64% of property professionals say strong basic plus structured bonus is the right model for attracting and retaining talent in estate and lettings agency. And growing.
Only 9% of respondents back the traditional low basic and high commission model. That is not a fringe result. That is the industry telling us something important about where confidence in the old structure actually sits.
Why the minimum wage changes everything
The national minimum wage for over 21s working 40 hours is now just shy of £26,500 annually. That matters more than most agencies have stopped to consider. When your legal minimum is that high, the entire basic salary conversation shifts upward. Your rookie negotiator, your mid-level negotiator and your experienced senior are all gravitating toward a similar bracket because the floor has risen beneath all of them. There is no longer meaningful distance between where you have to start and where you might reasonably reward experience. Everyone ends up on broadly the same basic, differentiated only by commission, and that is not a structure that reflects value, recognises loyalty or attracts the serious long-term professionals the industry needs.
There is a practical consequence that rarely gets discussed openly. A candidate on a low declared basic, regardless of their on-target earnings, struggles to get a mortgage. Struggles to pass referencing on a rental property. Struggles to demonstrate financial stability to a bank or a landlord. The property industry is inadvertently making it harder for talented people to build the kind of life that property careers are supposed to enable.
When roles are advertised with basics that do not reflect what someone needs to function financially, the industry is not filtering for hunger. It is filtering out stability seekers, which increasingly means filtering out the serious, long-term professionals the sector genuinely needs right now.
What a better structure actually looks like
Strong basics and meaningful earnings potential are not mutually exclusive. A properly structured model pays a basic that reflects the role and the experience level. A rookie negotiator and a senior negotiator should not be on the same basic. Experience should be visible in the foundation, not only in the commission column. On top of that sits a clearly structured bonus framework with realistic thresholds, transparent targets and genuine earning potential for those who perform.
What this builds is something the low basic model has always struggled to create. Loyalty. A member of staff who feels financially stable, fairly valued and able to plan their life is a member of staff who stays. And in a market where experienced property professionals are genuinely hard to find, retention is not a nice to have. It is a competitive advantage.
And if this has raised questions about how your agency’s salary structure compares to the current market, I am always happy to have that conversation. We recruit the best candidates out there for some of the best companies – with retention and longevity at the heart of what we do.
Sally Asling, Founder, ProFind Property Recruitment
📞 0204 583 4941 · 📧 sally@profindrecruitment.co.uk · 🌐 www.profindpropertyrecruitment.co.uk
#EstateAgency #PropertyRecruitment #PropertyJobs #Salaries #ProFindPropertyRecruitment #HiringStrategy #PropertyIndustry #LettingsJobs
