Stella Creasy is a name that has cropped up in a number of our articles in recent weeks and months. The Labour MP for Walthamstow would appear to be waging a one-woman war against bad practice in the estate and letting agent industry.
She has frequently advocated and now implemented an awards-based system for the best and worst agencies in the local sales and lettings sectors, with categories including The Best Letting Agent, Worst Letting Agent, Kindest Gesture From A Letting Agent, Best Estate Agent, Worst Estate Agent and a special MP Award for Outrageous Behaviour.
Whilst this might sound like a good idea in principle - the argument being that if an agent is doing a good job they have nothing to worry about - this sort of Tripadvisor for the property industry could also do more harm than good.
We're no experts when it comes to the inner workings of SurveyMonkey, but surely it could allow tenants with a grudge to nominate their landlords (with no right to reply for the landlords) And, dare we say it, provide the opportunity for certain unscrupulous agents - if they had the time and inclination - to nominate their competitors in an effort to tarnish their reputation.
As well as this, some of the categories seem designed to play up to the negative portrayal of estate agents that is often seen in the media. For example, references to Most Inventive Excuse' and Outrageous Behaviour' might be intended as a light-hearted dig, but it also helps to paint agents as untrustworthy, unreliable and always looking to make excuses. It presumes that they are making excuses and behaving outrageously in the first instance, when the polar opposite could well be true.
And while we would echo the sentiment that is often put forward in the EAT and LAT forums and by the various industry bodies that regulation is the way forward and bad practice should be stamped out, is this really the right way to go about it
It's becoming apparent that Creasy is on a crusade against agent and landlords. However, she was recently defeated in the House of Lords in a bid to ban sale by tender' transactions, also known as double charging'. Why are the majority of MPs not backing her Interestingly, Housing Minister Brandon Lewis is a private landlord and he voted against the amendments to the Consumer Right Bill. Are MPs such as Lewis merely looking after their own self-interest, or is Creasy guilty of campaigning for campaigning's sake
A number of agencies have come out in support of Creasy in her double charging campaign (two of which, Stow Brothers and Spencers seem to crop up in the nominations for Creasy's best agent awards rather frequently). This suggests that it may yet have some impact but it's the impending awards that are the real issue. A fine example of hypocrisy coming from a group of people who don't regularly cover themselves in glory: the expenses scandal, need we say anymore
Creasy talks about money unfairly being taken from the public, well, she only needs to look around her in the House of Commons to come across people who have done just that and on a much larger scale. It's easy to see why many are accusing her tirade against double charging as a severe case of double standards.
Of course, if we raised this point to Miss Creasy, we're sure she would defend her profession by saying that not all politicians abuse their expenses'. But that is exactly the point we're making with agents and landlords - they are not all the same and sweeping generalisations are therefore both lazy and unhelpful.
As many commenters have also pointed out, Creasy can't have it in both ways. If estate and letting agents are subject to these awards and extra scrutiny, then shouldn't the same happen for MPs Perhaps awards for the MP most likely to avoid a question' or the MP most likely to have a second home'. We think the public would have a field day with such awards.
Lastly, do the awards have any merit other than being a cheap, vote-winning gimmick in the run up to a general election What agent is going to advertise that they won the Stella Creasy award for best estate agent in Walthamstow If nobody wants to win the awards, what's the point of them
The awards will be presented in January 2015 but it seems unlikely that any of Walthamstow's estate and letting agents will be waiting to hear the outcome with bated breath.
*That's it for this week; enjoy the latest edition of Industry Views. For any enquiries, please get in touch on: press@estateagenttoday.co.uk.
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