Propertymark will appear in front of the House of Lords’ Industry and Regulators Committee tomorrow (Tuesday 5 March) at 10.30 am as part of the Committee’s work looking at the regulation of estate agents.
The Industry and Regulators Committee began investigating the sector last week and the inquiry is expected to run for another couple of evidence sessions.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Once the results have been gathered any findings and recommendations will be put in a letter and sent to an as yet to be confirmed minister at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Baroness Taylor of Bolton
The Committee, chaired by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, is considering whether there should be a new regulator of property agents, as recommended by the report of the Regulation of Property Agents working group in 2019.
Timothy Douglas (main picture), Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, says: “Propertymark has long campaigned for the regulation of property agents and is pleased that the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee is looking at this important issue.
“There are regulatory models for agents already in existence across parts of the UK so it’s important that we learn the lessons from implementation and how they can help shape future reform and policy making in this area.”
IMPORTANT
And he adds: “This is particularly important in light of legislative proposals from the UK Government to reform the leasehold system and renting in England with property agents playing a key role in supporting, guiding and providing information to consumers. Propertymark remains committed to ensuring any new legislation is workable for the sector as a whole.
“The Renters Reform Bill offers a huge opportunity to reform the private rented sector in England.
“However, as with all legislation there are unintended consequences.
“The regulation of property agents must be included in the legislation and the court system must have capacity to bolster the confidence of landlords and property agents in an evidence-based possession process following the abolition of Section 21.”
Last week The Neg revealed how the committee heard calls from Generation Rent that letting agents dealing with low-income tenants and those on welfare support should be qualified to help promote understanding and stem the rise in homelessness.
Letting agents dealing with low-income tenants and those on welfare support should be qualified to help promote understanding and stem the rise in homelessness, the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee heard yesterday.
Speaking at the Lords’ inquiry into regulation of property agents (main picture), Conor O’Shea, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at Generation Rent, told the committee that a good framework for qualifications for letting agents already existed.
Mandatory
Addressing a question on qualifications for property agents from the Viscount Thurso, O’Shea replied: “We think the Chartered Institute of Housing qualification has a very useful framework with one addition that we would ask for.
The Viscount Thurso
“There are mandatory units of their letting and managing residential property course. The first one is letting residential properties; property standards for the residential property; tenancy management for the residential property and ending tenancies of the residential property and a fifth one which is professional practice for letting agents.
“They are the five units you have to pass. We think that is a decent shape for a potential qualification could look like.”
Conor O’Shea, Generation Rent
But he added: “There is one thing we would like to add to that is supporting of low income-tenants – especially when it comes to homelessness and discriminating against tenants who are on welfare support.
“We believe there should be one person in each letting agent branch who should be qualified to work with low-income tenants.”
Baroness Taylor of Bolton
O’Shea had earlier told the committee, Chaired by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, of tenant’s general frustrations of dealing with letting agents at three crucial points: before a tenancy begins, during the tenancy and at the end of the tenancy.
One issue was mass viewings, where tenants have to view a property with two or more groups. Bidding wars were also an issue where tenants were forced to offer more than the advertised price while agents asking for multiple months’ rent, sometimes, four, six and 12 months in advance, also irked.
COMPLAINTS
Asked by Lord Clement Jones what a successful regulator would look like O’Shea outlined an easy complaints process and how problems would be solved; tenant safety and ensuring best practice would be addressed.
Lord Clement Jones
He also advocated for an ethical code of practice what would ensure ‘no DSS’ policies were enforced as well as highlighting the commission some letting agents receive from plugging zero deposit schemes.
Yesterday was day one of the House of Lords committee’s short inquiry examining whether there should be a new regulator of property agents.
The inquiry is examining the current approach to regulation of property agents in the residential sector and whether there should be a new regulator of property agents.