CPS Homes

Peter Bolton King gets reply from Government about regulation

Peter Bolton King (Group Chief Executive of the National Federation of Property Professionals) gets reply from Government about regulation.

It seems that most weeks we read of another letting agent going out of business and misappropriated clients’ funds. Bearing in mind this ongoing consumer detriment, He wrote, once again, to the Housing Minister pointing out some of the recent cases.

He received a not unexpected reply from the Department that said:

As you are aware, the lettings industry is not subject to statutory regulation, however, it is in the interests of the industry to maintain consumer confidence in the services provided and we look to organisations such as NFoPP to take a lead in that work. As part of this, the Department continues to explore with its industry partners how best to counter poor practice by letting and managing agents without resorting to regulation.

As you will also be aware, between a third and a half of agents belong to voluntary schemes which ensure that members have the right protections for consumers in place. We always suggest that anyone considering using a letting agent checks to see that they belong to a trade body or accreditation scheme such as the Association of Residential Letting Agents, the National Association of Estate Agents, the National Approved Letting Scheme or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In view of the existence of well developed voluntary regulation in the sector, Ministers do not believe that regulation is the answer at present. But they are keeping a watching brief and information about poor practice is always useful in that context.

While I am pleased that they continue to understand the benefits of using one of our members, they are clearly not yet swayed by the argument that all lettings agents should have CMP and belong to a redress scheme.

As a professional Cardiff property agency, CPS Homes are proud members of several regulatory bodies such as ARLA, ALMA and TPO. More information of these can be found here.

08 August 2011

The information contained within this article was correct at the date of publishing and is not guaranteed to remain correct in the present day.

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