Rentsmart wales
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Regulation & Law
‘Industry first’ forum launched for Welsh agents to ‘virtually’ meet officials
After much lobbying the Welsh Government is to help convene a regular meet-up of officials and agents to improve two-way communication.
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Latest property news
Welsh agents not displaying fees despite TPO enforcement letters
As the deadline for agents to get licensed with Rentsmart Wales passes, Welsh agents will be aware it is not the only organisation trying to police them. The Property Ombudsman late last month said Swansea was one of the Consumer Rights Act non-compliance hotspots after it discovered that agents in the city, along with those in Dorset, had the worst track record for displaying their fees both on their websites and in-branch, as the law now requires. Letters were sent out in a joint campaign with The Chartered Trading Standards Institutes to agents late last month warning them that non-compliant agents would be reported to local Trading Standards officers. But despite this, The Negotiator can reveal, five of the 18 letting agents with properties to let in the city still do not publish details of their fees on their websites. Earlier this month The Property Ombudsman Katrine Sporle (pictured) said up to 50% of agents in Swansea were not compliant and that they had until this Monday to remedy this. The letter has at least prompted some Swansea agents to get on board. Some 27% of them are non-compliant, an improvement on 50% and a sign that most agents across the UK…
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Latest property news
Welsh agents race to get licensed by mandatory RentSmart scheme
The deadline for registration with Rentsmart Wales has now passed and the hundreds of unlicensed agents who manage properties on behalf of landlords are now in breach of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 but, we can reveal, won’t be prosecuted straight away. Rentsmart Wales, which is the Licensing Authority operating the scheme on behalf of the country’s 22 local authorities and run by Cardiff City Council, would appear to be creaking under the strain of late applications from landlords and agents. Its main contact number has been constantly engaged since the beginning of the week. As the deadline passed last night Rentsmart Wales says it had licensed 405 agents with 1,147 pending approval, and 3,945 landlords licensed with 9,133 pending approval. This is a significant improvement on the position at the end of October when 303 agents had been licensed and 576 were pending approval. Rentsmart also says 126,154 properties are now within the scheme or about 62% of the rental stock. But there is still a long way to go and the vast majority of agents and landlords are waiting for to be licensed. In light of these figures, Welsh Assembly Communities Secretary Carl Sargeant said last night that agents and…
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