Regulation of estate agents under Radio 4 spotlight again

“Unlicensed, unregulated and open to organised crime.” That was the damning conclusion on estate agency after the issue of licensing was thrown under the spotlight again after BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours show revisited its fraud expose from December last year.

Presented by broadcaster Winifred Robinson (pictured) the programme returned to the ‘extraordinary story’ of how criminals are trying to use whatever means possible to sell the homes of complete strangers.

Opening the show Robinson told how most people who want to buy a property browse the property listings websites which only estate agents can list property on.

But the show’s reporter, Shari Vahl, revealed how some criminals are setting up as estate agents to sell houses, without any checks on whether they’re legitimate.

Northampton-based Taylor & Jones Estate Agents were said to have swindled Angus, a tree surgeon from Southampton, out of his property while he was living elsewhere. The property was rented out then legitimately sold by the bogus agency after they managed to change the property’s title.

The law is that once the title is transferred it’s there’s and that’s it, Vahl reported, adding that the people who bought the home were innocent.

REQUIREMENT

Despite it being a legal requirement for estate agents to register with one of the two government authorised schemes – the Property Redress Scheme (PRS) or The Property Ombudsman – Vahl criticised the two bodies of not doing any checks on those registering with their schemes.

Once a company is registered with us this does not validate how legit a company is.”

A PRS statement to the programme said: “Our members register via our online form. The Property Redress Scheme do not do individual checks on members when signing up as the companies in question are required to be truthful of that company details. Once a company is registered with us this does not validate how legit a company is.”

Zoopla also came under criticism again after it told the programme that it allows new companies a grace period to register with one of the government schemes.

This is an issue that is much bigger than property portals and affects the entire property industry.”

A spokesperson for Zoopla told The Neg: “This is an issue that is much bigger than property portals and affects the entire property industry. We will be looking to engage with the wider sector to discuss this shared challenge and how we can take action together.

“We do our utmost to ensure only legitimate estate agents list on Zoopla and have a robust system of vetting and checks in place which is regularly reviewed and refined.

“These isolated incidents highlight the lengths bad actors will go to carry out fraud and are a reminder that buyers and sellers should always do their own independent research to ensure they’re using an estate agent that’s affiliated with an accredited body such as Propertymark.”

In December The Neg reported how a You and Yours investigation described Zoopla as having ‘gaping holes’ in its estate agency on-boarding rules which have enabled sophisticated criminals to sell or try to sell ‘stolen homes’ to unwitting buyers.

Listen to You and Yours  HERE.