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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‘Rogue landlords should have their properties confiscated’
A shock report into the private rented sector or PRS has recommended rogue landlords should have their properties confiscated,
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‘Tech makes it easier for rogue tenants to fake referencing documents’
Tech makes it easier for rogue tenants to fake referencing documents, a leading eviction specialist has claimed.
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London council investigates own sales and lettings agency AGAIN!
CityWest Residential has now been probed by City of Westminster's own trading standards officers over fees paid when it helps buy back former Right to Buy properties.
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Stalking Awareness Week launched by Suzy Lamplugh Trust
Charity set up in name of disappeared estate agent to spend this week highlighting the increasing number of stalking cases being investigated by police.
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Fee-fixing estate agency directors disqualified for three years each
CMA reveals it has made two directors of Abbott & Frost in Burnham-on-Sea sign disqualification undertakings and is considering whether to add more agents in the town to the list.
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Should there only be one property ombudsman to handle complaints?
That's one of the questions Ombudsman Katrine Sporle will face when she goes live on Wednesday on Rightmove's Webinar platform.
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Estate agents to face mandatory qualifications and referral fee transparency
Government outlines aggressive new measures to put "consumer in the driving seat" says Housing Secretary Sajid Javid.
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London house is first in UK bought via a mortgage deed signed and lodged online
on Rotherhithe in London will soon be famous for more than just its Brunel-built tunnel underneath the Thames. Yesterday, a house there became the UK’s first home purchased via a mortgage deed signed and lodged with the Land Registry online and without the need for a physical or witnessed signature. This begins a process that will see much of conveyancing and the mortgage lending process move from mountains of paper to an online procedure which, agents will be relieved to hear, is set to significantly speed up sales progression. This first transaction was completed by the Land Registry in partnership with Coventry Building Society and conveyancing firm Enact as part of an initial test. It included using the government’s online identity verification system GOV.UK Verify to enable the borrower involved to sign the mortgage deed online without the need for a witness. Pioneering The pioneering transaction is part of the Land Registry’s attempts to transform the conveyancing market by making home buying quicker and simpler. And although a small first step, the Land Registry says the transaction follows months of testing with Coventry Building Society and Enact. “By working with partners in the industry, we have secured a simpler and…
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Letting agents today face new but “pointless” Banning Orders and Rogue Database system
The government’s Banning Orders and Rogue Database system for letting agents has gone live today despite the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) describing the initiative as “disappointing” and “pointless”. From now onwards, landlords or letting agents who are convicted of specific offences can be banned from letting or managing a property for at least 12 months via a Banning Order, and added to the Rogue Database for at least two years. The offences cover the most serious housing and criminal crimes. These include those involving fire and gas safety, Right to Rent, housing benefit fraud, ignoring council improvement notices, collusion in cannabis cultivation or drug dealing, poor HMO management, illegal evictions and violent or sexual offences against tenants. “I am committed to making sure people who are renting are living in safe and good quality properties. That’s why we’re cracking down on the small minority of landlords that are renting out unsafe and substandard accommodation,” says Minister for Housing and Homelessness Heather Wheeler. “Landlords should be in no doubt that they must provide decent homes or face the consequences.” First Tier Tribunal Once convicted, councils can apply to a First Tier Tribunal to have the landlord or agent involved banned…
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Fifth of all agents fined for AML non-compliance
Nearly a fifth of all estate agents have been fined for non-compliance with the UK’s recently-introduced Anti Money Laundering (AML) regulations, it has been claimed. The research has been carried out by online identity verification service firm Credas, which says it believes agents were not given enough time or information by the government to prepare for AML, with predictable results. It polled 100 agents and found 19% of them had been fined for AML non-compliance by an average £11,842, although a third had been fined much more, at between £15,000 and £25,000. One of the duties estate agents must complete to be compliant with AML regulations is to store all their documentation relating to clients, financial transactions and other Anti Money Laundering paperwork. “We are concerned that 32% of the agents surveyed are still using a paper filing system to store their AML data,” says Credas CEO Rhys David (left). “There are so many digital solutions available on the market which will help agents with data storage and management, that there is no need to still depend on an old-fashioned filing cabinet and introduce risk. “Credas solves both those problems as it stores all the AML data in a secure…
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