letting agent regulation

Government to introduce regulation of leasehold property management

The government is to introduce measures for the regulation of leasehold property management, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has revealed. His department is now seeking views on whether “a new regulatory model is needed for agents in the leasehold sector” and “what form regulation of letting and managing agents should take to best protect and empower tenants and leaseholders”. The proposals set out by Sajid take a three-pronged approach to regulate the management of leasehold properties. This will include measures to bring in regulation of managing agents, measures to protect consumers from unfair costs and overpriced service charges, and ways to give leaseholder more “say over their agent”. The Communities minister also wants to know if a new independent regulatory body for the property management sector. This is because, the Department of Communities and Local Government says, the sector is only “partly self-regulated” through the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) and ARLA Propertymark through their codes of conduct. Agents who are not members are not therefore covered by these codes and this “can provide a poor deal for consumers”. “This is supposed to be the age of the empowered consumer – yet in property management, we’re still living in the…

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