Estate Agency Commission Disputes in Hong Kong: When Is Commission Actually Owed?

"I don't think I actually owe this" is something we hear constantly about estate agency commission. Some readers have no memory of signing anything during the buying or renting process. Others are told a figure is just "industry practice" with no legal basis offered. And some have already been rattled by a solicitor's letter into assuming they must simply pay.

This article is written for both sides of that dispute: the buyer, seller, landlord or tenant being chased for commission, and the agent who did the work and hasn't been paid. The core point is the same either way — whether commission is actually "owed" isn't decided by who's more insistent, it comes down to two documents: whether you signed a prescribed-form estate agency agreement at all, and what that agreement's own terms actually say. Based on public guidance from the Estate Agents Authority and the Community Legal Information Centre (CLIC).

You've received a demand — check the agreement before you pay

A commission demand usually arrives by phone, WhatsApp, or occasionally a solicitor's letter. Whatever form it takes, the first move should be the same: don't pay immediately, and don't ignore it either. Go back and find the actual document, and check it line by line.

Start by locating your own copy of the estate agency agreement (Form 4 for a purchaser, Form 6 for a tenant, Form 3 for a vendor, or the equivalent for a landlord). Check three things: whether an agreement exists and when you signed it, its validity period, and the commission figure or calculation method in its schedule. This sounds basic, but it's genuinely where most disputes start — plenty of people can't recall signing anything, or signed and never looked at it again.

No signed agreement means the agent generally has no claim

This is the point most people don't know, and it's also the single most useful line of defence. Under the Estate Agents Ordinance (Cap. 511) section 45, a licensed estate agent must sign a written, prescribed-form estate agency agreement with a prospective purchaser before showing them a residential property or providing purchase-related services; the same requirement applies to a prospective tenant. In other words, without a signed prescribed-form agreement, the agent generally shouldn't have been providing you that service in the first place — and when it comes to a claim, no agreement signed by both sides means the agent lacks a clear contractual basis to say you owe them anything.

This requirement is specific to residential property. Non-residential (commercial or industrial) premises carry no statutory requirement to sign an agreement — an agent may still ask you to, but the law doesn't compel it, so the defence logic runs a little differently for shop or office deals.

So if an agent is chasing you for commission and you have no signed agreement at all — or they can't say which document it's supposedly based on — that's a genuine point to raise. The burden sits with the party making the claim to show a valid agreement exists; "you agreed to it" isn't enough on its own.

A signed agreement exists — how the figure and trigger are decided

If an agreement genuinely exists, the next step is reading the actual clauses, not relying on what you've been told.

The commission figure isn't regulated by law at all. No Hong Kong law sets or restricts the commission amount or rate an estate agent may charge — the figure and how it's calculated are negotiated between you and the agent and written into the agreement. Talk of a standard "1%" or "2–3%" is market practice, not a legal figure; what actually applies is whatever percentage or amount your own signed agreement states.

The trigger is also whatever the agreement says. Most agreements state that commission becomes payable once you complete a transaction (buying, selling or renting) through that agent. One common trap: if you've signed an agreement and then, within its validity period, complete the deal through a second agent or directly with the owner instead, the first agent can often still claim commission under the terms you signed — that's a separate question from whether they personally closed the deal, and turns on the agreement's validity period and wording (for the mechanics of that specific trap, see Signed a Viewing Form in Hong Kong? What It Commits You To). Conversely, if no transaction happened at all under the conditions the agreement actually specifies — you never bought or rented anything, or the deal only closed after the agreement had expired — the stated trigger simply doesn't apply, and that's worth checking word for word.

Worth checking whether the other side is even licensed

Whether the person chasing you is actually a licensed estate agent or salesperson is a step people often skip. In Hong Kong, anyone practising estate agency work in the course of business, or acting as a licensed agent's salesperson, must hold a valid licence issued by the Estate Agents Authority — operating without one carries a maximum penalty of 2 years' imprisonment and a HK$500,000 fine. The EAA provides a public licence list on its website, letting anyone verify whether a specific person currently holds a valid licence and see the details attached to it.

If the person has no licence at all, that isn't just a point worth raising in the dispute — it's something worth reporting to the EAA in its own right. Whatever paperwork exists between you, an unlicensed operator's legal position is a different question entirely from a properly licensed agent's.

The agent's side — recovering commission that hasn't been paid

This article isn't written only for the party being chased. If you're the agent — you did the viewings, negotiated the price, followed the deal through to completion — and the client is now stalling on paying, you deserve just as clear a path to recovery.

Start the same way: check whether your own agreement is complete, signed by both sides, and whether its validity period and schedule terms are stated clearly. A vague agreement with no clear trigger condition or figure is the weakest point in a dispute for the agent, not the client — since the law sets no rate, everything rests on the agreement itself, and a missing or unclear one leaves you in a genuinely weak position.

Second, set out your basis for the claim and how the figure is calculated in writing (email or WhatsApp both work), and keep every message. The same structure covered in How to Write a Demand Letter Before Going to Small Claims Tribunal in Hong Kong applies here, and How to Prepare Evidence for Small Claims Tribunal is worth reading for organising viewing records, the signed agreement, and the provisional or final sale/lease documents into one file before you pursue it.

Disputing the amount — EAA determination or the Tribunal

Once you've checked the agreement and confirmed a genuine dispute exists, there are two distinct routes available.

Estate Agents Authority determination. Under section 49 of the Estate Agents Ordinance, together with the Estate Agents (Determination of Commission Disputes) Regulation, where a licensed estate agent and a client disagree on the amount, calculation method or payment terms of commission or other fees — and both sides have signed a prescribed-form agreement — both parties can agree to have the dispute determined by the EAA. This covers disputes up to HK$300,000, with a HK$500 submission fee per party (deductible from the arbitration fee) and an arbitration fee of 10% of the disputed amount (minimum HK$2,000); neither side may be represented by a solicitor or barrister at the hearing. Once registered with the District Court, an EAA determination becomes enforceable as a District Court judgment. The catch: this route needs both sides to agree to use it — you can propose it, but the other party isn't obliged to accept.

Small Claims Tribunal. If the other side won't agree to EAA determination, or you'd rather pursue an enforceable money claim directly, and the disputed amount is HK$75,000 or under, you can file at the Small Claims Tribunal. Filing fees run in four bands: $20 up to $5,000, $40 up to $25,000, $70 up to $50,000, and $120 up to $75,000, and the process generally doesn't require legal representation. For the actual filing steps, see How to Fill In a Small Claims Tribunal Claim Form.

If you'd like help assessing whether a commission dispute like this is worth pursuing and which route fits, our filing support service covers exactly that; estate agency disputes also sit within our agency commission case type.