Long-standing tenancy referencing and insurance firm Endsleigh is quitting the sector and making eight redundancies.

It is unclear whether this is an unintended consequence of the impending lettings fees ban but it is known that other specialist providers have been looking at their business models.

The firm has been in the rental sector for over 25 years.

As an insurance broker it operates in a number of other sectors, including travel, sport, leisure and business insurances, and in 2006 was acquired by Zurich.

Yesterday, an Endsleigh spokesperson told EYE: “Last year we announced the separation of Endsleigh from Zurich’s personal lines business, and a transformation programme to ensure we’re in the best shape to grow our business and meet the evolving needs of our customers.

“As part of this process we will be exiting the tenant referencing market via letting agents to focus in core business areas and maximise opportunities for future growth.

“As a result of this decision we will be making a small number of roles redundant [eight] and we will be working to support those affected. We anticipate that our exiting the market will take several months.”

We did ask whether the decision to quit the sector was related to the forthcoming ban on fees charged to tenants, but the spokesperson said they could not expand on their earlier answer.