Archive

Industry bodies are seeking agent views on material information rules. Propertymark, together with TDS, The Guild of Property Professionals, Property Redress Scheme,...

Enforcement of material information rules is being done through redress schemes rather than putting a strict deadline on compliance, James Munro,...

Amid the frenetic news agenda of recent weeks, a story broke that may have easily passed you by. It revealed how tenant...

A landmark ruling on the affect of Japanese knotweed on property values has been overturned, which could have implications for home...

Sky News is reporting that up to 30 Conservative MPs are threatening to rebel against the government’s approach to ground rents...

A coalition of organisations representing consumers, financial institutions and energy suppliers has written to the Department for Energy Security and Net...

Material information requirements should be seen by agents as a positive change, a Trading Standards investigator has claimed. Speaking to The Guild...

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...

Agents faced more complaints and paid out higher levels of redress last year, industry data shows. Annual figures from the Property Redress...

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

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...

Propertymark has given its backing to commitments from the Housing Minister on the long-awaited next steps of leasehold reform. Timothy Douglas, head...

Despite the announcements, the publicity, the guidance and the acres of website information, the most common complaint surrounding house sales is...

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...

The proposals to shake the Private Rental Sector (PRS) to its foundations will, depending upon your political persuasion and housing status,...

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

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

Zoopla has become the latest accredited supplier of the New Homes Quality Board (NHQB) for its software that supports housebuilders. It come...

The Guild of Property Professionals has issued a reminder to agents about the importance of their websites remaining compliant. The property network...

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) has formed a new member panel that will be chaired by senior industry figure Eric Walker. The...

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

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) has named the members of its new advisory panel. It will replace the PRS Advisory Council and...

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

A new Code of Practice for builders and an independent Ombudsman for consumers in the new-build sector went live this week. Customers...

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) is putting together an advisory panel to improve governance, accountability and sector representation when formulating policies. It...

Long-term 50-year mortgages that can be passed on by parents to their children appear to be the latest idea from the...

It’s often fashionable to criticise trade bodies and official groups, but right now I think that’s absolutely inappropriate. In well over 20...

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

Agents remain positive about the prospects for their business and the property market despite talk of slowing house price growth and...

The property industry is fortunate in including many great people, doing great work across a range of businesses – from traditional agency...

The number of complaints about estate and letting agents increased last year but fewer gripes were upheld. Data based on members of...

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

There’s still one part of the UK where agents enjoy almost unfettered freedom without legislation or redress - and this has...

A leading property lawyer says some agents will struggle to meet the demand for more ‘material information’ put forward by Trading...

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

Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, analyses the impact that the lack of available data is having on...

For an unregulated industry, agents have an awful lot of regulations to deal with. For example, there’s the mandatory membership of a...

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

Will he stay or will he go? You don’t need me to say who ‘he’ is - it’s the only story...

In this guest feature, James Dilgul, Head of Marketing at Fixflo, the market-leading repairs and maintenance management software provider, looks at how...

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas – just a week to go now. Presents all wrapped and...

One part of the UK is to get a taste of the mandatory estate agent regulation that many want to see...

The Dispute Service has been selected to operate the New Homes Ombudsman scheme, following what has been called ”a fiercely competitive...

Pressure appears to be building for the recommendations of the Regulation of Property Agents working party finally to be implemented. It’s now...

Former Housing Secretary James Brokenshire has died at the age of 53. The Conservative ex-Cabinet minister, who was diagnosed with lung cancer...

Almost a million tenants have built up rent arrears since March 2020, according to research by National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA)....

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

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

The platform behind a controversial proposal to charge prospective buyers and renters £30 or more to view a property on the...

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

A consultation into the draft New Homes Quality Code has been published with a consultation period for the industry ending on...

A gradual increase in the supply of homes coming to the market means the stellar price rises of recent months are...

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

A prominent estate agent has warned buyers and sellers about the perils of the controversial Modern Method of Auction. MMA is now...

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

A high-profile London agency is asking the police and property industry bodies including Trading Standards to investigate a fake company posing under...

It’s now more than a year since the government offered an additional £4 million to councils to combat rogue landlords. At the...

A new body which says it will “champion better outcomes for buyers” is described as independent but is to be chaired...

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

Propertymark has told the government that it needs to introduce overarching regulation of agents now, because existing piecemeal provisions are unmanageable...

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...

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

Firstly, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Lockdown 2, as it’s being known, is now with us, but fortunately...

“I’ve got 47 years of experience as an agent. Do I still have to get a qualification?” asked one attendee at...

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...

The National Association of Estate Agents has thrown its weight behind the recommendation of Trading Standards that agents must by law be...

We all know what the problem is, but what’s the solution? The problem is that landlords, thinking they offer a valuable service...

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,...

Agents have long been the victim of a poor public reputation, from scoring highly in most disliked profession polls to being...

There’s been a very large rise in the number of complaints submitted by consumers to the Property Redress Scheme. This is partly...

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...

It may be that by the time you read this it’s all over for Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for...

The only story that has come remotely close to pushing coronavirus – and its various knock-on effects – off the top...

The new Property Ombudsman taking over from October is Rebecca Marsh. She is currently Chief Ombudsman at the Legal Ombudsman and was...

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

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

Future complaints about property raffles by individual home owners seeking to avoid estate agency fees will in future be handled by...

The government has - once again - announced the introduction of a New Homes Ombudsman.  The news came yesterday when Housing Secretary...

The landscape of the estate agency market in the UK is evolving to reflect changes in the way we live our...

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

A leasehold reform campaigner claims estate agents face “growing calls to be held accountable for mis-selling leasehold properties.” Louie Burns, managing director...

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

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

It’s been clear for a while that the additional regulation landlords and agents are facing has helped professionalise the private rental...

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

The National Association of Estate Agents has told the government that it wants one single Ombudsman to provide redress across all...

Countrywide has thrown its weight behind the proposals for a new single industry-wide regulator taking on the roles of Trading Standards...