time tv programme such as Panorama, the issue remains a huge problem in the market and has detrimental impacts to both buyers and sellers which was clear to see. The programme showed that the offer process isn't always as clear as it should be and not all offers are presented to sellers in the way that perhaps should be. More needs to be done to create greater transparency in the house buying process and remove the grey areas where conditional selling techniques could fester.
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Shaun Sturgess
Director at Sturgess Mortgage Solutions
The Panorama investigation into conditional selling was a damning indictment of an industry practice that’s long overdue a reckoning. These outdated, almost prehistoric tactics—where buyers are misled into thinking they must use in-house mortgage advisers or risk losing the property—have no place in a modern housing market.

While it was shocking to see, it wasn’t surprising. Sadly, in South Wales, we see this regularly from estate agency brands like John Francis and Peter Alan—both operating under the Connells banner—who continue to push customers toward tied advisers under immense internal pressure. And let’s be clear: this pressure doesn’t just harm the client, it also places some very good people within these organisations in an impossible position, forced to prioritise sales targets over genuine advice.

Hopefully, this programme is the final nail in the coffin for the likes of Purplebricks and a wake-up call for Connells to implement real change.
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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
Seeing Panorama expose conditional selling in prime time was both infuriating and essential. Connells being accused of pressuring buyers into in-house mortgages confirms what brokers have been shouting about for years, this isn’t isolated, it’s systemic. The fact that such practices have been allowed to fester shows just how toothless current regulation is. FT Adviser’s campaign has rightly kept the pressure on, and now the public is waking up to the scale of the problem. This must be a turning point. We need regulatory intervention with real bite not just stern words, but enforceable rules that protect buyers from being strong-armed by sales-driven agencies hiding behind big brands.
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Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
This kind of conditional selling has been rife for years, and the industry knows it. It won’t stop until estate agents are properly regulated. That’s the real problem. The FCA needs to take a hard look at how Consumer Duty is being applied here - because right now, it isn’t. If an estate agent is effectively coercing a buyer to use their in-house broker or risk losing the property, how is that fair treatment? It’s a clear breach of the principles. Nothing changes until enforcement does.
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Mike Staton
Director at Staton Mortgages
As an Ex Countrywide Mortgage Advisor based in both a Frank Innes & Bairstow Eves Branch, I am not suprised about this Panorama outcome. The pressure from higher up to sell products was unbearable, the threat of losing your job should you not hit KPIs was a daily occurence and conversation in morning meetings. Naive first time buyers who did not know the process were easily targeted and mis-sold too. I am happy that i escaped such a toxic atmosphere, never would i recommend the service of any corporate advisor or estate agent.

I was giving advice for 3 years with only CeMap level 1 at Countrywide, this meant that i was less qualified than most independant brokers, consumers didnt realise this and were paying the same fee for a less qualified service. With a corporate chain, both the employee and the client are just a number in a machine to feed shareholders.
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Dariusz Karpowicz
Director at Albion Financial Advice
The Panorama investigation was less "shocking exposé" and more "stating the obvious with cameras rolling." Anyone who's worked in property for more than five minutes knows conditional selling is as common as overpriced lattes in estate agency offices. The real surprise is that it took prime time television to get regulators interested.
While the exposure is welcome, let's not kid ourselves that this represents a watershed moment. Until there's meaningful regulatory reform - specifically prohibiting estate agents from offering financial services - conflicts of interest will persist when buyers use estate agents' mortgage advisors. The FCA's Consumer Duty principles mean nothing without proper enforcement. At least now the industry can't claim ignorance when the inevitable regulatory reckoning arrives.
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Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
This was long overdue, much welcomed and not a shock to hear and see. We have seen this practice for years and it is great this is now in the open for all to see. The more this gets exposed the better and this will hopefully be the start of the campaign against conditional selling. It would be interesting to see how much Connells and Purple Bricks have 'learned' by these 'isolated incidents' by doing a follow up- my guess is absolutely nada!
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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
It’s about time this murky, manipulative practice was called out on prime-time TV.

Conditional selling has been the estate agency industry's dirty little secret for years, pressure tactics, misleading ‘recommendations’, and buyers made to feel like they’ll lose a home unless they play ball.

Panorama shining a light on it could be the start of real change. Let’s hope the public now realise they have a choice — and brokers who act in their best interest.
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Elliott Culley
Director at Switch Mortgage Finance
Last night's show confirmed what all mortgage brokers in the industry already knew. Every broker has a story of a client being forced into using the in house mortgage adviser or not having their offer taken seriously. With this common sales tactic finally being outted on a wider scale this may lead to permanent change in the industry.
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Elliott Benson
Owner at Sett Mortgages
It is the industries worst-kept secret among the people who work in it that this goes on. It will be interesting to see how this will affect buyers going forward now it has been exposed on a much bigger scale. It is going to be much harder for the notorious conditional sellers to use the old "the vendor would prefer you use our broker" now that it has been exposed on a national scale.
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Kylie-Ann Martin
Director at KAG Financial
Whilst it is really positive thing to see conditional selling highlighted in the mainstream media - it is time action is actually taken and this is something that is monitored on a regular basis. I have been advising nearly seventeen years and it is something that has gone on the whole time. I had this exact conversation with a client a week ago who was struggling to have their offer accepted because of the agent trying to bully them into using their in house broker. It's not acceptable practice and does anything but put the client first. Whilst the house buying process is stressful enough for people - taken the clients own choice of broker and solicitor away from them shouldn't even exist. I hope the show will educate more buyers on knowing to be wary of this, and ensuring future buyers know the choice of services they use is always down to them.
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Scott Aitken
Director | Mortgage & Protection Broker at Aitken Financial Services
Everyone in the industry knows this happens, and every adviser has had a client who’s been on the receiving end of it. Still, I was genuinely taken aback by just how brazen the conditional selling was. These weren’t misunderstandings or one-off mistakes. The staff clearly understood what they were doing. So, the usual excuses about ‘isolated incidents’ or ‘training gaps’ don’t hold water.

While I fully support FT Adviser’s campaign, I’m not convinced it will have the impact we all hope for. That’s not a reflection of the campaign itself. It’s a reflection of an industry that, in parts, puts commission ahead of client outcomes. If I behaved like that as a regulated adviser, I’d be facing serious consequences. Yet for estate agents, there’s a shocking lack of regulatory oversight.

If we’re serious about protecting consumers, we need structural change. That starts by removing mortgage advice from the hands of estate agents altogether. Leave it to the impartial brokers.
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Patricia McGirr
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
Watching Connells squirm on Panorama was long overdue. Conditional selling isn’t just shady, it’s savage, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. Forcing buyers to use in-house brokers means they risk blowing their budget before they’ve even got the keys. Every penny matters right now and binding buyers into conditional selling takes away choice. Impartiality is what enables people to make decisions that are right for them. Referral fees masquerading as ‘advice’ don’t serve the client, they serve commission-hungry charlatans. So many great brokers get overlooked or dumped, best rates ignored, and buyers end up cornered, believing this is how it's done. FT Adviser is right: enough is enough. This could, and should, be the tipping point. If televised embarrassment doesn’t stop this racket, regulators need to.