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Government must protect consumers from bad agents

A major new housing report out on Monday is expected to call for better regulation of agents to protect both residential landlords and consumers who rent from them.

The Carsberg Review of Residential Property is expected to highlight problems with the current regulation of property agents. Various voluntary arrangements currently in place leave consumers confused and agents operating on an uneven playing field: some are regulated and some are not.

The British Property Federation (BPF) believes a clearer and more all-encompassing approach is needed to protect landlords and their tenants, and that the government ultimately needs to set a clearer framework in which the industry can set its standards.

Ian Fletcher, director for residential policy, said: “The current regulatory regime is a patchwork quilt, which leaves landlords and tenants confused and unprotected. Government has introduced new measures to ensure the public is protected from bad estate agents, but not letting agents. Half of them are signed up to industry self-regulation but we need a more coherent and consistent approach.

"Letting agents collect over £12bn in rent each year, so we need to see money protection schemes for all agents. We want an independent complaints handling scheme which is compulsory for letting agents as well as estate agents, whom it will affect from October.

"There are some excellent agents out there, but the gap between the best and worst is getting bigger and we want all consumers, and landlords to have confidence in the property professionals they deal with.”

For more information and for advance interviews and briefings, please contact Andrew Teacher at the BPF on 07968 124545, 020 7802 0113, ateacher@bpf.org.uk