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,...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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,...

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...

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

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...

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

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

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

The industry press has given substantial space to recommendations from the Regulation of Property Agents, the government’s working party which has...

The government has published proposals for far-reaching changes to the way estate and letting agents are regulated, trained and licensed. The proposals...

It may well seem that the government is pre-occupied with one issue, and one issue alone. While preparations for Brexit take up a...

The head of the Property Redress Scheme is urging agents to prepare for yet more regulation and legislation changes likely to...

It’s clear that some agents are not fans of Trading Standards officers, described in the comments sections of the trade press...

The jury appears to be out on whether the new enforcement body for estate and lettings agents will be resourced sufficiently...

A new team has been set up to police all estate and letting agency legislation including the upcoming tenants' fees ban. The...

It’s time, surely, for government to crackdown not just on rogue agents and landlords but on rogue councils that confuse the...

The dust may have settled on the government’s recent announcement regarding housing and property complaints, but opinion is still split on...

When it comes to letting a property, it is important that landlords and renters have faith in their agent. The more...

  The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents have thrown their weight behind the government’s latest...

The government has this morning set out wide-ranging changes to redress systems for agents, the sales and lettings sectors, and other...

The government says it will be releasing details of its ideas to revamp redress systems concerning agents and new homes “in...

The Property Redress Scheme says it’s recruited another 1,750 members following the shake-out last week when one of its rival redress...

The redress scheme which formally quit the housing sector admits some estate agencies may have missed its deadline - and are thus...

The government has revised its guidance to agents over redress schemes - amending it to take account of the fact that...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has this morning issued a warning to agents that they must be signed up to...

One of three schemes with government backing to offer redress for complaints about estate and letting agents has reignited the debate...

Estate Agent Today is 10 years old this weekend. We hope you’ll agree that’s a cause for celebration and a great...

National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team and two of the three industry redress organisations have launched a survey to measure the...

We have the presidential seal of approval for our Agents Do Charity this week - well, sort of, but we don’t mean...

The battle to become the single ombudsman service after the government rationalises the redress system across housing has taken an unexpected...

The Property Redress Scheme - one of the three government-approved redress schemes handling complaints about sales and lettings agents - has...

The Property Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle, is to hold a briefing on the government’s redress reform on Wednesday - five days before...

Have you noticed a new turf war going on on the fringes of the agency world? It’s not a high-profile battle like...

Ombudsman Services, which recently announced it was quitting its role as one of three approved redress schemes for estate and lettings...

This week I carry out a question and answer session with one of the most high-profile names in property. Isobel Thomson has...

A new year means new predictions for what’s to come in the letting industry. Sometimes things come to fruition as expected....

One of the three government-approved redress schemes for estate and letting agents says it’s quitting the sector this year - but...

The government says it is going to look at “bold options” to improve consumer redress across all aspects of housing -...

Four weeks today almost the entire industry will be finishing work for Christmas after another year - and ready to start...

A large part of the DCLG’s Call for Evidence on the home buying and selling process focuses on the role of...

Without wishing to blow our own trumpet at this time, we did say at the start of the year that 2017...

It’s hot outside but that’s no deterrent to agents helping others, even at the height of summer. Before we honour this week’s...

The political ebb and flow continues - seemingly with all the subtlety of a Boris Johnson rugby tackle on a 10-year...

A cluster of conveyancing and legal experts, known as the Legal Sector Group, has published a raft of proposals on leasehold...

The industry’s three government-approved redress schemes have this week issued an updated version of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU is...

The recent rise in consumer complaints against sales and letting agents suggests that there is a general lack of trust and...

The Advertising Standards Authority has given the green light to an circular which provoked complaints suggesting it deliberately did not appear...

The Conveyancing Association wants the creation of a ‘log book’ and ‘Home Reports’ for each home on sale - reminiscent in...

HMRC and the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team have agreed new procedures to “enhance and ease the current flow of...

The story of the week has been the first steps of a trade body to represent independent estate agents - as...

New software has been devised which can allow users to identify individual properties that have been ‘portal juggled’ - de-listed and...

When a tenant paid his initial one month’s rent in addition to a tenancy deposit in exchange for the keys to...

The Property Ombudsman scheme (TPO) has announced that it will be issuing updated versions of all its Codes of Practice on...