Chestertons has appointed the pioneer of estate agency compliance and former Director of Compliance at Foxtons, Lori Thompson, as its new Head of Operations.

Lori will be working with all Chestertons’ Heads of Departments to review, streamline the company’s processes, improving efficiency, productivity and the customer experience. She will focus on the lettings and compliance processes – increasingly complex – and has also been tasked with identifying, testing and implementing new ‘PropTech’ solutions.

Managing Director Guy Gittins, says, “Lori is the absolute oracle in compliance and, having worked with her in the past, I have seen how she can use her knowledge of our industry and the intricacies of compliance issues to make drastic improvements to the hundreds of processes that estate agents live and die by.”

Lori joined the industry 20 years ago with Foxtons as an Accounts Assistant. Lori was then put in charge of a team and ran the Property Management and Lettings Accounts department for eight years.

In 2008, Lori set up Foxtons’ Compliance Department when the word ‘compliance’ did not even feature in agency vocabulary. Lori says, “Consumer attitudes have changed. They recognise that compliance is an important consideration when choosing an estate or letting agent. Compliance enhances their experience but is essential to protecting the consumer against the growing threat of property fraud. If an agent isn’t in control of their compliance processes, they put their clients at risk every day.”