The Property Ombudsman scheme has launched two new versions of its Codes of Practice for sales and lettings agents operating in Scotland.
The new codes come into force this weekend on March 1.
They were written with input from representatives of the Scottish Government, Shelter, NAEA, ARLA and several property agents meeting with TPO to discuss the different legislative requirements that apply to transactions in Scotland.
More than 500 TPO Scottish sales and letting agents stand to benefit from the introduction of the new Codes, which have already received the highest form of industry accreditation from the Trading Standards Institute.
Christopher Hamer, the Property Ombudsman, said: “We worked closely with the industry to develop the Codes, which was crucial to make sure they accurately reflected some of the distinct differences in the Scottish sales and rental markets.
“Having independently reviewed hundreds of complaints from Scottish buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords, we recognised the importance of properly taking into account the different processes that consumers follow in Scotland.”
The new Codes cover all aspects of the latest property and consumer laws, with additional safeguards outlined for member agents to adhere to, based on industry best practice with specific reference to topics including the agent’s duty of care, Home Reports, market appraisals, tenancy agreements, referencing, marketing and advertising, viewings, conclusion of missives, offers and financial evaluation.
The new codes are available on TPO’s website.
What I thought interesting in this commentary was that TPO did not include the Law Society of Scotland as one of the parties to the consultation process since, in my experience, it is the LSS which effectively controls the operation of the property market in Scotland not a government department nor the Trading Standards Institute.
Some years ago now the Office of Fair Trading was asked to investigate the operation of the Solicitors’ Property Centres in Scotland and whether they were operating contrary to the public interest especially in those areas where the local SPC held an effective monopoly and restricted the activities of conventional estate agencies.
The LSS refused to co-operate with the OFT investigations and told me that it did matter what the OFT recommended since it could not have any effect on them.
It was right. The OFT Report was, rightly, critical of several SPCs in Eastern Scotland but was annoyed to find it could not force the LSS to change its Practice Regulations as being a ‘Professional Body’ it was exempt from the Fair Trading Legislation and, as far as I am aware, still is. Nothing changed and the then Director General of Fair Trading made representations to Government about this problem which was totally ignored by the Lord Chancellor’s Department.
In fact my one hope for a separate Scottish Parliament was that the LSS might lose some of its unfair ability to influence events in the legal profession’s interests. Some chance. I do not know the percentage of lawyers in the Scottish Parliament but I bet they constitute the largest and all-powerful cross-party alliance – as is the case at Westminster,
Accordingly, the LSS continues to control the residential property market in Scotland leaving TPO and the TSI to cover the estate agency sector.
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