Estate Agency Regulation - House of Commons publishes update

The House of Commons Library has published what may be the definitive record of estate agency regulations issued in recent years in the UK.

The 27 page briefing document, published over the weekend, contains no new announcement but is for the first time a record of measures controlling our industry over the past four decades - these range from the Estate Agens Act 1979, through the Consumer Protection and Unfair Trading Regulations of 2008, the introductory of compulsory redress, and on to the more recent recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents working group, warnings over referral fees, and finally contemporary calls to improve the home buying and selling process. 

On ROPA, the new briefing document gives no indication as to when or if the 53 recommendations will become law, including the appointment of a regulator. 

The document concludes with a summary of the activity of the steering group which was set up 13 months ago, under the leadership of Labour Baroness Dianne Hayter, considering new codes of practice for property agents.

“The Government has said it will consider any code produced by the steering group in due course” says the briefing document - although so far no code appears to have emerged. 

The briefing document adds: “The new code being developed by the steering group will cover all aspects of residential property. In addition to a high-level set of principles, there will also be a number of other more detailed sections developed that are specific to various aspects of the residential property sector (such as sales, lettings and management). The code is being prepared so that it can be handed over to the new regulator once established.”

You can read and download the briefing document here.