If an agent is to hold the price on a second-hand home, the money must go through the dedicated transaction-funds deposit account the agency opened at a bank

When an agent collects the purchase price, the rules say it must go through the dedicated account the agency opened at a bank. That account is supervised; the money must not go into the agency’s own account, and must not be transferred to an individual broker.

Cost

No monetary cost. The hard part is insisting on the dedicated account; you may have to argue with the agent a few more times.

Benefit

The regulation is plain: where the parties agree that a real-estate brokerage will collect and pay the transaction funds, the funds shall be transferred through the dedicated client transaction-settlement deposit account that the brokerage has opened at a bank. The purchase price goes into a supervised dedicated account, not the agency’s own account, and not some broker’s private account.

Notes

The purchase price is from 100000 to several million yuan — the largest single sum in this book. Do not WeChat it to the broker. There are two other common ways of charging extra. One is two agencies jointly doing the same deal; that can be charged as only one commission. The other is handling a loan or a title transfer for you; those are further services, need a separate contract, and the fee must be stated in advance. Send every payment by transfer and note what it is for; see item 6 (check the title certificate and the mortgage before signing). Where the money for an off-plan home goes is in item 10 (the pre-sale funds supervision account).

Sources · 1

1. 住房城乡建设部、国家发展改革委、人力资源社会保障部 (2011). 房地产经纪管理办法（令第 8 号，2016 年第 29 号令修改）第二十四条：「房地产交易当事人约定由房地产经纪机构代收代付交易资金的，应当通过房地产经纪机构在银行开设的客户交易结算资金专用存款账户划转交易资金。」第十八条「房地产经纪服务实行明码标价制度……在经营场所醒目位置标明房地产经纪服务项目、服务内容、收费标准」；第十九条「两家或者两家以上房地产经纪机构合作开展同一宗房地产经纪业务的，只能按照一宗业务收取佣金，不得向委托人增加收费」；第十七条代办贷款、代办房地产登记等其他服务「应当向委托人说明服务内容、收费标准等情况，经委托人同意后，另行签订合同」. gov.cn/gongbao/content/2011/content_1918920.htm