Industry executive backs rules on who can setup an estate agency

Industry analyst and and chair of The Home Buying and Selling Group Kate Faulkner, has called for the Government to stop agents being allowed to ‘setup in their bedrooms and garages’ without minimum standards or regulations.

Giving her backing for introducing the long-awaited Regulation of Property Agents rules, Faulkner said the majority in the industry want the changes to be introduced.

Speaking on the Today Conveyancer podcast, she said: “Everybody around the agent is regulated, we need that box to be ticked.”

Faulkner, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours List last month, also gave her backing to ‘mandating’ rules on upfront information when marketing a property.

She said: “If change is not mandated we are asking people to change all their IT systems, CRM systems and retrain everybody. That’s a big ask.

“If you have a chain of three buyers, it’s no good only two out of three doing them making all the changes we need. They all have to do it.”

She said the property market needs data that can be trusted from the day a listing is marketed, adding: “That is a huge job to do, it’s a huge investment from Government and industry therefore we need mandation.”

Faulkner said the Government is committed to reforms but admitted the every-changing role of Housing Minister is “frustrating.”

She added: “We have amazing civil servants doing a great job and working hard to help us change the home buyer sector.”

Faulkner said it will take a while to fully reform the process but suggested there are things that can be done now such as encouraging sellers to instruct a conveyancer as soon as their property is listed.

She said buyers must be financially qualified at the point of acceptance and any outstanding searches must be ordered in the first week of instruction.

Faulkner said the onus for upfront information isn’t just on agents but falls on the homeowner, buyer and legal company.

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