In this article
Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →The Real Estate Buyers Agents Association of Australia (REBAA) has put a figure on what it considers a normal payment to start work with a buyer's agent: between $1,000 and $5,000. In a statement published on 29 June 2026, the association said the majority of a buyer's agent's fee should be paid only when the purchase goes unconditional or settles, and that a request for tens of thousands of dollars before any work is done should raise a red flag.
The statement was a response to the liquidation of the buyer's agency Dashdot, which left clients owed more than $10 million in prepaid fees. On 1 July, Real Estate Business reported the next step in that story: two firms, InvestorKit and Fouracre Financial, have bought the failed agency's lending business, technology and data in what was described as a seven-figure deal. This article sets out what the association said, how a staged fee differs from a prepaid one, what the asset sale means for former clients and what Queensland's rules require of any fee a buyer's agent charges.
REBAA statement, 29 June 2026, and REBAA's published information for consumers. Percentages are of the purchase price.
What the association said
The statement was made by Zoran Solano, the association's vice-president. Its core is a description of how the profession ordinarily charges. "A typical engagement fee in our industry is usually between $1,000 and $5,000," he said. The rest of the fee, on the association's account, is earned at the back end, when the contract becomes unconditional or the purchase settles.
Against that, REBAA set the figure it attributed to the failed agency: engagement fees of around $15,000 a client, paid at the start. Reports of the liquidators' figures by Real Estate Business in June put the range of upfront fees at $6,000 to more than $22,000.
Related readBidding at a Queensland auction through a buyer's agent: the rulesThe association's argument is about incentive as much as risk. A buyer's agent, Mr Solano said, should be driven by results. An agent who has received a small part of the fee has a commercial reason to find and secure a property. An agent who has received all of it has already been paid whether or not a purchase follows.
REBAA speaks for a part of the profession, not all of it. Its members are agencies that act only for buyers and do not list property for sale. Its statement describes the practice it regards as standard among those members. It is not a rule, and it binds nobody outside the association.
How a staged fee works
Buyer's agents' fees generally have two parts, and the association's consumer information describes both. For a full service covering search, inspection, due diligence and negotiation, REBAA's published guide is a fee of between 2 and 3 per cent of the purchase price, plus GST and an engagement fee. Flat fees set by reference to the price range are also used, and narrower services such as negotiation only or auction bidding are priced separately.
The engagement fee, sometimes called a retainer, is paid when the appointment is signed. It commits the client and covers the agent's early work. The larger part, often called the success fee, becomes payable at a defined later point.
A worked example shows why the timing matters. Assume a purchase at $750,000, a total fee of 2.5 per cent of the price plus GST, and an engagement fee of $3,000 that is credited against the total. These are illustrative figures, not market data. The fee before GST is $18,750, GST adds $1,875, and the total is $20,625.
Related readBuyer's agency collapse leaves 695 clients owed $10.6 million| Stage | Staged fee | Paid in full upfront |
|---|---|---|
| At appointment | $3,000 | $20,625 |
| When the purchase is secured | $17,625 | $0 |
| Total | $20,625 | $20,625 |
| Paid before any purchase | $3,000 | $20,625 |
Illustrative figures. The engagement fee is assumed to be credited against the total fee.
The totals are identical. What differs is how much of the client's money has left their hands before there is a property to show for it. Under the staged arrangement that amount is $3,000. Under the prepaid one it is the whole fee.
Whether an engagement fee is credited against the final fee, charged on top of it, or refunded if no property is found within the term varies from one agency to another. Those are terms of the individual appointment, which is why the document that records them matters.
The asset sale announced on 1 July
Real Estate Business reported on 1 July that InvestorKit, a buyer's agency, and Fouracre Financial, a finance firm, had completed the purchase of key assets from Dashdot's liquidation. The assets include the lending business Dash Lending, which the two firms will own jointly, two software platforms used for predictive modelling and portfolio planning, the marketing infrastructure, data assets, intellectual property and operating systems. The report describes the price only as a seven-figure sum.
The structure of the deal is the important detail. According to the report, it was an acquisition of assets only. The buyers did not purchase the company itself, which remains in liquidation. Selected former staff are to join InvestorKit, and selected former clients are to move across to the two firms.
On client information, the report quotes InvestorKit as planning "a structured consent process" that gives former clients the option to opt out before their data is transferred.
What the sale changes for former clients
An asset sale and a rescue are different things, and the difference matters to anyone owed money.
Related readBuyer's agent or selling agent: who works for whom in QueenslandWhen a business is bought as a going concern, the buyer may take on its obligations to customers. When assets are bought out of a liquidation, the buyer acquires the things it paid for, and the failed company's debts stay with the failed company. On the terms reported, the fees clients prepaid to Dashdot remain claims in the liquidation. They did not pass to the new owners with the software and the data.
What the sale does add is money to the pool the liquidator holds. The June figures put the estimated realisable assets at $70,674 against total creditor claims of $16.57 million, of which clients' prepaid services and refunds made up $10.59 million. A seven-figure sale price improves that position. How much of it reaches unsecured creditors, after the costs of the liquidation and any claims that rank ahead of them, is a matter for the liquidator's later reports, and nothing has been published on it.
For a former client who still intends to buy, moving to one of the acquiring firms, or to any other agency, is a fresh engagement. In Queensland that means a new written appointment, with its own services, fees and due dates.
What Queensland's rules require on fees
Queensland does not set the amount of a buyer's agent's fee or the point at which it is paid. The Office of Fair Trading's guidance on commission says so directly: it sets no limit, and an agent is free to negotiate any commission with the client. What the state regulates is how the fee is recorded.
Related readBuyer's agent, property adviser or promoter: telling the roles apartA property agent may not provide services until appointed in writing, and for a buyer's agent the Queensland Government's guidance names Form 6 as the document. That guidance says the form must state the services to be provided and any limits on them, all commissions, fees and expenses, and the due date for paying each.
The Office of Fair Trading's commission guidance adds four points. The commission must be agreed in writing at the time of appointment and cannot be altered afterwards. Figures are to include GST, and the form must say so. The form must set out whether an amount remains payable if the sale does not proceed, and in what circumstances. And the appointment must not contain unfair contract terms.
The due date of each fee is a required entry, not a courtesy
Queensland guidance requires a buyer's agent's appointment to show every fee and expense and when it falls due. Since 1 July the Office of Fair Trading lists the maximum penalty for acting without a written appointment at $34,540.
The effect is that the split REBAA describes, a small sum at the start and the balance on success, is visible on a properly completed form before the client signs. So is the opposite arrangement. The law leaves the choice to the two parties and makes sure it is written down.
Where the debate goes from here
The association's statement is advice from a professional body to the public. The wider reform requests reported in June, from REBAA, PIPA and PICA, went further and included restrictions on upfront fees and an end to performance guarantees. Those would need legislation, and licensing of agents is a state responsibility.
No Queensland proposal has been announced. In the meantime the liquidation continues, the acquiring firms begin their consent process with former clients, and the profession's own body has done what an association can do without a change in the law: it has said publicly what its members regard as normal, in dollars, so that a client reading an appointment form has something to measure it against.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
