Common questions, answered in full

What the house is for decides it. A written figure with the comparable sales behind it is the valuation and market appraisal; the survey, photography, floor plan, listing and accompanied viewings carried through to completion is the full listing service; a tenant found, referenced and moved in is the rental letting. A buyer who wants somebody on their own side of the table wants buyer representation, and an owner who only needs a door opened for one afternoon wants viewing accompaniment. Naming the address type and what is wanted from it in a message gets a straight recommendation back.

No. Every service on this site is a flat published fee, settled on the invoice rather than taken out of the sale. A house that sells for more than expected does not cost more to sell, and one that sells for less does not cost less. Nothing is added at completion, there is no tie-in period, and the figure on the services page is the figure on the invoice.

The agent says so and names the one that does, before any work begins. That happens in the reply to a message as readily as it happens in the hallway. Nothing is started on a service that will not do what was asked for, and nothing is charged for a service that was not carried out.

No. The Book action opens the contact page and the contact form sends a message that an agent reads during opening hours, and neither one holds a time by itself. An appointment exists only once the office has replied and the day and the hour have been agreed, so a message sent at midnight is answered the following working morning rather than booked overnight.

Yes, and naming the agent in the message is the whole of it. If that agent is not working on the day being asked about, the reply says so and offers the days they are, rather than quietly putting the appointment with somebody else. All four take every service on the list, and the agent who walks a house is the agent who shows it.

A message through the contact form or an email as early as possible is all that is needed. The office asks for as much notice as can reasonably be given so the appointment can go to somebody else, and it does not charge for a cancellation.

Leave the house as it is lived in. A room tidied for a photograph is a room a valuation cannot read, and the agent is looking at the fabric rather than the housekeeping. What does help is unlocking whatever is usually locked, because the roof space, the cellar and the outside of every window are the four places a problem shows first. Anything known about the house is worth saying in the message rather than at the door: when the roof was last done, what the damp patch did last winter, and which alterations have paperwork behind them.

The name, email address, telephone number and message go to Cornice & Slate Real Estate so that an agent can reply, and they are not used for marketing unless the subscribe form was filled in separately. No address given in a message is passed to anybody outside this office. The privacy notice sets out how long details are kept and how to ask for them to be deleted.