Regulation & Law
News articles looking at national legislation and local regulation and the application of law to the residential property industry.
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ANOTHER council wades in to regulate ‘wild west’ Airbnb property sector
Brighton councillors vote through motion calling for Airbnb to draw up list of local 'trusted landlords' as disruption by 'party houses' causes anger in the seaside city.
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Binning freeholders will leave residents worse off
Following details of leasehold reform within the Queen's Speech Michael Gaston, Managing Director of Estates and Management, argues that professional freeholders are about to become more important than ever.
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Compulsory electrical checks for all rented properties start
Government expects its new electrical checks regulations to become law on 1st April 2020, despite worries over availability of engineers.
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Sporle: Why I am stepping down from The Property Ombudsman
Katrine Sporle talks to The Negotiator about the reasons she is leaving the redress scheme and her hopes for the the new Ombudsman who takes her place.
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Lettings agency fined £25,000 over ‘squalid and dangerous’ unlicensed HMO
Two directors of Masons Estates (East Anglia) Ltd and the company itself have been fined after council officers found the property in a dangerous state of repair and overcrowded.
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Leasehold reform will lead to fewer professionally managed apartment blocks
Warning comes from leading leasehold services provider which warns reducing income for freeholders will hit the block management sector hard.
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Are you ready? New Anti Money Laundering rules go live TODAY!
Extra AML responsibilities for letting agencies become law today after being passed by parliament just before Xmas.
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HMRC quietly drops AML application fee for estate agents
Decision is made to remove the £100 fee just 24 hours before the latest and 5th EU Anti Money Laundering directive passes into UK law.
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Tide turns against Airbnb as Scotland and Bristol move to regulate
The huge increase in Airbnb properties being made available by landlords on short-lets platforms has prompted politicians to take action.
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Trustpilot reveals how its ‘star rating’ system really works for agents
It has been revealed that estate agents who use Trustpilot to promote their businesses can ‘game’ the platform because the reviews company gives newer customer reviews greater weight when awarding an overall ‘out of five’ score. The policy has been revealed by the Advertising Standards Authority during its investigation into the new eMoov, which has been using links to its Trustpilot page to promote the business. Out of the 2,179 reviews on its Trustpilot page, only 80 have come from clients dealt with by the new incarnation of the online agent, while the rest were generated while it was operated by eMoov Ltd, which is currently in administration. The ASA has told a complainant about the use of old reviews that it has held ‘detailed talks’ with both Trustpilot and the agency. Aggregate score During these talks over the past six weeks, the ASA was told that the overall aggregate score award by Trustpilot was influenced unduly by the most recent reviews, rather than older ones. ”We are therefore satisfied that there is not a source of concern here at the moment and so we are not investigating this further,” the ASA has said. But the complainant, Andrew Stanton, has…
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