Archive

The issue of agency qualifications has finally been mentioned in the Houses of Parliament, almost three years since the landmark Regulation...

Agents are being urged not to fear exams when it comes to new industry qualifications for the sector. The industry is still awaiting...

An industry veteran who helped train Purplebricks agents has partnered with easyProperty to foster its franchisee talent. The online hybrid agent is...

Elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are due to be held on 5 May and agents are hoping that housing remains...

The property industry is fortunate in including many great people, doing great work across a range of businesses – from traditional agency...

A former agency apprentice has worked her way up to a qualified accounts technician in under a decade. Carrie Howcroft joined Preston...

The government has insisted it is still committed to introducing agency qualifications and minimum standards in the sector. It is almost three...

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 weekend feature, inventory expert and chair of the AIIC, Daniel Evans, sets out what a really good inventory should...

Will he stay or will he go? You don’t need me to say who ‘he’ is - it’s the only story...

Propertymark conducts spot checks on agents to ensure they are compliant - but perhaps gives too little publicity to its role. The...

One part of the UK is to get a taste of the mandatory estate agent regulation that many want to see...

We all know what did happen in 2021 - Covid and more Covid, the stamp duty holiday frenzy, a soaring rental...

The Propertymark Qualifications Awards annual ceremony taking place early next month have revealed their shortlist. There is a total of nine Awards...

Agent wages have been in the news this week, with boastful claims from a number of self-employed businesses about the sums...

Drone technology has come on a long way in recent years, with different use cases across various industries. New developments in...

The Guild of Property Professionals’ formal qualifications platform is set for launch this month. Agents will be able to access the platform...

Since the announcement of the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA), an increasing amount of Principle, Partners and Directors (PPD) from the...

There are some parts of the world, including in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, where estate agent isn’t seen as...

Admin teams in most businesses are often the lynchpins that ensure compliance and deal with issues in order to keep the...

Propertymark Qualifications is reporting a surge in exams being taken and booked as restrictions ease allowing test centres to reopen. Since they...

Hello and welcome to a sunny Friday and this week’s round-up of the industry’s good works. We’re keen to feature agents and...

Our recent state of the property nation survey, which yielded nearly 350 responses from directors to junior negotiators, and many others...

The Guild of Property Professionals says it’s had a strong response to the launch of its Ofqual-accredited Level Three Agency Qualification. It...

The Guild of Property Professionals is to offer a formal agency qualification as it goes increasingly on the offensive in a...

Propertymark has set out a four point strategy for the future of the organisation. The body - which encompasses the National Association...

In this week’s In Conversation Today, I speak with Anthony Payne, Managing Director and co-founder of LonRes, a data and network...

Propertymark’s qualifications division says it’s seen a 30 per cent rise in apprenticeship registrations since the start of this year. In a...

Propertymark, the overarching body aiming to bring five different associations (ARLA, NAEA, NAVA, ICBA and APIP) into a single brand, was...

The Sunday Times has made new and detailed allegations regarding the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. For some weeks the newspaper has...

As we approach the end of the year, there is no doubt that it has been a turbulent 12 months for...

Propertymark has told the government that it needs to introduce overarching regulation of agents now, because existing piecemeal provisions are unmanageable...

A London estate agency chief executive says agents "have become good at pretending that they are qualified and regulated when the...

The industry regulator who comes into force when the Regulation of Property Agents’ recommendations are adopted may take over versions of...

The agency industry’s new leaders for the coming year have expressed strong support for reform recommendations promoted by the Regulation of...

The advertising watchdog has told the agency industry to clean up its act on four issues, with clarity over fees being...

“I’ve got 47 years of experience as an agent. Do I still have to get a qualification?” asked one attendee at...

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

A progress report on the Regulation of Property Agents recommendations will be made today by a key RoPA committee member, Mark...

Lawyers, politicians, bankers, insurance sellers – no matter where you go, there are some professions that are just always going to...

Propertymark, which will from later this year combine both the National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Letting...

From December, the new RICS Home Survey Standard will become mandatory for all RICS professionals undertaking home surveys. The below article explains...

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of PJT, the industry’s summary of new movers. Of course many agencies are reassessing their...

Agents have long been the victim of a poor public reputation, from scoring highly in most disliked profession polls to being...

Can technology bring about the lasting change needed to the property industry? The industry has felt the effect of lockdown and...

If a week is a long time in politics (an old phrase, for younger readers), then a year is a very long...

Earlier this month, it was revealed that property industry bodies have joined a new Code of Practice Steering Group to enact...

They are the names we hear about often, pushing for this or seeking clarifications on that. They are the representatives of...

A new estate agency Code of Practice is to be written by a group set up by the Royal Institution of Chartered...

The recommendations to regulate and train the estate agency industry put forward a year ago remain on the Housing Secretary’s desk...

It may be that by the time you read this it’s all over for Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for...

The Competition and Markets Authority - which yesterday announced it had disqualified two estate agency directors for their parts in a...

The industry should continue to prepare for large-scale reforms such as mandatory agency training, the licensing of agents and a new...

The announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer that he was extending the furlough scheme until the end of October appears...

The Competitions and Markets Authority has started court proceedings seeking the disqualification of two estate agency directors over a price fixing...

The author of dramatic reform proposals for estate agents has given a clear message to ministers - Get On With It!  Lord...

As residential sales and lettings professionals we are conditioned to adapt to change, it’s the nature of the profession. However, developments...

The new housing minister is Christopher Pincher, who for the past decade has been Conservative MP for Tamworth having had a...

Esther McVey has been sacked as housing minister; she was the ninth housing minister in as many years. Her successor is the...

Unsourced stories in a number of newspapers over the weekend - all likely to have come from government off-the-record briefings -...

The chair of the working group introducing mandatory examinations and qualifications for estate and letting agents says senior politicians will meet...

Hello and welcome to the last day of January, Brexit Day and - perhaps most importantly - the latest edition of...

Some older estate agents may end up retiring when mandatory examinations and qualifications are introduced as there will be no ‘free...

I don’t want this to be a long piece. I want this to be short and sharp. I want it to...

In just over two weeks, the UK population will head to the polls for the fourth general election since 2010. Of course,...

The head of the UK’s longest-established agency recruitment consultancy says experience and qualifications are not key when looking for new staff. Property...

Being a market leader means staying on top of industry trends. The more aware you are of what's happening in the...

The boss of a 15+ branch estate agency group has explained how he thinks regulation could 'ruin' the estate agency industry. Simon...

In recent years, governments and local councils have sought to change the private rented sector (PRS) to make it more appealing...

Earlier this year, the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) working group announced the initial details of plans for mandatory qualifications and...

If you thought - perhaps hoped - that five weeks of prorogued Parliament meant a break from politics, think again: the...

New compulsory qualifications for estate agents will not only offer more transparency for customers but will help recruit better staff into...

Hello and welcome to PJT, breaking you in to the working week every Monday with news of the movers and shakers...

Countrywide has thrown its weight behind the proposals for a new single industry-wide regulator taking on the roles of Trading Standards...

The Advertising Standards Authority has issued a guidance note warning online estate agents, after complaints about them have “grown dramatically”. “Property is big...

A leading figure in the PropTech sector says clarity and speed are vital to ensure agencies can adequately prepare for a...

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

Trade bodies and property firms have strongly welcomed the recommendations for root and branch reform of the agency industry - and...

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

Trade organisations including the National Association of Estate Agents have welcomed today’s publication of the report of the Regulation of Property...

Some of the most radical reforms ever proposed for estate and letting agents are expected to be signed off today by...

A new industry regulator is likely to be in place within two years according to the chair of the government’s Regulation...

Nomination for the Propertymark Qualifications Awards 2019 are now open - and they present a chance to celebrate colleagues or employers...

High Street estate agents should re-define themselves in today’s competitive market by becoming Residential Property Experts offering a wide range of...

Proceedings against an estate agent at the centre of a fees cartel case have been dropped following his agreement not to stand as...

No, this isn’t about Brexit. But as the saga of leaving the EU is likely to bring about the downfall of...

Agents boasting qualifications could generate higher fees and more clients, especially if they are ‘ahead of the game’ and improve their...

The founder of the Hunters franchise agency group, Kevin Hollinrake - now a Conservative MP - is the latest parliamentarian to...

The end of 2018 was a bit of a rocky time for online estate agents. Yet only a few years ago...

A couple of weeks ago, SoftBank’s Vision Fund led a whopping $200 million investment injection into Clutter, the US-based on-demand storage...

The Competition and Markets Authority has this afternoon taken the latest step in the lengthy case of an estate agency cartel. This revolves...

The Guild of Property Professionals is seeking views from member agents on the government’s reform agenda.  The Regulation of Property Agents working...

Kit Malthouse has been making headlines this week, but – in keeping with his tenure as Housing Minister so far -...

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

Alongside hundreds of agents and suppliers, I recently attended the Guild of Property Professionals’ annual conference. As ever, it was a great...

The title may be unfamiliar but most agents know by now that in the corridors of Whitehall a working party exists...

A new junior estate agent apprenticeship standard has been launched with skills being offered for residential, commercial and auction sectors. Created by...

The government has unveiled a new body which, it claims, will raise agency standards. There is a long-standing commitment from the government...

Some conveyancers must publish some price and service information on their websites and in other media from December 6, according to...

Hello and welcome to this week’s Property Jobs Today, the latest weekly catch-up with moves within and across our industry. A quick...

It’s holiday time: schools have broken up, quite a few estate agents are taking time off, and the MPs are in...

You will notice that there is a new author for this regular column for Estate Agent Today. Last month I was...

As the process of making buying and selling more transparent continues to gather pace, the body that regulates conveyancers says it...

Estate Agent Today understands several major national agencies and some smaller operators are involved in a project to understand why transaction...

The estate agency sector “is experiencing the worst staff shortages in a generation at a point when the property market is...

Estate agent licensing will reduce competition, make buying and selling homes more expensive, and add another layer of red tape to...

As the estate agency business in England moves towards being more robust with professional qualifications and higher standards being introduced, there...

A central London buying agent says she was once offered a bribe by an estate agent to try to persuade a...

‘Respect’ is the new mantra for politicians: whether it’s about street gang leaders, social media trolls or those on either side...

Purplebricks has issued a provocative response to the government’s new measures to promote a more professional and transparent house buying process.  The...

The number of house sales falling through pre-completion during the first quarter of 2018 reached its highest level for this time...

Coming into force on May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - which replaces the Data Protection Act 1998 -...

Agents and representatives from other property sectors have reacted enthusiastically to proposals to professionalise the industry. As we reported yesterday, the government...

The government has announced further measures which will, in its words, “professionalise” house buying and the estate agency business. In yet another Sunday...

For part two of the 'Day in the life of' series, I spoke to Peter Kavanagh, who first joined Romans in...

Welcome once again to Property Jobs Today, the notice-board for agents, suppliers and other property professionals moving within, out or in...

The consumer affairs correspondent of The Times has savaged High Street estate agents because of the commission they charge when compared...

A campaigning estate agency has taken the distinctly unusual route of exposing what it calls the ‘Top Ten Dirty Tricks’ which...

Our recent roundtable on the government’s proposed ban on tenant fees generated 10 tips for growing your business. Since then, we’ve been...

The founder of the trade group seeking to represent independent agencies says he hopes the National Association of Estate Agents considers...

An estate agent will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to 76 fraud offences.   The Get Surrey website reports that Ayodele...

I recently came across a consumer comment expressing frustration at the length and complexity of UK conveyancing and raising the question...

Hunters has developed a formally recognised estate agency qualification for its own network of branches.  The qualification - which Hunters claims is...

For young people the length and breadth of the UK, Thursday of this week meant that the waiting was over and...

Barely a week goes by without news of the latest disastrous AirBnB experience suffered by an unsuspecting landlord.   Whether it’s damage...

The never-knowingly-underquoted online agency eMoov has renewed its attack on traditional estate agents’ fees, claiming they are as much as £922...

Online estate agency eMoov has changed the wording on its website after a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority. The words under...

The NFoPP Awarding Body will hold its annual awards ceremony this May to recognise outstanding achievements in property qualifications completed during...

Over the past six months I’ve noticed a number of key themes emerge from the conversations I’ve had with agents –...

A major independent agency is launching a training academy for current and future employees.    The Dacres Academy, will provide all eligible employees...

IT’S often said that the secret of a happy and thriving business is one in which every single employee is the...

Countrywide, the UK’s largest agency group, is teaming up with the National Association of Estate Agents in what both sides call...

I recently visited Life Residential at their bright and modern West London headquarters. I carried out a quick interview with Joint Managing...

The National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP) has announced the winners of outstanding achievement in property qualifications last year.  Fifteen winners were...