Agency standards debated by OnTheMarket and Countrywide chiefs

One of the founding agents behind Agents’ Mutual and OnTheMarket and one of the current directors of Countrywide will be amongst those industry figures debating the latest RICS ‘blue book’ outlining standards for residential agents. 

Ed Mead - who as a director of London estate agency Douglas & Gordon was one of the founders of AM and OTM - now heads up the Viewber outsourced viewing service targeting online and traditional estate agency clients. 

He will this evening be joining Countrywide managing director Paul Chapman in a debate on the latest edition of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Blue Book - regarded as outlining best practice and expected standards in residential agency.

The debate - at RICS’ headquarters in central London - will also involve Jeff Doble, the chief executive of London agency Dexters, as well as Property Ombudsman Katrine Sporle and RICS’ global property standards director (and former NAEA chief) Peter Bolton-King. 

The event will include discussion on why standards matter in residential agency, the  risks facing agents and the impact of technology on professionalism, whether there is a role for professionalism in an online environment, the proliferation of government regulation especially in the lettings sector, and agents’ roles in the emerging area of Build To Rent.