Property ombudsman Christopher Hamer has called for controversial For Sale by Tender methods to be tightly controlled.

He was speaking after MPs decided on Monday not to ban the system, by which vendors pay an admin fee of usually some £300 and the buyer pays an “introduction” fee of usually 2%.

Hamer said: “Having sought advice on the legality of sale by tender, it appears this practice does not break any law, so I can understand why it might have been difficult for Parliament to ban it.

“I have already let it be known that I intend to produce some best practice guidelines on sale by tender to avoid the potential for the agent having a conflict of interest.

“The whole approach to this practice needs to be controlled through complete transparency and disclosure of the commitments and liabilities that each party to the transaction is taking on.

“I have drafted some guidelines on this issue and will be inviting agents and interested parties to review and contribute to ensure we can publish best practice that reflects both the consumer and industry’s viewpoint.”

Reacting to Eye’s story about the Commons debate, landlord and property investor Sam Collett revealed that she had viewed a property where the agent had merely advertised that a fee was payable without saying what it was.

She had to call the agent to discover that the fee payable was 1%.

She said that she would have subtracted this sum from any offer she might have made.