Hunters founder Kevin Hollinrake has said regulation of property agents is not needed and that he is opposed to it.

Hollinrake, who is now the Conservatives’ Shadow Housing Secretary, claims that agents are already regulated, and new rules would be expensive, forcing fees up.

He also pointed out that Lord Best’s RoPA (Regulation of Property Agents) proposals do not cover landlords who control 50% of the lettings market.

I don’t agree with him because every single agent will have to do a course every year.”

“I don’t agree with him because every single agent will have to do a course every year… costing hundreds of pounds per person,” he says.

Hollinrake says that the Estate Agents Act 1979, consumer regulations and redress schemes for agents are enough. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has said that RoPA will be enacted under the Labour Government.

New leads

In an interview with Adam Horton of Hortons and The Agent’s Journal (see main picture), Hollinrake also warns agents that they don’t do enough to produce new leads.

“They don’t spend enough time generating new opportunities, new valuations and viewings leads,” he says.

Nearly went bust

And he revealed that Hunters almost went under soon after it was founded in 1992. He said that as a result of Black Wednesday, the business went through a very rocky period.

“We really thought we were going to go bust. It was very unlikely we would get through that winter to be honest,” he says.

Some cheques bounced when things were at their worst, he says, but the business came through that difficult time, and developed resilience as a result of the problems.