NAEA and ARLA call for more property regulation

by Aaron Strutt

Apr 13 2012

The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and Association of Lettings Agents (ARLA) have responded to the Governments consultation on institutional reform.

Landlords now have 30 days to put tenant's deposits into a government approved scheme, after the law was changed last week. Tenants must also be given the Prescribed Information and Deposit Protection Certificate as proof the money is secure.

Mark Hayward, spokesperson for the NAEA and ARLA, is keen that regulation goes further. He says: "We agree that consumer protection is paramount, and nowhere is it more so than in the housing industry. We believe more needs to be done to safeguard consumers against rogue estate and lettings agents.

“Currently, there is no guarantee that consumers are getting good quality of service during the process of buying, selling, letting or renting a home. There is no requirement for estate or lettings agents to be qualified.

“To this end, we would like to see a review of the current estate agent "negative licensing" system - which means estate agents do not need a license. Negative licensing is wholly insufficient in protecting consumers against bad practice and we would far rather see formal, statutory regulation of estate agents - and lettings agents - be introduced.

“As the NAEA and ARLA, we have our own agent licensing and regulation schemes but while there is no uniform regulation scheme effective across the UK. Rogue agents that operate outside professional bodies like our own, will continue to take advantage of consumers.

“The most efficient way of implementing this kind of regulation would be for a single government agency to be set up to regulate both the sales and lettings industries. The Government has a prime opportunity to help consumers be consistently treated more fairly and we urge it to take action."

April 13, 2012