Archive

The work of the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team is “vital” it claims - and the case of the...

A banned West Midlands estate agent has today been sentenced to a custodial sentence of six weeks, suspended for two years, and fined £4,000 at Wolverhampton Crown Court after pleading guilty...

The controversial proposal by a PropTech start up to charge potential viewers of properties to let or for sale has been...

A former estate agent has accused the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team of trying to discredit him. Chris Wood,...

Propertymark says a new pay-per-viewing service is “interesting” but warns agents to protect themselves by abiding by consumer protection regulations. The warning has come following...

Ben Ridgway gives his views on the current market, material information and PropTech for agents. What is your current view of the...

No fewer than seven estate and lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme today. Most of them are now...

The Competition and Markets Authority has struck a deal with house builders over leasehold abuses. Aviva has committed to remove certain terms...

Digital marketing agency Angels Media and digital platform Gazeal have announced an exclusive strategic partnership to help improve and speed up...

The Trading Standards agency team has outlined to Estate Agent Today the process it will follow to improve what it calls...

The controversial demands of Trading Standards for more “material information” to be provided upfront in property details have been criticised by...

Local elections rarely set the pulse racing and this year’s poll on Thursday faces a similar problem. But this time, it’s a...

We have more regulations controlling the sector than ever before and we have more ‘regulators’ involved in controlling the sector than...

Agents are being advised on what course of action they should take to safeguard their right to fees should they be dis-instructed...

With property transactions taking longer than ever and many people operating at capacity, it is easy to overlook the progress made,...

Momentum is building for agents to provide more information on property details and portals - not wait until a prospective buyer...

National Trading Standards wants agents, portals and industry groups to come up with ways to provide basic essential material information ‘upfront’.  The National...

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

Automatically changing the main marketing photo on a portal listing can attract up to 40 per cent more traffic, it has...

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 PropTech company has won a grant for a project to improve ID verification in the buying and selling process, via...

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

A study of 2,000 home owners shows that over a third have felt pressured by an agent into use its in-house mortgage...

HM Revenue and Customs and the Advertising Standards Authority are working together to cut out misleading marketing by promoters of stamp...

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

The Boomin portal, which incentivises agents to cross-sell and benefit from referral fees, is to receive advice on fee disclosure from...

The latest review by the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team into referral fees places the outdated practice of...

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

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...

One of the many new portals recently launched has made a pitch for agents to join because of its referral fees...

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

House raffles and similar competitions have become mired in controversy in recent years, thanks to some of them failing to abide by...

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

Purplebricks has changed the wording of an advertisement on its website after a watchdog stepped in following a complaint. According to the...

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

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

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

The devolved government in Wales - where the housing market is still officially closed - has urged agents to report rivals...

A working party of property professionals is being set up to look at whether and how property logbooks could help speed...

To most people, purchasing a home is the single most significant financial commitment made across a lifetime. Given the impact and...

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

If it’s really the case that estate agents’ offices could be in the category of High Street premises first allowed to...

There is no doubt that the BBC News article in early February caused something of a stir within the Deposit Free...

Trading Standards says agents must include more “material information” in property details even if this may not be a wholly positive...

The Trading Standards report on the future of referral fees is almost completed and will be sent to government next week. However, James...

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

Agents now have only seven days to complete a referral fees survey, announced late on Friday by Trading Standards and The...

The National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team and The Property Ombudsman have launched an urgent survey to assess awareness...

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

A BBC Radio probe into quick-sale firms claims some of them can lose sellers many thousands of pounds. It says Trading Standards...

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...

Yes, believe it or not, we’ve nearly reached the end of a whole decade. And what an eventful decade it’s been. We’ve...

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

An estate agency has been fined £30,000 for waiting until minutes after the sale of a flat was completed to tell...

An estate agency will pay out over £40,000 after being found to have misled customers and allowing one of its own...

The reform of the buying process is to take centre stage at a special conference called Bold Legal LIVE! taking place...

The Guild of Property Professionals has welcomed government steps to provide buyers and sellers with greater transparency in transactions - and...

The government has issued a revised version of its official How To Buy and How To Sell documents, aimed at consumers...

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...

The Property Ombudsman will in future refer more estate agents to the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team if...

You may be right in thinking that Brexit has dominated the thinking of the government in the last three years. However,...

An online auction service which only came into existence in September last year claims to have 150 partner estate agents already,...

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 Property Ombudsman says its members must in future disclose referral fees in a bid to make previously-hidden costs open and...

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

The head of the new Trading Standards authority regulating estate agents says Online firms are treated exactly the same as High...

Estate Agent Today has been given details of the new National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team - the body...

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...

A family run estate agency faces a string of charges relating to commission fees and “undue influence” exerted on clients. The charges...

When it comes to major issues confronting housing, and in particular the direction that the government would like to take the...

Estate agents have been warned that if new guidance over referral fees is not taken seriously, they could be faced with...

The National Association of Estate Agents has led the support for stricter new guidelines on transparency for referral fees. The clampdown means agents...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has this afternoon revealed new industry guidance to make referral fees more transparent to...

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

The Property Ombudsman is to give agents new guidance on dual fees, following a surge in complaints from the public. In 2017, TPO received...

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...

It’s been revealed that the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is to deliver new guidelines to agents for referral fees...

Purplebricks has been the subject of another complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority - and the issue has again been categorised...

You will perhaps have seen recently that the Government has decided to boost funding to the regulator, the National Trading Standards...

In a surprise weekend announcement the government has almost doubled funding for the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team - the...

An online estate agency run by one of the country’s youngest entrepreneurs has agreed to change a reference about savings on...

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...

The estate agent who is refusing to abide by a decision of the Advertising Standards Authority is now demanding details of...

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

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

There’s a new twist in the row between a Cornish agent and the Advertising Standards Authority. The row revolves around a tweet...

The Advertising Standards Authority says its compliance team is considering its next steps following the refusal of estate agency PDQ Estates...

An agent from Cornwall who has waged a long-running campaign against online agencies in general and Purplebricks in particular has been...

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

It is understood that an estate agent from Cornwall is to face trial over allegations that he misled potential customers over...

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

A flat in Brixton is being raffled for £5 a ticket by a start-up entrepreneur who claims this is just the...

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

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

The Property Ombudsman has launched an online training module which it describes as the first of its kind.  The interactive module -...

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

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

Pressure continues to mount on Purplebricks to reveal its sales data after a weekend during which claims about its effectiveness continued...

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

The Guild of Property Professionals is to allow its associate members to have ID cards showing clients that they have passed...

Complaints about a Purplebricks claim concerning its Local Property Experts have been rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority. Complaints came from PDQ...

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has informally resolved another complaint made against wording on Purplebricks’ website.  A complainant suggested that the wording...

After a roller-coaster day on the Stock Exchange yesterday, Purplebricks has sought to defend itself against further possible share price losses...

That the private rental sector has become the government’s whipping boy for housing problems - landlords in particular, letting agents almost...

Independent estate agency network The Guild of Property Professionals has announced that its training scheme has been given formal approval. The Associate...

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

In recent years the mortgage industry has gone through some testing times. Recession and regulation have led to more stringent lending...

Peter Robinson, CEO of AIPP – Association of International Property Professionals – shines a light onto the international property market. Some UK...

Former clients of a Scottish estate and letting agency and mortgage company are being asked by a corporate insolvency firm to...

The trading standards team of a county council has taken the unusual step of challenging the sales claim of an estate...

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

A controversial scheme in a London borough, limiting the size and duration of letting and estate agents’ boards on display, comes...

A number of local authorities are now serving £100 or £120 fixed penalty notices on estate agents who display For Sale...

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

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...

Portal juggling has been defined as one of a number of "emerging threats" aimed at deceiving consumers through the manipulation of...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team based in Powys has revealed that its cases under investigation include apparent offences of...

The Advertising Standards Authority has explained to Estate Agent Today why many of the complaints made against estate and letting agents...

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...

An estate agency has been fined after a trading standards team accused it of making misleading statements on its website. Warwickshire county...

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...

An estate agent has been ordered by a court to pay more than £7,500 after admitting advertising holiday homes as permanent...

A disillusioned vendor has been running a campaign against standard term agency contracts for almost two years.  Paul Tranter has been specifically...

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

A member of the public has submitted a complaint on portal juggling to the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team following...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is urging the industry to comment on a government initiative aimed at cutting red...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has over the weekend repeated its intention to investigate allegations of so-called portal juggling...

The influential Home Owners’ Alliance pressure group says Britain pulling out of the EU would probably depress house prices. The HOA - a...

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

News from the Halifax this week that the combined values of the residential properties in London amounts to £1.13 trillion, virtually...

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

An estate agent is going on trial concerning allegations that he defrauded people of over a quarter of a million pounds. Russell...

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 consumer is King and to protect sellers and buyers' best interests estate and letting agents have to operate in the...

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

A High Street estate agent has branded the latest guidance to the industry on Consumer Protection Regulations as “a complete mess”...

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

There have been concerns raised over new trading standards guidance for estate agents on having to reveal ‘significant defects’ about properties...

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’...

Agents and other property professionals are being invited to a briefing on how new trading standards guidance will affect the industry. The...

A riposte to Paul Smith's article 'Why Estate Agents Must Stand Up to the Power of the Portals' I just read an...

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

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team has prepared a draft of revised guidelines on property sales, to replace the old...

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

Yesterday we heard about the letter from the CMA warning agents about anti-competitive behaviour. Today, in a scoop for Estate Agent...

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) is to meet with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to discuss complaints...

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