OMBUDSMAN
Practice can give landlords this reassurance. If all landlords ensured that their agent had these credentials, I firmly believe that tenants and landlords would see the benefits of using agents who adhere to important standards of business and stories concerning ‘rogue agents’, with which we are all familiar, would dramatically reduce.” To achieve this level of consumer
awareness, the Ombudsman is proposing the formation of an industry council to develop and promote overall standards within the lettings sector. The council would also seek to ensure that consumers understand why they should avoid letting agents who refuse to follow a set of industry standards, such as the TPO Code of Practice, and who do not seek out membership of recognised industry bodies such as ARLA, NALS, or RICS. “Getting that message across can
only be achieved by such bodies pulling together, and bringing in a consumer stakeholder contribution,
Getting the message across can only be achieved if industry bodies pull together.’
so that it is made obvious to consumers which firms remain in the minority, intent on operating outside of industry approved standards,” says Chris, who also points to a potentially quicker way of achieving this objective. “The Consumers, Estate Agents
and Redress Act 2007 (CEARA) required all sales agents to register with a redress scheme. Since then, my office has seen a year upon year improvement in standards relating to sales agents. If letting agents were compelled by law to register with a redress scheme, I believe that standards across the lettings industry would improve in a similar way.” The law governing estate agents
is more than 30 years old and at the time it was enacted, it did not take
into account the lettings sector. In the Ombudsman’s view, that law could be easily redefined to embrace all forms of tenancy. “The consequences of redefining just one phrase “interest in land” would mean that the obligations of CEARA would become applicable to every agent operating a lettings business, forcing them to join an approved redress scheme and, of course, obliging them to act in accordance with a Code of Practice.” TPO’s 2011 Annual Report can
be downloaded from: http://www.
tpos.co.uk/annual_reports
TPO Membership
At 31 December 2011, more than 20,000 offi ces were registered with TPO. This fi gure includes 11,500 sales offi ces and 8,700 lettings offi ces. TPO estimates that these fi gures represented 93 per cent of sales agents and 64 per cent of lettings agents operating within the UK.
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PropertyLive.co.uk PROPERTYdrum APRIL 2012 49
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