A new industry poll has revealed surprising attitudes among agents to the sector’s key regulatory and business issues.

This includes supporting Government plans to introduce redress for landlords; that proptech isn’t widely accepted; and that the US-style brokerage model has yet to receive widespread industry support.

The research was conducted on behalf of redress scheme the PRS among some 721 agents.

Three-quarters of those polled said they would not consider switching to a US-style ‘brokerage’ model as promoted by Keller Williams and eXp UK.

Some 18% said ‘maybe’ and only 6.4% said ‘yes’ while over half of agents considered this model to be neither a threat nor an opportunity.

Proptech surprise

Adoption of proptech within the industry also received a surprisingly tepid response from agents.

When asked if they considered their business to be an early adopter of proptech, 70 per cent said ‘no’, 16 per cent said ‘slightly early’ and just 14 per cent said ‘yes’.

Finally, when addressing the much-debated subject of licensing in today’s property industry, 71% said that estate agents should be required to have an official licence to operate, just nine per cent believe licensing is unnecessary, and 19 per cent are undecided.

But overall estate agents remain positive about the industry despite the slings and arrows it has endured during the pandemic and surprisingly a majority of agents support greater regulation and transparency.

Eddie Hooker (pictured), CEO of the Hamilton Fraser Group, which operates the PRS, says: “Property professionals have had a bumper couple of years thanks to the booming market.

“This success means many don’t see any need for change, whether it be the introduction of new tech offerings or the adoption of the US-style, self-employed model.

“But it does seem that the industry is keen to do more to ensure that they and their clients are protected against poor practice and rogue traders and the vast majority would like to see the introduction of licensing for agents and landlords.”