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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TPO awards to complainants rise to over £1million
The value of awards that The Property Ombudsman Service (TPOS) told agents to pay disgruntled customers tripped over £1 million for the first time last year...
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Scarborough landlord licensing scheme launched
Town is latest of over 35 selective licensing schemes to be introduced over past two years.
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Leading solicitor warns of property fraud epidemic
One of London’s leading mid-tier law firms Mackrell Turner Garrett is warning property investors to step up their efforts to protect themselves against fraud.
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Consultation starts on Welsh letting fees ban
The government in Wales has launched its formal consultation on a Welsh letting fees ban in preparation for legislation, with a deadline for agents and landlords to respond of 27th September. Once the consultation process finishes, it expects to bring forward a Fees Charged to Tenants Bill, most likely next year. Wales has already gone several steps further than other parts of the UK in reforming the private rental market following its launch of Rent Smart Wales, its compulsory licensing system for landlords and agents. In its consultation document the Welsh government criticises agents for not supplying tenants with a breakdown of the services they charge for and instead charging flat fees. But although this makes it easier for tenants to compare costs between different agencies, “It lacks transparency” the document says. Welsh letting fees ban Its move to ban fees has been influenced by housing charity Shelter Cymru, which last year released a report on the Welsh private rental market called “Letting go: why it’s time for Wales to ban letting agents’ fees”. In it the charity said fees charged to tenants ranged from £39.99 to £480 and that a third of tenants in Wales pay £200 or more…
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‘Why does our industry allow rogue agents to continue ripping people off?’
One of London’s largest estate agents has called for greater action by the industry and government to eradicate rogue agents after encountering increasing problems recently with rival companies who don’t comply with industry codes of conduct or regulations. LiFe Residential, which has a large HQ near Acton in West London, 13 offices across the capital and 4,000 properties under management, says since November last year it has received more and more cries for help from landlord clients who say they have lost deposits and rents after switching to rival agents who pop up and then disappear over short periods of time. “The fly-by-night nature of these companies, the fact that regulation of the industry is light and that the police aren’t interested unless dozens of people lose money, means these kinds of agents know they have room to operate,” says Jonathan Werth, a director of LiFe Residential. One particularly extreme example of a London agent that closed down owing tenants and landlords thousands of pounds is Oliver Knights Properties Limited, a company that ceased trading in April last year. There are comments on All Agents and many other forums full of landlords and tenants complaining that they have lost money…
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Is new tenant deposits ‘charter’ a blueprint for future rules?
The UK’s longest-established tenant deposits scheme says it may make compliance with its new ‘deposits charter’ a condition of membership in the future. Drawn up with the help of The Property Ombudsman, ARLA Propertymark and RICS, its Code of Recommended Practice outlines the standards it expects of The Deposit Service (TDS) members when protecting deposits. The document also spells out how agents should frame terms of business with landlords and draw up tenancy agreements, complete check in and check out reports and negotiate deposit deductions. Tenant deposits Although TDS says its new ‘charter’ is not compulsory and only previous rules will be enforced formally, TDS says it “does reserve the right in the future to make compliance a membership a requirement”. The company also says that, because it deals with over 15,000 deposit disputes a year, this gives it the “outstanding insight into what causes tenancy deposit disputes, and what can be done better to avoid them arising”. But TDS is careful to point out that its charter does not replace the existing and “much more substantial” deposit codes of practice already in place from the other industry organisations. “It captures, in an easy to understand statement, those ‘best practice’…
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Goodlord! Half of agents support letting fees ban, claims proptech firm
Nearly half of all agents across the UK are in favour of the government’s letting fees ban announced in the recent Queen’s Speech. The claim is being made by lettings and tenancy management platform Goodlord, which says 49% of the 130 letting agents it quizzed were in favour of a ban on admin fees. Some 48% wanted a cap on the size of deposits, a measure also mentioned during the opening of parliament. And a similar proportion of agents also though it a cap on rent rises would be a good idea while 64% of London agents believe the government should build more social housing, although only 54% of those outside the capital believe this. Goodlord says that agents think the sector needs reforming and that overall it is “inefficient” and “lacks transparency” and is often unfair to tenants, the research revealed, and only 42% of the agents though tenants really understand how renting a home works. Moving costs The proptech company says the agents were also “broadly supportive” of ending the current system of landlords being able to terminate tenancies after six months without giving a reason, and that landlords should reimburse them for at least part of their…
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Trading Standards warns online agents not to make unsubstantiated claims
The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) has waded into the debate about the ‘fees saved’ advertising claims made by many online-only estate agents. NTSEAT says it wants to remind online agents not to make unsubstantiated and inaccurate claims about their selling fees when compared to traditional high street agents. The warning comes after last week’s ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), in which it upheld a complaint about Purplebricks’ website. This was prompted by a complaint from a West Sussex agent about nine ‘fees saved’ client case studies featured on the Purplebricks website in which, Arun Estates highlighted, did not accurately reflect the different service levels offered by traditional and online agents. “These businesses should ensure that they are making comparisons against like-for-like services,” says James Munro, Head of the NTSEAT (pictured, left). “It is wrong to make general claims about savings when the headline price does not include facilities such as a sales board, floor plans, photographs, accompanied viewings, sales progression or other facilities which are normally included with traditional high street firms. “We recognise that online-only agents have a role in the marketplace for customers who wish to do more of the work themselves but…
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Two more councils clamp down on rogue landlords and agents
Two new schemes have been announced by two local councils to clamp down on rogue landlords and agents, joining a further half a dozen or more initiatives launched so far this year. Luton Borough Council and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets have both introduced different schemes with varying levels of enforcement. Luton has begun consultation on a selective landlord licensing scheme, while Tower Hamlets has launched a ‘private renters’ charter’ in addition to its existing licensing scheme. Luton wants to introduce licensing in five key wards of the town’s 19 wards. The scheme would see landlords required to apply for a license to operate each of their properties within these areas. Landlords are to be charged £110 per property, plus £110 per bedroom for a five-year licence. “The aim is to improve the overall quality of private housing provision and ensure that parts of the town that are currently blighted by poor quality accommodation and issues that often go hand in hand, are eradicated and improve the quality of life for all,” council Tom Shaw (pictured, left) told Bedfordshire on Sunday. The council says it want to introduced the scheme to stamp out ‘speculative landlords’ who offer over-crowded and…
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OnTheMarket tribunal judgement is a “Pyrrhic victory” says city analyst
Leading City analyst Jefferies has called yesterday’s Competition Appeal Tribunal judgement in favour of OnTheMarket a “Pyrrhic victory”, suggesting it thinks the downsides of the judgement are as great as its positives. The comments came as the analyst looked at the implications of the ruling, which rejected Gascoigne Halman’s claim that its contract with OnTheMarket was anti-competitive and therefore void, and clearing the way for OnTheMarket to take on the incumbent portals and in particular, Zoopla. Jefferies says that, although it is surprised by the ruling, after reading the lengthy document the logic is easy to understand, but that it doesn’t change its positive attitude to ZPG. The main threats to ZPG, it says, are other factors such as a potential looming economic downturn culling agent branch numbers and the challenges of integrating its recent acquisitions into the ZPG family. not anti-competitive Jefferies says OnTheMarket’s ‘one other portal’ rule is not anti-competitive because agents joined the portal of their own free will, and that now the court case is over Rightmove and Zoopla will have to “sharpen their pencils” to be the ‘one other portal’. “The Competition Appeal Tribunal did agree with the premise that advertising on portals was an…
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