GEO courseModule 6 of 10: Content an AI Can UseLesson 6.5
Fees and Terms: Clear, and the Same Everywhere
Publishing what you charge, what's included and what isn't, in plain text on one dated fees page that every other place (portals, brochures, PDFs, your chatbot) matches. For lettings, how fees must be displayed is also a legal requirement.
Why it matters
Hide your fees behind "contact us" and AI quotes a competitor or a national average. Leave an old fees PDF online and AI quotes that instead.
The evidence
Evidence: Official guidance
Trading Standards guidance and lettings codes set what must be shown. That AI repeats old fee pages is common sense, not tested.
Do this first
Search your own site for "admin fee", "referencing fee" and old PDFs, and check every one is current.
01What it is
If a lemonade stall has no price on the sign, you worry it’s expensive. If the sign says “50p a cup” and they charge you 80p, you feel cheated. Fees need to be on the sign, and the same on every sign.
Think of it like
The price list in a café. The one on the wall, the one on the table and the one in the app all have to match.
02Why it matters
To the people searching
"How much does an estate agent charge?" and "what do letting agents charge landlords?" are among the most commercial questions people ask AI. A clear, dated answer gives the AI a source and gives the customer a reason to trust you.
buyers
Want clarity on what they'll pay during the sale.
tenants
Need to know what they may and may not be charged, and who to complain to.
sellers
Compare commission, extras and contract terms.
landlords
Compare management levels and costs, and check what's included.
To Google, Bing and AI
Evidence: Official guidanceNo AI company publishes how it handles fee pages, but the risk is plain: AI quotes whatever version it finds. Old fee tables from before the Tenant Fees Act 2019, still sitting on a site, can be repeated as current. Microsoft warns against core information that lives only in PDFs or images. The legal side is clearer. Trading Standards' guidance says letting agents must display fees in each branch, on their website and on portals (listed, or linked), with each fee's purpose, whether it's per property or per tenant, and the total including tax, with client money protection and redress scheme membership stated beside the list. The fine for breaching the fee publication rules can be up to £5,000.
- Maximum fine for each breach of the lettings fee publication rules
- £5,000Maximum fine for each breach of the lettings fee publication rules
An agent example
A lettings branch keeps three fee lists: one on its site, a 2017 PDF still listing tenant admin fees, and a shorter list on a portal profile. An AI assistant quotes the PDF. The branch creates one dated fees page, puts its client money protection and redress scheme beside the list, deletes the PDF and redirects its address, links the portal profile to the page, and starts a fees change log.
03Your turn
Check yours, then fix it
- 1From your homepage, can a visitor reach your fees in three clicks or fewer?
- 2Is it a web page with text, not a PDF or image?
- 1Put your website, portal profiles, brochures, window cards and any PDFs side by side.
- 2Do descriptions, amounts, VAT treatment and dates match?
- 1Each fee shows its description and purpose.
- 2Whether it's per property or per tenant.
- 3The total including tax, and how it's calculated if it isn't fixed.
- 4Client money protection and redress scheme beside the list. Complaints procedure on the website.
- 1Ask: "How much does [agency] charge landlords?" and "What fees can a letting agent charge tenants in England?"
- 2Compare with your real fees. Log any error and trace where it came from.
Here is my estate agency's fees page. Which fees are clear? Which numbers lack VAT, an example or a date? Is anything unclear, missing a total including tax, or inconsistent? Don't guess any facts or give legal advice. [paste page]
- 1Lead with the answer: "Our fully managed service costs 12% plus VAT of the monthly rent (14.4% including VAT)."
- 2Show VAT-inclusive totals, what's included, optional extras with prices, and one worked example.
- 3Add a "Last checked" date, and update the page the same day fees change.
- 4Separate sales and lettings fees clearly.
- 1Client money protection scheme and redress scheme, with names.
- 2Your complaints procedure on the website.
- 3Link to the same page from your portal profiles.
- 1Find old fees PDFs, brochures and blog posts, especially anything listing tenant fees from before 2019.
- 2Delete them and redirect their addresses to the current fees page.
- 3Ask your host to clear cached copies if needed.
- 1Write terms in plain English, and make sure the summary on your site matches the actual contract.
- 2Keep a fees change log: date, change, who approved it.
- 1Ask your redress scheme, Propertymark, Trading Standards or a solicitor to check your fee and terms wording once a year.
- 2Use AI to turn your fee schedule into plain English, then check every number against your terms.
Then: Re-ask the fee prompts a few weeks after any change. If AI still quotes an old figure, find the page it came from (lesson 8.3).
04Keep it up
Review every three months, and the same day any fee or rule changes.
That's lesson 6.5
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