The OFT (Office of Fair Trading) finally closed its doors on 31st March after around 40 years dealing with fair trading issues. The organisation did see many changes throughout the 40 years, but one thing remained constant from start to finish - its focus on estate agency.
I should perhaps say here that there were a few positives over the years, but they were few and far between. One of the specific business sectors the OFT looked at back in 1975 was estate agency and that work helped forge the Estate Agents Act in 1979.
One of the very last things they did in 2012 was to publish the infamous 66 page CPR Guidance for Property Professionals. Apart from being criticised by many publicly and privately, even a casual look at this guidance will confirm that it is focused 99% on estate agents, with no real mention of any other property professionals.
This was followed by the even more infamous 105 page consultation guidance for letting agents published in 2013. The OFT told us that the final guidance would be published in March 2014 before their doors closed, but that didn't and never was going to happen.
Has this guidance subsequently died Well, all the functions of the OFT have been scattered to the four winds. This guidance is now in the hands of the Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA). They appear to want to re-write the guidance (surprise, surprise), but only time will tell whether that will be good thing or not.
Many sales and lettings agents have consumer credit licences. Some need them but many do not. If you had ever rung the OFT for help in deciding whether to renew your licence, you will know there was a policy of not providing a single word of advice on whether the licence was legally required or not. The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has taken over consumer credit licensing and my feedback from agents so far confirms that they are taking exactly the same stance over provision of advice.
The OFT did approve Codes of Practice such as the TPOS code, but this is now being done by the Trading Standards Institute. Other than a rubber stamp of the old OFT approved code, we haven't really seen the results of any of their work at this early stage, so it is difficult to comment. Watch this space however, as they are looking closely at the TPOS Lettings Code.
Anti-Money Laundering is now probably the most concerning aspect of estate agency compliance because this function has passed to HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs) - need I say more Perhaps I should say that I doubt HMRC will be able to follow the OFT lead and continue to take in the hundreds of thousands of pounds of annual registration fees and do hardly anything for it. I think inspections of some kind are inevitable.
On a more positive note, Powys County Council Trading Standards Department have taken on the OFT enforcement function under the Estate Agents Act. A rather surprising decision, but given that Trading Standards do work far closer to the coal face than others organisations, it could well be positive move. They will look at taking action against agents who persistently breach obligations under that Act. James Munro, who heads up the team, was very clear about his intention to use their powers to support reputable businesses and force rogue elements out of the estate agency sector.
Instinct tells me that so many different bodies taking on these responsibilities is not a good situation for agents, but only time will tell.
*This article was written by David Beaumont from Compliance Matters, who provide training and assistance on all matters relating to estate and letting agency compliance.
.jpg)
Comments