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Free market economics dictate that referral fees must be to overall consumer detriment. In this market the firms who hoover-up business on the back of such fees seem generally to provide poorer, slower, and most costly service than those who do not do so. If the referral fees were stamped out not only would the reasons leading to those difficulties be removed, but presumably the failure of those firms that would follow would allow the better firms to grow on the business which they would then be able to pick-up from the exiters - a virtuous circle in the market. I can conceive no possible benefit to our profession in a structure that essentially sucks revenue out of our sector, into the estate agency sector. I'll bet anon's fee on the London conveyance mentioned was no where near the £10k they had to pay the agent - why should the agent also get a dollop of the conveyancer's fees on top of their already creamy dessert?