Archive

From 4 May 2021, your agency could be blocked from charging late fees, compounding interest on missing rent and taking any...

A prominent estate agent has warned buyers and sellers about the perils of the controversial Modern Method of Auction. MMA is now...

Being a letting agent today means keeping up to date with the long list of rules and regulations governing how a...

A high-profile London agency is asking the police and property industry bodies including Trading Standards to investigate a fake company posing under...

It’s now more than a year since the government offered an additional £4 million to councils to combat rogue landlords. At the...

A new body which says it will “champion better outcomes for buyers” is described as independent but is to be chaired...

Countrywide and Foxtons have thrown their weight behind an idea to identify every single UK residential property with a unique number. The...

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

Start-up letting agents looking to enter the market are finding it increasingly difficult to set up in business as banks point...

The Property Ombudsman says there have been more complaints lodged about agents so far in 2020 than in 2019. This is despite...

The Property Ombudsman has joined calls for greater disclosure of referral fees by agents.  The issue has become a hot topic in...

Firstly, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Lockdown 2, as it’s being known, is now with us, but fortunately...

“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...

The National Association of Estate Agents has thrown its weight behind the recommendation of Trading Standards that agents must by law be...

We all know what the problem is, but what’s the solution? The problem is that landlords, thinking they offer a valuable service...

Customers must be told about third party referral fees when buying or selling a home says the National Trading Standards Estate...

The cross-sector group looking at reforming the sales process has agreed a new pledge which it says introduces greater transparency for...

It’s no surprise the mainstream news remains dominated by coronavirus - not so much the actual effect of it right now,...

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

There’s been a very large rise in the number of complaints submitted by consumers to the Property Redress Scheme. This is partly...

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

The new code of conduct for estate agents has been dismissed as “a waste of time” - and the senior industry...

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 only story that has come remotely close to pushing coronavirus – and its various knock-on effects – off the top...

The new Property Ombudsman taking over from October is Rebecca Marsh. She is currently Chief Ombudsman at the Legal Ombudsman and was...

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

There’s been a substantial 20 per cent rise in formal complaints about agents taken up by The Property Ombudsman.  The figures refer...

The Property Ombudsman’s office is still receiving 40 to 50 calls a day from the public, even though most transactions with...

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

Future complaints about property raffles by individual home owners seeking to avoid estate agency fees will in future be handled by...

The government has - once again - announced the introduction of a New Homes Ombudsman.  The news came yesterday when Housing Secretary...

The landscape of the estate agency market in the UK is evolving to reflect changes in the way we live our...

It is possible that agents and their business partners in the conveyancing, mortgage and survey industries could be obliged to have...

A leasehold reform campaigner claims estate agents face “growing calls to be held accountable for mis-selling leasehold properties.” Louie Burns, managing director...

The annual conference of the National Association of Estate Agents takes place on February 27 - the date when the future...

The Council of Property Search Organisations has named three industry figures as members of its newly-formed compliance committee, set to regulate...

It’s been clear for a while that the additional regulation landlords and agents are facing has helped professionalise the private rental...

The Property Ombudsman scheme is increasing its fees in January for the first time in six years - and it’s implementing...

The National Association of Estate Agents has told the government that it wants one single Ombudsman to provide redress across all...

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

Estate and letting agents are being urged to check that they are signed up with an approved redress scheme that covers...

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...

It may well seem that the government is pre-occupied with one issue, and one issue alone. While preparations for Brexit take up a...

The head of the Property Redress Scheme is urging agents to prepare for yet more regulation and legislation changes likely to...

The trade body representing so-called quick sale companies is marking five years in business with two feathers in its cap. Firstly the...

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has released its annual report for 2018, showing a 16% rise in the number of complaints made...

It’s clear that some agents are not fans of Trading Standards officers, described in the comments sections of the trade press...

The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS) keeps deposit money safe for letting agents, landlords and renters during the course a tenancy....

The jury appears to be out on whether the new enforcement body for estate and lettings agents will be resourced sufficiently...

A new team has been set up to police all estate and letting agency legislation including the upcoming tenants' fees ban. The...

The government has revealed that it’s to ‘test’ the workings of the New Homes Ombudsman before the scheme formally launches. Housing Secretary...

It’s time, surely, for government to crackdown not just on rogue agents and landlords but on rogue councils that confuse the...

The dust may have settled on the government’s recent announcement regarding housing and property complaints, but opinion is still split on...

The Property Ombudsman’s annual conference is to hear from the chair of the government’s ‘Property Agents Working Group’ - just days...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency team has issued new guidance for those seeking redress over leasehold disputes.  This guidance contains a...

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

  The National Association of Estate Agents and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents have thrown their weight behind the government’s latest...

The government has this morning set out wide-ranging changes to redress systems for agents, the sales and lettings sectors, and other...

The man who is leading the government’s efforts to reform the house buying process will be one of the speaker at...

The government says it will be releasing details of its ideas to revamp redress systems concerning agents and new homes “in...

The government, which only recently said there would be one Ombudsman covering the entire housing sector, has announced that there is...

The Property Ombudsman has urged the government to bring the new homes build sector under consumer redress. New builds are not currently...

The Property Ombudsman scheme (TPO) has announced a series of changes to both its board and internal processes. The organisation has also...

A specialist property law firm is calling on the government to speed up changes in the law to avoid abusive leasehold...

The Property Redress Scheme says it’s recruited another 1,750 members following the shake-out last week when one of its rival redress...

The redress scheme which formally quit the housing sector admits some estate agencies may have missed its deadline - and are thus...

The government has revised its guidance to agents over redress schemes - amending it to take account of the fact that...

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

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has this morning issued a warning to agents that they must be signed up to...

One of three schemes with government backing to offer redress for complaints about estate and letting agents has reignited the debate...

The government says its funding schemes such as Help To Buy will no longer be applied to what it calls “unjustified...

Estate Agent Today is 10 years old this weekend. We hope you’ll agree that’s a cause for celebration and a great...

National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team and two of the three industry redress organisations have launched a survey to measure the...

We have the presidential seal of approval for our Agents Do Charity this week - well, sort of, but we don’t mean...

Any letting agent appreciates the effort, dedication, and sometimes heartache, that comes with running a business yet equally knows that when...

The Property Ombudsman has issued its annual report for 2017 and there’s good news for the estate agency side of the...

One of the three official redress bodies serving the estate and lettings agency industry has conducted a survey of complaints across...

The battle to become the single ombudsman service after the government rationalises the redress system across housing has taken an unexpected...

The Property Redress Scheme - one of the three government-approved redress schemes handling complaints about sales and lettings agents - has...

  More details have emerged of the government’s proposals to enhance estate agency regulation, regulate referral fees, offer guides for buyers and...

The Property Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle, is to hold a briefing on the government’s redress reform on Wednesday - five days before...

Have you noticed a new turf war going on on the fringes of the agency world? It’s not a high-profile battle like...

Ombudsman Services, which recently announced it was quitting its role as one of three approved redress schemes for estate and lettings...

The government has launched a surprise consultation on the creation of a new redress system for customers of agents and others...

This week I carry out a question and answer session with one of the most high-profile names in property. Isobel Thomson has...

A new year means new predictions for what’s to come in the letting industry. Sometimes things come to fruition as expected....

One of the three government-approved redress schemes for estate and letting agents says it’s quitting the sector this year - but...

The government says it is going to look at “bold options” to improve consumer redress across all aspects of housing -...

Four weeks today almost the entire industry will be finishing work for Christmas after another year - and ready to start...

A large part of the DCLG’s Call for Evidence on the home buying and selling process focuses on the role of...

Even so close to the event, I don’t think anyone will be deeming 2017 as the ‘summer of love’.  The summer of...

The Property Ombudsman has expelled a London lettings and estate agency for a year and is warning that the firm may...

Without wishing to blow our own trumpet at this time, we did say at the start of the year that 2017...

Three agencies have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman for two or more years, after failing to pay awards...

The Property Ombudsman has issued a year-long formal warning to consumers about an estate agency which failed to provide information concerning...

It’s hot outside but that’s no deterrent to agents helping others, even at the height of summer. Before we honour this week’s...

The political ebb and flow continues - seemingly with all the subtlety of a Boris Johnson rugby tackle on a 10-year...

The Property Ombudsman’s annual report reveals a significant increase in the number of formal complaints resolved by the scheme and a...

A cluster of conveyancing and legal experts, known as the Legal Sector Group, has published a raft of proposals on leasehold...

The industry’s three government-approved redress schemes have this week issued an updated version of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU is...

The recent rise in consumer complaints against sales and letting agents suggests that there is a general lack of trust and...

Baroness Diana Warwick (below right) has been appointed chair of The Property Ombudsman scheme’s independent council. A life peer for the past 18...

The Advertising Standards Authority has given the green light to an circular which provoked complaints suggesting it deliberately did not appear...

Earlier this week it was Dads4Daughters Day – a campaign that strives to promote gender equality in the workplace.  I have three...

The Conveyancing Association wants the creation of a ‘log book’ and ‘Home Reports’ for each home on sale - reminiscent in...

HMRC and the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team have agreed new procedures to “enhance and ease the current flow of...

The story of the week has been the first steps of a trade body to represent independent estate agents - as...

Housing minister Gavin Barwell says the government will put forward proposals in the new year to stop abuses of the leasehold...

New software has been devised which can allow users to identify individual properties that have been ‘portal juggled’ - de-listed and...

A firm is warning of “a wave of litigation from home owners who were given inadequate advice from their solicitors or...

It’s perhaps appropriate that we kick off this week’s Agents Do Charity with an appeal for winter clothing for the homeless...

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors is the latest body within the industry to warn its members against portal juggling. Following statements...

When a tenant paid his initial one month’s rent in addition to a tenancy deposit in exchange for the keys to...

The Property Ombudsman scheme’s annual report, just released, reveals that there has been a dramatic 32 per cent surge in the...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has followed up the recent announcement by The Property Ombudsman to counteract portal juggling by...

The Property Ombudsman scheme (TPO) has announced that it will be issuing updated versions of all its Codes of Practice on...

The Conveyancing Association says it is continuing to campaign to reform the leasehold transaction process, despite the government saying there is...

The Property Redress Scheme, one of three official redress schemes for the sales and lettings sector, has now signed its 5,000th...

An agent at the centre of the campaign to expose and stop portal juggling wants to know whether the National Trading...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is warning agents not to engage in portal juggling - an activity it describes...

The National Association of Estate Agents has warned an agency that it is misleading the public by using the association logo...

The Conveyancing Association has set out recommendations to end what it claims are significant delays and overcharging taking place within the...

The old and eternal debate over whether or not tenant fees should be banned continues to rumble on. It’s a major concern...

Running a business is not easy, but sometimes it becomes harder because we are expected to modify our behaviour due to...

The Competition and Markets Authority - which has been active in the estate agency industry since its inception in April 2014...

In a surprise move, The Property Ombudsman is to allow all 420 registered firms in the British Association of Removers to...

One of the three approved Ombusdman-style operators, the Property Redress Scheme, is to hold its first agents’ workshop in March. The morning...

Who are you? I’m the Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme. I previously worked for Legal & General PLC dealing...

There are a number of fairly recent regulations that agents need to comply with. One of them, now just over a year...

It was an end of an era in the property world this week. Christopher Hamer stepped down as the Property Ombudsman...

A former employee of consumer body Which? has been appointed to the council of The Property Ombudsman, one of the industry’s three...

Two more agents have been expelled by TPO because they failed to pay awards when ordered to pay compensation, and because...

Gerry Fitzjohn, currently vice chairman of the board of The Property Ombudsman, has been appointed as chairman.  He takes over from Bill...

The National Association of Estate Agents admits that “take up has been low” in its bid to persuade each member agent to...

The Property Ombudsman, the largest and longest-established of three official redress schemes for agents, has recorded a significant rise in membership...

The Property Ombudsman and the Competition and Markets Authority have prepared a supplementary guidance note to help agents ensure compliance with the Competition Act.  The...

The largest of the three government-approved redress schemes, The Property Ombudsman, has updated its codes of practice to include new legislation...

It’s been nearly a year since all lettings and property management agents have been legally required to join a redress scheme...

Katrine Sporle is to be the new ombudsman at The Property Ombudsman, one of the three government-approved redress services for the...

A new ‘enforcement toolkit’ has been designed to assist local authority trading standards teams beef up its policing of local estate...

A new trading standards Guidance on Property Sales has been launched aimed at improving estate agency service to customers.  The Powys-based National...

A consumer champion says a new privatised system of Alternative Dispute Resolution, being introduced in October, threatens to create ‘complaints chaos’...

The first annual report from Property Redress Services, one of the three government-approved redress schemes applying to both the sales and...

There is a very interesting but easily-overlooked piece of information at the end of the National Trading Standards Estate Agent Team’s...

After the passing of the Deregulation Act deposits deadline this week, Richard Price, Executive Director of UKALA, is in a contemplative...

The Property Redress Scheme (PRS) is delighted to announce their partnership with the award winning mediation provider, Small Claims Mediation (SCM) The...

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has announced that its first ever conference will take place in October.  ‘Raise Your Standards’ is being...

Earlier this week we passed the official deadline for letting agents to fully publicise their fees as well as providing evidence of...

The Brian Cox estate agency, at the centre of a weekend newspaper allegation about £2,000 deposits from buyers, has strongly defended...

Two rival redress schemes applying to sales and lettings agents are claiming increased business.  A press release from the Property Redress Scheme...

There was a whopping 42 per cent rise in referrals to The Property Ombudsman last year according to the annual report...

The Independent Network of Estate Agents says it is worried that the so-called ‘pension freedom’ created by relaxations in over-55s accessing...