Archive

LSL Property Services has appointed Michael Stoop to its board as a non-executive director. He brings significant experience in estate agency and...

Concerns around market appraisals and how offers are handled are likely to be the key industry complaints this year amid lower...

Further estate agency regulation won’t be too expensive for the industry, Lord Best has said. Lord Best, who led the Regulation of...

The increased focus on upfront material information could push up estate agency professional indemnity (PI) requirements, an industry trainer has warned. Michael...

The Law Society is exploring concerns that Propertymark's Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) puts agents at risk of legal issues, Estate Agent...

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has questioned if allowing agents to choose their own redress scheme damages consumer trust. Speaking to the House...

The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee has set out the key questions it could ask agency representatives as its...

Representatives from Propertymark, Trading Standards and The Property Ombudsman (TPO) are set to discuss estate agency regulation in the House of...

Two London firms have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) for failing to pay compensation to consumers. This brings the total...

It may be a measure of the government’s incompetence in the area of housing that two recent major announcements were sorely...

Compliancy expert Legal Eye has launched a new product to help agents ensure they are properly following all rules and regulations. Its...

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has welcomed two new non-executive directors to its independent board. Louise Baxter, head of the National Trading Standards...

Estate agents have been urged to be wary of complaints around market appraisals and the handling of offers. The latest annual review...

Just one agent was expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) redress scheme in the latest quarter. TPO has revealed that Price Point...

Following publication of the Renter’s Reform Bill and the media coverage surrounding it, many agents and their landlords will understandably have...

Agents are being urged to be clearer about their terms of business with clients after the public face of The Property...

The dreaded ‘C word’ – compliance – has been facing Estate Agents for years now and it’s not going anywhere. Looking ahead...

Eight agents were excluded from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme during the first quarter of 2023 including collapsed online brand Doorsteps for...

High transaction volumes are likely to lead to more complaints about agents, a compliance expert claims. Paul Offley, compliance officer at The Guild...

Given their leading role in the recent upfront information revolution, interest in the work of the National Trading Standards Estate &...

Increasing numbers of complaints about agents are being resolved without formal investigation but issues are becoming more complex, The Property Ombudsman...

Over the last few months, The Letting Partnership has seen an increase in calls from agents who are struggling to open...

The National Association of Professional Sourcing Agents (NAPSA) has partnered with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) to boost compliance and working practices in...

Sales remain the predominant source of income for most estate agency brands, research claims. The analysis warns that agents shouldn’t ignore lettings...

Millions of people use online property portals every year to conduct their property search, whether it be for sales or for...

A new Deputy Ombudsman, Lesley Horton, has been appointed by The Property Ombudsman Scheme. She will work alongside Property Ombudsman, Rebecca Marsh,...

It was a quiet first quarter this year for sanctions at The Property Ombudsman (TPO). The redress scheme has revealed that just...

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has said it may consider complaints about ‘misleading SSTC listings’ on portals but suggests it may...

The market’s likely to slow this year as the rising cost of living saps some buyer confidence, so agents are understandably...

Industry figures have come out in favour of the long-term programme of new compulsory information to be contained on property listings. From...

The Property Ombudsman should ban agents from using so-called exclusivity agreements on sales, claims a law firm.  Donal Blaney, founder of Griffin...

The most senior Trading Standards officer policing the agency industry says he hopes the public will ask about referral fees in...

An hour-long webinar this week aims to inform agents how to deter property fraud by greater emphasis on compliance, due diligence...

Estate Agent Today understands that the civil servant who has been at the heart of plans to reform the house buying...

EAT readers may have seen a piece in Friday’s property section of The Times about the long-running Simplify saga, which has...

Within weeks the focus of the industry will be on the White Paper to be issued on rental reform before Christmas. Let’s...

Agents are being advised to go above and beyond the legal requirements for anti-money laundering requirements.  Paul Offley, compliance officer for The...

As virtual tours start to get even more popular, and in some cases become the norm for the majority of letting...

Day in, day out, I see how good estate agents really are.  Whether it’s in my day job on Location, Location, Location...

The Property Ombudsman says there’s been a big increase in enquiries to its service in recent months, despite the pandemic.  In its...

No fewer than seven estate and lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme today. Most of them are now...

Movebutler, the digital onboarding platform from online auction specialist iamproperty, says it has some 900 agency branches signed up. These include Martin...

Agents are being advised on what course of action they should take to safeguard their right to fees should they be dis-instructed...

Our recent state of the property nation survey, which yielded nearly 350 responses from directors to junior negotiators, and many others...

From 4 May 2021, your agency could be blocked from charging late fees, compounding interest on missing rent and taking any...

Automatically changing the main marketing photo on a portal listing can attract up to 40 per cent more traffic, it has...

Being a letting agent today means keeping up to date with the long list of rules and regulations governing how a...

Scams are rife in the quick house buying sector with many companies seeking to take advantage of sellers in desperate situations. That’s...

Countrywide and Foxtons have thrown their weight behind an idea to identify every single UK residential property with a unique number. The...

Start-up letting agents looking to enter the market are finding it increasingly difficult to set up in business as banks point...

The Property Ombudsman says there have been more complaints lodged about agents so far in 2020 than in 2019. This is despite...

First off, hello and welcome to this new series – appearing in Estate Agent Today’s Breaking News section each month –...

The industry regulator who comes into force when the Regulation of Property Agents’ recommendations are adopted may take over versions of...

The Property Ombudsman has joined calls for greater disclosure of referral fees by agents.  The issue has become a hot topic in...

The mandatory qualifications expected of agents have not been forgotten and will come into effect in two or three years. That’s the...

A progress report on the Regulation of Property Agents recommendations will be made today by a key RoPA committee member, Mark...

Customers must be told about third party referral fees when buying or selling a home says the National Trading Standards Estate...

The cross-sector group looking at reforming the sales process has agreed a new pledge which it says introduces greater transparency for...

It’s no surprise the mainstream news remains dominated by coronavirus - not so much the actual effect of it right now,...

It’s fair to say that UK estate agents don’t have the best of reputations, often featuring in the lists of the...

An agency that has now closed down has been expelled by The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay an award of...

A PropTech firm that regularly claims London homes are mis-measured in property descriptions has taken a swipe at Purplebricks. Pupil, a spatial...

Earlier this month, it was revealed that property industry bodies have joined a new Code of Practice Steering Group to enact...

The new code of conduct for estate agents has been dismissed as “a waste of time” - and the senior industry...

They are the names we hear about often, pushing for this or seeking clarifications on that. They are the representatives of...

A new estate agency Code of Practice is to be written by a group set up by the Royal Institution of Chartered...

The recommendations to regulate and train the estate agency industry put forward a year ago remain on the Housing Secretary’s desk...

Over the last few years, there have been a number of high-profile court cases in which renters took action against letting...

The industry should continue to prepare for large-scale reforms such as mandatory agency training, the licensing of agents and a new...

There’s been a substantial 20 per cent rise in formal complaints about agents taken up by The Property Ombudsman.  The figures refer...

The Property Ombudsman has announced the expulsion of eight agencies, all for contravening TPO codes of practice. Most of the expulsions were...

The Property Ombudsman is advising agents to use virtual viewings only as a filtering process with offers being agreed only ‘subject...

The Property Ombudsman’s office is still receiving 40 to 50 calls a day from the public, even though most transactions with...

If it’s really the case that estate agents’ offices could be in the category of High Street premises first allowed to...

To many less fortunate on the follicle front, high profile industry supplier Ed Mead has enjoyed an infuriatingly good head of...

Sellers are being warned to make strict checks before responding to advertisements apparently from prospective buyers.  The National Association of Property Buyers...

The Property Ombudsman has announced that it will postpone its annual conference, which was to have been on June 18, until...

There is no doubt that the BBC News article in early February caused something of a stir within the Deposit Free...

Training operator The Able Agent is to include a module on the Modern Method of Auction in its future programme.  Charlotte Jeffry-Campbell,...

The author of dramatic reform proposals for estate agents has given a clear message to ministers - Get On With It!  Lord...

Agents are consistently being told that they need to get on board with change. And one could quite easily make the...

The National Association of Estate Agents has launched its Sales Protocol Toolkit, in a bid to reduce fall-throughs and dramatically improve...

Agents now have only seven days to complete a referral fees survey, announced late on Friday by Trading Standards and The...

The National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team and The Property Ombudsman have launched an urgent survey to assess awareness...

It is possible that agents and their business partners in the conveyancing, mortgage and survey industries could be obliged to have...

Some older estate agents may end up retiring when mandatory examinations and qualifications are introduced as there will be no ‘free...

The annual conference of the National Association of Estate Agents takes place on February 27 - the date when the future...

The Property Ombudsman role is being advertised. The current Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle, is giving up the role in November after five years in...

The Council of Property Search Organisations has named three industry figures as members of its newly-formed compliance committee, set to regulate...

Mark Bentley, the immediate past president of the National Association of Estate Agents, has become the highest profile agent yet to...

The Property Ombudsman scheme is increasing its fees in January for the first time in six years - and it’s implementing...

First details have emerged of the information vendors may have to provide up-front In future transactions if government house buying reforms...

Three key industry organisations have endorsed a best practice guide for the controversial Modern Method of Auction. The iamsold guide is aimed at...

A company operating the controversial Modern Method of Auction says it is trying to improve the sector’s image after a series...

iamproperty, parent company of IAMsold, says it now works with 2,500 estate agency branches nationwide and has sold over 16,500 properties...

Estate and letting agents are being urged to check that they are signed up with an approved redress scheme that covers...

Improved communication and increased transparency throughout the buying process can manage vendors’ expectations, improve satisfaction scores and create long-term clients. That’s the...

Some of the most radical reforms ever proposed for estate and letting agents are expected to be signed off today by...

The Property Ombudsman will in future refer more estate agents to the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team if...

A new industry regulator is likely to be in place within two years according to the chair of the government’s Regulation...