Rogue agents - your days are numbered

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The government is calling time on rogue agents. Compulsory qualification and regulation are on the way. To-date, the property industry has always been self-regulating, with a mix of qualified and unqualified agents out there and government reluctant to get involved.

This is unacceptable ? with customers expected to pick their way through a smorgasbord of different property industry bodies, all saying their members are reputable but still, in some cases, giving them enough rope to hang themselves with.

Until now, the argument has been that individual member organisations were capable of regulating their own members and the market would work in favour of professional agents, pushing out the rogue operators. This softly-softly approach hasn?t worked. There has been a race to the bottom, with consumers too often seduced by low fees, finding out too late that their advisers can't deliver on their promised service offer.

fter relentless lobbying from both industry and consumer organisations, government has tightened up on redress for customers, has moved to protect deposit monies and has finally recognised the need for proper regulation and qualifications for all.

The government is finally calling time on rogue agents

Speaking at a major leasehold event in June, Lord Richard Best, the chair of a working group looking at regulation of property agents, told managing agents that in future their firms will be regulated. They themselves will need to upskill if they don?t already hold recognised professional qualifications. What is certain is that "there will be a Regulator and there will be regulation ? we need to sort out the rogues and raise standards,? says Lord Best. ?Any new regime will apply not only to property managers but to letting and estate agents as well as to international property agents - with reference to UK sales - and to property guardians.?

In future, all agents will need qualifications that are recognised by OffQual. Existing qualifications will be ?grandparented? or recognised under the new rules but some agents will need to ramp up their CPD or qualifying training in order to meet the new benchmark.

So the days of the cowboys are numbered ? thankfully. But of course, all this takes time - two years at least thinks Lord Best. As chartered surveyors, we employ many well qualified and experienced property people at Ringley and we fully support any attempt to raise the bar of professionalism in our industry. We await the final recommendations of the working group with interest.