The ARLA board has voted to accept that membership of the Property Redress Scheme meets ARLA’s own consumer redress scheme requirements as part of its membership.

The PRS is the newest of the three authorised redress schemes for the private rented sector.

ARLA managing director David Cox said: “We’re very pleased to have approved the PRS to cover our consumer redress requirements for ARLA Licensed status.

“It’s great to see that the PRS has developed a healthy membership in such a short period of time. Furthermore, we have already received enquiries regarding membership from PRS members.”

The PRS says it now has over 2,000 members and is recruiting at the rate of 20 agents a day.

Tim Frome, managing director of the PRS, said: “This surge in membership has really exceeded our expectations. Estimates suggested there were 3,000-4,000 letting agents who would need to join a redress scheme.

“To achieve a membership of 2,000 in such a short time suggests that either the majority of these agents have chosen to join the PRS or that the number of prospective members was underestimated.”

Sean Hooker, head of redress for the PRS, said: “We offer two different membership options so our scheme is both affordable and flexible whilst covering the needs of different types of agents.

“Giving agents the opportunity to decide which model is best suited to them is something that sets us apart from the other two schemes and has contributed greatly to us reaching the 2,000 member target in such a short space of time.”

So far, 78% have selected the entry model which is a pay as you go structure where the agent pays a smaller application fee of £95 + VAT and then pays per complaint.

The remaining members have opted for an all-inclusive Enhanced model that covers both their application and their complaints (subject to a fair usage policy) and costs £199 + VAT.

So far, over 97% of members have joined as a Property Agent with nearly 3% joining the scheme on a voluntary basis as a “property professional”.