Tag Archives: Letting Agents

03Oct 2011

Property Landlord advice: SAFEagent (1) : New kitemark will 'clean up industry'

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By Mike Edwards

It is now 6 months since the first announcement of a new kitemark initiative for the lettings industry. Although I have previously commented on this initiative and expressed our wholehearted support for it much water has flowed under several bridges since the new kitemark initiative known as SAFEagent was launched for agent registration in May. It is free for agents in established client money protection (CMP) schemes to register, but just what is CMP? To the layperson in effect it is bonding, along the lines of ABTA where if your travel firm goes bust and they are ABTA bonded then ABTA steps in to bring you home.

CMP operates in the same way to protect Landlord and Tenant money held by agents with CMP cover. However the policy premium for CMP cover is eye wateringly expensive, and impossible for an individual agent or even a corporate chain to take out in their own name. So CMP cover is obtained by being a member of one of only 5 such group schemes in existence, these being administered by ARLA, NAEA, NALS, RICS and The Law Society. Because it is compulsory for CMP to be held by a member of SAFEagent so it follows that only members of the 5 organisations with the cover can become members. SAFEagent does not provide CMP itself and indeed to do so would be an expensive and unnecessary duplication as its members already have CMP in place.

SAFEagent was formed by a Steering Group of lettings agents and is administered by The National Approved Letting Scheme which in itself was created by the Government. It was the desire to deliver a simple message that led to the formation of SAFEagent – that by joining its members would have the means to differentiate those agents who operate with CMP and those who do not.           SAFE agent has some impressive friends and supporters. Apart from NALS which endorsed the scheme immediately and then offered to run the administration for it – an offer readily accepted by the Steering Group – the Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer also welcomed the initiative many months ago, as has the Residential Landlords Association who commended its “clear and recognisable brand”.           

The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) has bolstered the initiative with Ron Gainsford its chief executive endorsing the introduction and promotion of a single mark to identify letting agents who are in Client Money Protection insurance schemes. This is the objective of SAFEagent – that by having just one kitemark will increase recall levels of the scheme and enable consumers to make sensible and safe choices of letting agents based on a raised awareness of the importance of that agent being part of a Client Money Protection insurance scheme. This in turn of course will help trading standards services in the fight to reduce the number of rogue and ‘uninsured’ letting agents who disappear with consumer money – a move that all honest agents would support.        

However, of the industry organisations, only NALS has come forward to welcome the kitemark. NALS, NAEA and RICS have yet to give their support despite SAFEagent growing impressively as will be seen in the nest article on this subject.

27Sep 2011

Property Landlord advice: Law of Agency must be understood.

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By Steve Roulstone

One of the basic but most important principles behind what we do as Letting Agents is the ‘Law of Agency’ which covers our responsibility to our Landlords. I have referred to this in my blogs before, but it is not something that is heavily reported on and a principle which I believe a large amount of Letting Agents do not understand. The basis behind the principle, is that Law of Agency describes our relationship with the Landlord, who, of course first and foremost are our customer, but it is the greater level of responsibility that Agent of the Landlord brings with it that is not understood.

The Landlord says so.

Under the Law of Agency, as long as what we are asked to do on behalf of the Landlord is legal, we must follow the instruction, in exactly the manner in which the Landlord asks us so to do. It is not that difficult to understand and if you look up the meaning of the word Agency in Wikipedia and you will understand that this is not just a wording that describes a Supplier and Customer relationship, rather one that carries a very specific requirement on behalf of the Agent, in the eyes of the law.

So often comes to mind.

It is not difficult therefore to imagine scenarios in our industry where problems can occur and because it is something that I repeatedly quote when discussing cases with our own office in Stafford, it is never far from my mind. The latest scenario surrounds two Landlords who have changed their mind over what they expected from their Tenants when they were vacating property at the end of Tenancies and whilst it would be wrong to go into any detail at all, both surrounded a change of mind in what they expected the Tenants to do.

Tenants are correct!

The problem being that it falls upon us to carry out the Landlords wishes, providing they do not break any law, to the full. So even though we know what we are requesting is incorrect, we must still carry this through. Of course should the Tenant then come back to us and state that we know the opposite to what we are asking, it is still our role to confirm the Landlords wishes and at no point should we show any indication or make any statement that the Tenant is correct in what they say.

Deposit system.

 Of course the problem becomes a little more relevant when the request surrounds the Deposit and what the Landlord is requesting has financial implications, but no matter! Under such circumstances it is a very small leap to a disputed Deposit and all the work encompassed within the system for the Agent. So here we are, knowing that the decisions made by the Landlord are probably going to lead to his losing his case (or of course it could and so often is the other way round!) but we still have to go through the process and present the case in the best interest of the Landlord and that is what the Law of Agency is all about! But should we openly tell the Tenant the Landlord is wrong, or ever be seen to place the interest of the Tenant above the interest of the Landlord then we place ourselves in a position where we can be pursued legally, for breaking our role as agent of the Landlord! This is what is not understood, in my belief by so many Letting Agencies in this Country.

 Purjery!

Of course, even though we may disagree and know that the claim is not correct in its substance, we do not have to perjure ourselves, because should the matter become legal or even subject of a counter claim by the Tenant, when asked what happened behind the situation, we do then have the opportunity to tell it as it is. I have known a situation where legal representation on behalf of a Tenant asked for a written statement from the Agent and of course in sending the statement (which confirmed the Landlord had changed his mind over approval of decoration) the Tenant’s case was proven.

Principle holds.

The point is that in asking for the money from the Tenant we are following the Landlords wishes, and that is what we must do, when asked to confirm what we knew of the situation (by somebody such as a TDS adjudicator) we of course tell the truth as I for one would never perjure myself, but with an eye to the Law of agency, I will advise the Landlord of my feelings and point out that should I be asked what I knew of the circumstances, I would only tell it as it is!

15Sep 2011

Blog Review: Renting a property proves the ‘Truth behind the Myth’ as trend continues.

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By Steve Roulstone

In June last year, I posted a blog entitled ‘The truth behind the Rental Myth’ and as part of a new section in the Castle Estates blog and because we have now been posting for well over a year, I have chosen this as the first in a new section where I will review what was originally written and comment on where matters have developed since the initial posting.

Initial intent.

I wrote this because despite ten years in the industry, I had recently been asked about the old chestnut of how did I cope with Tenants trashing property, when in fact it hardly ever happened and was in any case on the decline, so I wanted to say exactly what it said on the tin! Interestingly, whilst that is still the case and with regular property visits we have a method designed to give us an early warning system anyway, it was the rest of my comments that have been the reason for me choosing this Blog as a target for an update.

Renting on the increase.

My prediction that renting would become more popular and that what Tenants were doing was following a trend because of how our market suited a lifestyle was, as we can now see, exactly what has happened and only recently, I have commented again on how this lifestyle choice is what commentators are failing to observe when looking at market trends and commenting on them.

Legal options on the decrease.

What I did not foresee at that time, was that the Government, which of course had just changed, would decide to drop the recommendations of the Rugg review and fail to bring in the long trumpeted and as readers of this blog will already know, what I believe is needed for our industry, legislation  to introduce Agent and Landlord registration. This remains an issue for me and at a time when our market is growing at a pace never seen before, it does not marry that any new start Letting Agent will be struggling to get in front of the Landlords needed to grow the fledgling business.

Every Agent in town.

This is simply because the Estate Agents of this country turned to what it has perceived as its poorer sibling for so many years, to rescue its own business when the house sales market collapsed. Please do not misread what I say here, because there are plenty of very good Estate Agents that have turned to the Lettings market to survive, but I am equally sure that we will see and hear about (my bet is they will not differentiate between Estate Agents and letting Agents when reported!) stories of bad management as time progresses and problems do appear.

Here is an irony!           

The irony may well be that what is reported is property that has been trashed and my initial point will have travelled full circle! Because there is no doubt that bad management is one reason why houses do end up getting damaged. The why is a different story and not for this short article, but what I would hate to see, is our industry suffer (by way of reputation) because of Estate Agents who have jumping the fence purely out of necessity, ending up being the root cause of bad press for the Lettings industry and by association, Letting Agents as a group!

25Aug 2011

Current Property News: Agent fined over conservancy area change

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By Mike Edwards

A West London agent has been fined £250 with £250 costs, by the Courts for erecting a For Sale board in a conservation area and the story shows just how careful agents need to be and the lesson has to be, never assume! The agency was charged with the fine after admitting the offence at West London Magistrates Court yesterday [August 16]. The agent claims the fee was the minimum possible due to the court accepting that the crime was a genuine error and not a deliberate disregard for the law.

Following Instructions.

The incident happened in May, when a client asked the agent for a board to be erected in the same place as it had been seven months previously, which the estate agent duly completed. However, during the interim seven months, Hammersmith & Fulham Council had designated the road in question as a conservation area. The agent claims it was omitted from the list of estate agents notified of this change by the planning office and the offence was reported on May 9 and the board removed 24 hours later, after which the agent assumed the matter was closed. However, at the end of July the managing director received a court summons relating to the offence, which consisted of 34 pages of evidence, including the council’s claim for costs incurred for three hours of investigation and over three hours of legal fees.

MD Reaction.

The agent was stunned by the turn of events, and while admitting to having been in the wrong, said they thought the prompt removal of the board had resolved the matter at the time. It was not a fly board making false claims of success nor a board left up for months it was simply placed in a road where until October 2010 boards were permitted and erected at the request of a landlord who was also unaware of the new restrictions. The MD is convinced the council intended to make an example of his firm feeling that a simple fixed penalty system would save valuable time and resources with prosecution in the Courts reserved for repeat offenders and warns fellow agents that ignorance is no defence.

Summary.

Agents need to ensure that they regularly check their Local Authority Planning website and read public notices in local papers. ‘The onus is on the agent to check, not the Local Authority to inform.’ The council had sought a fine of £2,500 plus £500 costs, he said, but after hearing him speak, the court levied a fine of just £250 on the firm plus £250 costs so in the end not as onerous as the agent expected, but the guilty verdict did confirm where responsibility lay.

12Aug 2011

Current Property News: Letting Agents failing to see the best of increased numbers.

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By Steve Roulstone

Yet another report on the state of the Lettings Industry confirms the increase continues to gather momentum in our industry and unusually, I totally agree with what is being stated. However, because the writer is London / Surrey based, whilst they are seeing the majority of the current growth, I doubt they are also seeing the full effect of the Estate Agents who are now trading in our market.

Same outcome wherever you are!

One thing that does not change is the outcome of untrained or unprofessional people involving themselves in a market they know little about! The dangers are not always so clear and because of the lack of information supporting any Landlord looking for Management services it is not really clear about what they should look for when choosing the right Management Company.  There are many attempts at the moment through Safe Agent and TPO to give Landlords security, but the message is both new and from what we see on the ground, not yet getting through and if I have any complaint about this article, it is that another opportunity to advertise security and professional schemes has not been taken.

Differing degrees across the country.

What is very clear is that the increase in numbers does not always apply as you travel Northward through the Country. I am currently travelling around our offices and not all are benefitting from the increases in opportunities, but it is clear and again confirmed in this article, that a large percentage of this increase is staying with the Estate Agents, who as I have confirmed before, will not wish to walk away from what is fast becoming 20% of the UK housing stock in the Private rental market. Therefore, we need more than ever to get our message across, that there is a reason we are called Letting Agents as opposed to Estate Agents.

Competition.

Nobody should complain about increased competition in the market place; however what we have seen over the last two years can be best described as more of a flood! When I started in 2000 I would have been competing with probably no more than five Agents. Now, this figure has grown four or five fold! It is clear from what I have found that when Landlords do look for a service provider, the offices with a greater profile are the ones who benefit the most. At my Stafford office, we are still seeing five Landlords a week on average, but the smaller offices are not seeing anywhere near the same numbers.

Professional noises.

So every opportunity must be taken to shout loud and clear that there is a very large difference between trained and qualified Letting Agents and anybody listing themselves as a Letting Agent or providing Rental services. You cannot beat time served (real experience) and of course asking what qualifications are held. It is difficult to prove otherwise and at Castle Estates we would not wait to be asked, providing the information from the start! Of course as the writer confirms, one major difference can be the price for the services requested, but as with all things in life you do not get everything for nothing, so I would suggest the question that needs to be asked is what are you getting for next to nothing, because cuts have to be made somewhere and it is important to find out where!

01Aug 2011

Current Property news: Property news roundup.

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By Steve Roulstone

There are three items of news this morning that are all worthy of note and comment, but not I feel, in their own right so I have added them all together in this Blog. They are about a Private Landlord who overstepped the mark in attempting to save money, a report on what TPO is trying to achieve and finally evidence that TPO are indeed acting where required against Agents who carry their logo, when they are not members and do not have the right to do so.

Property flattened in Twickenham.

This report in the Daily Mail today reports on a property owner who, on a property refurbishment, flattened the house concerned to enable him to rebuild the property, because allegedly, he wanted to avoid paying VAT which is exempt on a newbuild project. Quiet an extreme to go to I am sure you would agree and far be it for me to suggest he was justified in doing so, as the courts have indeed confirmed, but the case for reviewing the VAT charges for refurbishment contracts is overdue. Of course as a Letting Agent, we advise many an investment Landlord buying property for long term investment and whilst it is difficult to suggest that VAT should not be chargeable on either newbuild or refurbishment building works, there has to be a scenario which would better cater for both and this report confirms what people will allegedly do to make best use of current legislation.

TPO move closer to OFT approval.

Property Wire are carrying confirmation of the TPO Agents code having passed stage one of the review and subsequent request for approval by the OFT. This is alongside the new Kitemark, as introduced by The National Approved Lettings Scheme that the Industry is also adopting. As regular readers of this post will be aware, I support any move for professionalism in our industry as long as it has teeth (which is what the final article confirms!) and is in the best interest of the industry. This is where I have to take issue with this news, because whilst I am absolutely in agreement with what the TPO are doing and would support any move to have professionalism rubber stamped the Industry as a whole must be wary of confusing the public in what such organisations are trying to achieve. It will be to the Industries loss should our customers be confused by more than one code of practise or conduct being trumpeted at the same time.

TPO wield its power!

It is with great relish that I read the final article, namely that an organisation in the Midlands have been fined for wrongly displaying the TPO and OFT logo on its web site and thrown out of the voluntary membership of the scheme. In this instance the Company concerned were Estate Agents, but never the less the very fact that standards are being upheld for the right reasons (even if the judgement does seem a little ponderous) shows that the TPO does intend to operate as an association where membership does stand for professionalism within the industry it covers. Good news from where I stand!

15Jul 2011

Property Landlord advice: Accidental Landlords need to understand the difference!

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By Steve Roulstone

I have just read a report in the Daily Telegraph, about the rise in Accidental Landlords over the current year and the reasons why so many are looking at the Lettings Industry as a viable method of allowing them to ‘move on’ during this period of inactivity in the property sales market. The reason given for the lack of sales is the locked position of seller and buyer not wishing to negotiate on price, but fails to point out the reason why there is an impasse, which is the difficulty potential buyers have in either amassing the deposit or affording a mortgage. This points more to buyers being unable to negotiate any further and therefore the actual need is for sellers to lower their expectations, or indeed, turn to the rental market!

And why not!

Because this is a very viable alternative and one that is continuing to increase year on year (Let’s face it,  Estate Agents up and down the Country should be praising its growth, because without it, many more would have been in grave danger of closing their doors) and a market which offers many professional Letting Agents, who, because of the manner that Accidental Landlords come to the market place, never actually speak to Professional Letting Agents, rather sticking with the Estate Agent who has been unable to find a buyer, without the knowledge that (I would suggest) there is another layer of services available from our industry which when visited, would open the eyes of these new Landlords to what our market is about and how property can be looked after.

Registered by Law?

Now that does not mean that all Estate Agents do a bad job in the rental market, of course not. No more than all Letting Agents are perfect, far from it. But an interesting statement is made in the article about all Estate Agents needing to be registered by Law, because this does not apply when they all started to manage property in the rental market (if you read my pages often you know what is coming now!) because no registration is needed for a Letting Agent and it is something that we have been asking the Government to address for many years now. But I feel it is somewhat short of the mark to suggest in this statement that Estate Agents are better able because of registration, because if Letting Agents were asked to prove that they were professional, many of the Estate Agents who fell on our industry as a lifeline two years ago, would not be able to qualify.

So the difference!

This is really what my point about this article is, it proves something that I have seen all over the Country, that sellers who turn to the Letting Industry and rent their property instead, should make sure they speak to an agent for advice and judge the difference for themselves. The Letting Agent they choose should be a member of a professional body and registered with Safe Agent, the Industries latest attempt at providing re-assurances for its customers. I believe that no matter what the local market charges (because not all of the country is able to charge 15% (London?)) they will not only have price competition, but knowledge, experience, training and service competition as well. vive la différence!!

 

 

 

04Jul 2011

Current Property News: Increased Renting demands pays dividends for Landlords.

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By Steve Roulstone

I have looked at three pieces of news this morning, all surrounding the property market and I believe all good, proving yet again that the rental property market continues to be positive in a period of time even for the current downturn we are experiencing that has seen nothing but negative news on closures, redundancies and negative forecasts. Other items I read this morning even hinted that ‘savvy’ business people might continue to look to the property market as a better investment than the more traditional stock and finance markets.

Squatting made illegal.

The really interesting point about the news released by the Government recently, is the amount of reporting that defends both the action of squatting and the need for squatters making this bad news for the public in general, but I would like to pick on two points that the majority of commentators have missed. Firstly, it is totally inappropriate to say that Squatters in some way make use of empty property and are therefore unlocking living space for those without a home of their own. This is just a way of turning the eye from the reality of the fact that they have no legal standing in occupying any home they choose, empty or not! I am not in disagreement that empty property could be better used, but only with the acceptance, knowledge or permission of the owner. I do not need to point out the damage caused to owners who are unable to utilise their property because of somebody squatting.  Secondly, all this does, is continue to take pressure of local Councils. This is where any move to utilise property that is truly left unused, as the Government and therefore local Council need to be the vehicle given the power to unlock property that is left empty long term, and is genuinely available to ease our housing needs. One further point for the writer, it is at least Mr Cameron and the words Prime Minister are suffixed by a capital letter!

Gazumping on the increase.

There is no doubt that rents are on the increase, but we are not seeing any great evidence of Gazumping outside of major cities, but before anybody starts to jump up and down about Landlords making profit, two points again that need to be confirmed. It is not often that I comment that we are in a similar position to Estate Agents as letting Agents, but it needs to be confirmed, that we are duty bound to advise our Landlords if a better offer for a property is received, just as Estate Agents would do for their customers, even more so because our contract with our Landlords gives us a duty of responsibility to comply with and therefore we have no choice but to both advise and react to our customers wishes. But holdfast! These were the same Landlords who were faceing offers on property below the asking price only two years ago and this current trend is only really redressing the balance from that period of rent reduction.

Renting numbers still increasing.

This is of course good news and confirms that by the end of this year, the percentage of rented property in the Private sector in the UK will have increased to something close to 20% and overtaken the Public sector at the same time. The issue that jumped out of this report at me was the mention of avoiding rogue agents in the links. Sorry to be a bore, but how simple would that job be if the Government were to protect this now significant and continually increasing sector, by introducing licensed Agents! (Now where have I heard that before?) For me, as a Professional who spends most of his time pushing the message that qualified Letting Agents are both the Tenants and Landlords best way of managing and finding property, allow me to add one more reason to the case: One of the main reasons we have an increase at present is because the Sale market is unable to move property for owners who need to move on and the rental market provides the outlet owners need. But by default, the Estate Agents who now have a captive audience are the beneficiaries of this business. My comment to owners is that they should try at least one qualified specialist Letting Agent. By doing so, you should be amazed just how knowledgeable they are and therefore better protected and prepared you will be in the rental market! This is what being trained in our market means and only by speaking with a specialist office will you find out for yourself what that difference means.

30Jun 2011

Property Landlord advice: Block Management: The importance of local services.

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By Steve Roulstone

I have written before about why so many Block Management sites, when the existing site Managers are failing through the eyes of the site Directors, end up in the hands of local Letting Agents, who can quickly make the adjustments to carry out the role of Managers for a site rather than for a Landlord, especially where maintenance is concerned. This is one of the major advantages for local Agencies, because in the nature of their day to day business, they will have developed working relationships with the whole gambit of building craftsmen who can help cement the Agencies new Property Management work.

 Local services for Local people!

 It is also not just that by being a local Company it is highly probable that there will be some relationship either privately with the Leaseholders or just by the very fact that the people concerned live in the same location. In Stafford for example, one of my main ‘fix all’ contractors, lives looking over a site that we manage. The relationship that this has developed between the Directors, some of whom already knew the chap concerned and the Contractor is so strong that they now insist he carries out the annual balcony maintenance programme we organise for them. The trust in his work and the way in which he deals with both the problems that occur and the people living on site is the reason the relationship has developed in this way. I believe what helps make this kind of situation possible when dealing with local trades, is the fact that they are Neighbours. Everybody feels more comfortable than the unknown quantity of a visitor from out of town!

 Time is not a factor.

And then of course, there is the ability to react quickly to any emergency situation, and I have known many schemes that operate Nationally for Letting Agents to deal with those Emergency call outs (and I know at first hand, that the level of performance from Contractors attending through such schemes leaves a lot to be desired) All of whom do not react in the same manner as a Contractor who is not only going to start the job to hand, but probably visit again to complete it. Not to mention being the Contractor who will have visited before and will no doubt be needed to visit again! All of these things make the local chap the choice for me.

 Not just Contractors.

 Of course other services are needed through the offices of Block Management and white collar trades also benefit from knowing the area. I have witnessed myself how the local Solicitors have been able to give more appropriate advice when legal issues have arisen, even benefiting from staff living on the site, in this case being able to clear a very difficult recognition problem for us, simply because when typing correspondence, they were able to answer the issue through personal knowledge of the person we were trying to trace. A situation which ended up benefiting all of those concerned and avoided higher costs to boot!

 No comparison.

 So being looked after by a Local Company has many advantages and I cannot see how the largest of the many major City based specialist Block Managing Companies can compare, and even though they may not advertise such services initially, if I were looking in relation to any property owned on a Leasehold site, I would not hesitate to check the local options first. Of course, they must also have a clear understanding of how to run a site in the proper manner, both legally and financially, on behalf of the owners, but I still believe that most organisations in our trade, if they knew they could not do a good job, would say no from day one. But then we all have to start somewhere as did I when I took my first site on back in 2003. But then I had the advantage of being part of a National Company who could offer me both training and other Franchisees who were already undertaking the role themselves, as they say, you cannot beat knowledge!

13Jun 2011

Current Property News: Jailed Rogue Agent fuels the fire for legislation at time of SAFE Agent launch.

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By Steve Roulstone

Two items of news were reported late last week, which are both of note but for differing reasons. One for the right reasons and one for the wrong reasons, but together they speak volumes about what the Industry is trying to do and what the Industry needs by way of regulation, which would in my opinion seriously reduce the number of times such events both occur and are therefore reported.

Launch of SAFE Agent scheme.

Better than expected numbers are turning to the SAFE Agent scheme which is really good news and reinforces my opinion that this type of scheme is exactly what the Industry needs and wants to be a part of. The very fact that so many Agents are looking for recognition in a way that they can announce to their customers, be them Tenants or Landlords that they operate in a way that all client’s monies are protected speaks volumes about the Agents who want to be seen as professional Companies and give re-assurance to their client base.

Government backing.

This scheme has been introduced simply because the Industry has felt that some recognition of professionalism was required by people within the Industry, who, by virtue of the organisations they belong to or who are able to represent, have been able to get both the message across quickly to what I believe to be a willing Industry (Certainly within Castle Estates) who seem to be embracing the message with open arms. What we need now is official recognition from the Government that they both support the scheme and will look to review registration of Agents sooner rather than later. Hopefully they will see by the numbers of Agents joining that the Industry will also embrace and because of the second item of news, see the need for Government legislation to support professionalism in the Lettings Industry.

‘Agent’ jailed for two years.

It is because we continue to see Agents stealing from their clients,  that Government legislation is still required, because even though we hope and will work towards SAFE Agent being a standard for all professional Letting Agent offices, it is only when the Government back us with registration that such occurrences can be really reduced. Allow me to repeat, for I have stated this many times, but registration of Agents who use sound proper methods of looking after client’s money and in running the business in general is the only way the Industry will become truly professional. We are now looking at an Industry, when Private Landlords are included, which is fast becoming responsible for 20% of UK Housing stock. How much longer can the Government ignore the shout for legislation?

 

Estate Agents.

It should also be recognised, that it is not just the Client’s money aspect of Management that needs to be legislated. In the last three years the Estate Agency market has jumped in their thousands in too Lettings and I know only too well, that many do not understand the legislation that any qualified Letting Agent would need to understand and learn before they could become achieve qualification. Now I could just imagine the clamour of noise if the situation had been reversed? Estate Agencies operate at best using RICS standards which have been adopted by the courts as a formal code of practise. Indeed there are far more statutory requirements upon professional Estate Agents than Letting Agents and I am sure the Estate Agents would be the first to shout loud and proud about standards should the reverse of the current market changes come about!

Good for everybody.

At the end of the day, all Industries benefit from raising standards and ours is no different. The problem in any sphere of operation is the people in it, and legislation always seeks to control people. So the sooner we are properly legislated, the sooner people such as Mr Stagg, will not be allowed to trade in the first place, for as the article points out – at present there is nothing stopping him from starting another agency the moment he leaves prison!