Trading Standards
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Latest property news
Estate agency fined £40k after admitting nine counts under unfair practices law
Meridian Estate Agents in Bournemouth was charged in March with 11 counts but has now been fined after admitting nine of them on the first day of its trial.
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Latest property news
Referral fees are under threat
The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) has today launched a survey to find out how widespread the use of referral fees from solicitors, surveyors, financial advisors and removal firms is among estate agents. It says the results of the survey will be fed into the Government’s ongoing investigation into referral fees. The survey asks agents to anonymously divulge whether they take such fees from these kinds of third parties, and whether they think referral fees should be retained, made more transparent, or banned. NTSEAT’s survey has the backing of both The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme and follows the government’s recent call for evidence by a working group set up by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. “The responses [so far] to whether government should take further action to enforce current transparency regulations regarding the disclosure of referral fees were overwhelmingly supportive,” says James Munro, Head of NTSEAT (pictured, left) “But at the inaugural meeting, it was decided that more information was required from agents about the nature of the fees they currently receive. The results of this survey will feed into the working group.” Reassurance Agents who think it might be a bad idea…
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Trading Standards fine London lettings agents £370,000 in three months
Letting agents in London who were hoping Trading Standards would ease off investigating those who don’t display their fees properly as the fees ban looms have been in for a nasty shock. Over the past three months letting agents in the capital have been fined £370,000 by the city’s 15 trading standards offices, it has been revealed. The fines are part of a big push by the capital-wide organisation that coordinates the policing of businesses in the city, London Trading Standards, to crack down on “rogue letting agents who flout the law”. The shocking figures highlighting the level of fines levied on letting agents have been released to coincide with a week-long campaign of activity by the organisation, which kicked off on Monday highlighting knife crime, followed by lettings and property management firms yesterday. Fees display London Trading Standards is focussing largely on agents who don’t display their fees clearly and issuing fines of up to £5,000 to those who transgress “to improve the rental experience for customers”. Its most high-profile scalp was earlier this month when Camden Council’s trading standards department won an appeal in the Upper Tier Tribunal against Foxtons using the term ‘administration fees’, which led to…
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ASA investigates agent over number of homes sold
A recent complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has highlighted the perils for agents of incorrectly using sales data taken from Rightmove’s Intel tool. The case involves an estate agent in Leicestershire who was reported to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for using a ‘misleading’ leaflet that used Rightmove data to claim that it had sold six properties in a specific postcode. Sales and letting agent CHQ Properties, which is based in the town of Shepshed just outside Loughborough and was set up two years ago, came to the attention of the Leicestershire County Council Trading Standards Services after it used a flyer distributed to homes in the LE11 central Loughborough postcode that included the claim ‘after selling six properties last week surely the best way of selling your property is with us’. Within its complaint to the ASA, CHQ Properties was challenged on whether it had really sold that number of properties in LE11 between 27 October and 2 November last year, as claimed. Trading Standards believed the flyer was misleading because it did not make clear which postcodes were included in the comparison, and that CHQ had not sold any properties in LE11 during that period. CHQ…
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Property Ombudsman expulsions
The Property Ombudsman expulsions continue as four agencies feel the wrath of the largest residential estate agency Ombudsman. Four separate estate and letting agents have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) and from registration for lettings redress for two or more years, after failing to pay awards made by the Ombudsman or to comply with parts of the TPO Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents. The expulsions follow complaints from landlords and tenants. In three cases, rent totalling over £9,000 had not been passed to the respective landlords. The complaints were upheld by the Ombudsman, who ordered payment of the money to those owed, together with compensation. TPO members are required to comply with any award and/or direction given by the The Property Ombudsman and accepted by the complainants. To date, all four agents failed to make payments. Winchester Lettings Ltd, in south London, was referred to the scheme’s Disciplinary and Standard’s Committee (DSC) after failing to pay an award of £750 made to a landlord who complained about poor service. This agent does not now appear to be trading. Miaisa Ltd trading as Gallery@HD1 in Huddersfield, was directed to pay £2,312 in rent due to a landlord…
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Trading Standards backs TPO stance on portal juggling
The National Trading Standards Agency Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) has waded into the issue of portal juggling with a resounding thumbs up for The Property Ombudsman’s imminent changes to its guidance. James Munro, who leads the NTSEAT, today said that he welcomed the TPO’s new guidance, which will be published on Saturday. It is likely to prevent TPO member agents from misleading consumers by removing and re-listing homes on property portals, enabling them to hide price cuts and make properties appear new to the market when they are not. Munro said he believes many agents do this to “manipulate sales figures” and that the new TPO guidelines could, he says, “lead to a ruling by the Ombudsman and also referral to enforcement agencies such as NTSEAT and local trading standards authorities”. “Such referrals could lead to prohibition orders or prosecution,” he added, and that “we will continue to work closely with industries bodies to stop this unfair practice, which misleads prospective homebuyers and harms honest estate agents who conduct their business in a fair and professional way.” One agent The Negotiator spoke to, who wished to remain anonymous, pointed out that although “unscrupulous”, it was a practice created in part…
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Latest property news
Portal juggling? Beware, Trading Standards officers are on your case.
“This is an illegal practice that misleads homebuyers on property websites and estate agents are warned that they could be prosecuted and face a ban from working in the industry.”
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Trading Standards warning over silent killer
The Trading Standards Service has issued a warning to consumers after independent tests on CO alarms found that eight out of 10 failed British Standards tests. The warning comes as new Smoke and Carbon Monoxide legislation comes in to force demanding that all private sector landlords regularly test smoke and CO alarms in all rented properties. The new legislation, that comes in to force on 1st October 2015, is expected to prevent up to 26 deaths and 670 injuries a year. Trading Standards is advising consumers to check their appliances are in proper working order and to test their CO alarms in order to alert them to the ‘silent and invisible killer’ after tests showed many devices were faulty. John Stones, Managing Director of Gas Safe Europe, comments: “Carbon Monoxide is a silent killer and yet one that is easy to protect against. Consumers should fit alarms and regularly test them to ensure they’re in working order and fit for purpose.” CO alarms are sold to alert consumers to rising and deadly CO levels, yet when Trading Standards sent 10 types of alarm for testing to the British Standard, eight of which failed in one way or another. The tests…
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