A lack of barriers to entry for estate agents is attracting poor performing and unscrupulous people to the sector, professionals have warned.
The comments came in the latest Agents MVMT Pass The Syrup podcast, which addressed the question of if and why estate agency attracts cowboys.
Megan Eighteen, of Location Location, said the issue is that anybody can be an estate agent whether they should be or not.
She said: “We are passionate about barriers as it will make our industry more professional and regulated.
“We have to show we are a respected industry, nothing will stop bad people but it will hopefully set the bar a little higher than where we are.”
Fellow guest Steph Walker of The Agency UK highlighted that agents in the US have to pass certain qualifications but still break the rules, while Angharad Trueman of Andrews added that often agents aren’t necessarily dodgy but just don’t know what they are meant to be doing due to a lack of minimum qualifications.
Watch the full podcast episode below
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A good place to start would be if employers hire the right people in the first place. There's no excuse. Maybe it's the bosses who need the training.
The real estate agency industry, much like any other unregulated sector, isn't in dire need of additional regulation. Estate agents are already subject to the Estate Agents Act, and they must register with a property ombudsman. So, one might question why there's a call for further regulation. Should we extend this regulation to car dealerships as well, given that some of them engage in unethical practices? In contrast to the United States, where agents handle contracts and financial transactions, estate agents in the UK primarily focus on selling a client's property (a product), and they do not hold money on behalf of clients.
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