EYE understands that the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee will this week tell the government that the time has come to properly regulate the estate agency sector.
The Lords committee has now completed its inquiry into the regulation of property agents, and its chair, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, is expected to write to the housing secretary Michael Gove with the committee’s findings and recommendations later this week.
After hearing evidence from campaigners for leaseholders and tenants, professional bodies representing property agents, The Property Ombudsman, the Leasehold Advisory Service and National Trading Standards, it is our understanding that the committee is likely to urge the government to get on with establishing a regulator of property agents and warn that their delay is impacting tenants, leaseholders and others, who continue to be exposed to malpractice.
The committee was set-up to explore whether a new regulator should be created, as suggested by the report of the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) working group in 2019.
Scotland and Wales already have legislation regulating letting agents.
In a January 2023 report, the Chartered Institute of Housing reported in a survey that they conducted that 87% of letting agents who had completed a qualification said it benefitted their professional capabilities. Some 84% of letting agents surveyed said qualifications had benefitted the sector overall.
RoPA’s report recommends that:
+ All agencies operating a residential property business should be licensed and licensing should include a fit and proper person test for company directors
+ All staff delivering ‘reserved activities’ employed within residential agency business should be licensed and adhere to a Code of Practice
+ All staff delivering ‘reserved activities’ employed within residential agency business should hold a qualification at Level 3 or above
+ All company directors and management agents should hold a qualification at Level 4 or above
+ A new regulator be appointed to oversee compliance with an overarching Code of Practice
You can read the report here.
