Former estate agent Chris Wood, who ran PDQ Estates in Cornwall and now has a 3D filming business, has slammed the National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team (NTSEAT) after he won his legal battle this week against the organisation.
Wood, who worked as an estate agent for 30 years, is now calling on the minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility to review the case and look specifically at how the NTSEAT functions as an orgnisation.
The case goes back to a complaint made not by an online agent but by an unnamed individual against Wood to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
It upheld the challenges to a tweet and two blogs which appeared on the PDQ Estates website.
Wood was ordered to take these down.
One of them he took down; this referred to his perception of sales rates by Purplebricks in Cornwall.
The other – which had already been up four years and argued against using cheap agents but did not name any – was slightly amended but left up.
As a result, the ASA reported him to the then regulatory body, NTSEAT, for possible enforcement action.
But according to Wood, NTSEAT apparently “failed or refused to investigate the ASA case but instead, decided to pursue a fanciful and costly investigation to bring a new case of its own [against me]”.
Wood made numerous posts on Social media urging NSTEAT to take action against estate agents who were, in his view, “demonstrably breaking criminal and civil law and codes of conduct of the Property Ombudsman Scheme”, but they went, in his view, “unheeded”, perhaps, according to the ex-estate agent, “costing consumers millions [of pounds] in the process”.
The investigation by NSTEAT centred around a complaint of alleged malpractice by a former client of Woods business, which was dealt with The Property Redress Scheme and concluded that Wood had not misled the client at all but issued a nominal fine for their ‘inconvenience’.
But NTSEAT’s own investigations concluded that Wood had committed, amongst other serious accusations, fraud.
Wood commented: “This last, most serious of claims by NTSEAT was shown to have had no evidence.”
He had to, in his own words, “put my life on hold”, while the NTSEAT investigated, which adversely affected his mental health.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” said Wood, who was supported financially by the Federation of Small Business (FSB).
The FSB paid for all of Chris Woods legal costs at Lauren Wilson of Markel Law and Matthew Holdcroft of Serjeants Inn Chambers.
Wood also told EYE that NTSEATs’ own investigations into him was “glaring incompetence at best”, adding that the department “was not fit for purpose”.
He said: “National Trading Standards Estate Agency tribunal defeat exposes incompetence and personal vendettas at the top of property enforcement.”
Wood is now calling for a ministerial review of the case, and wants the minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility to get involved, rather than the Housing Minister who is, in Woods’ opinion, “far more focussed on trying to meet housebuilding targets”.
“[I want] a full ministerial review of the Powys Councils trading standards team and its legal advisors as to whether they are competent in their role, are serving the public and the law-abiding estate agent well and, why they have failed to prosecute hundreds of agents and major PLCs who have demonstrably broken the law as well as statutory codes of estate agency.”
He added: “It [the legal case] should never have got this far. I have waited for three years for this moment to clear my name. All I wanted was a level playing field for the good guys.”
A spokesperson for National Trading Standards said: “Christopher Wood was issued with a Warning Order as the NTSELAT and the adjudicator had grounds to believe he had engaged in a misleading commercial practice contrary to Regulation 6 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
“Although the First-tier Tribunal has recognised some wrongdoing by Mr Wood, on this occasion a decision has been made that either a Prohibition Order or a Warning Order is ultimately not justified. We look forward to continuing our work to protect consumers and businesses.”
Following publication we received this statement from National Trading Standards:
“Christopher Wood was issued with a Warning Order as the NTSELAT and the adjudicator had grounds to believe he had engaged in a misleading commercial practice contrary to Regulation 6 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
“Although the First-tier Tribunal has recognised some wrongdoing by Mr Wood, on this occasion a decision has been made that either a Prohibition Order or a Warning Order is ultimately not justified. We look forward to continuing our work to protect consumers and businesses.”
The spokesperson added:
“We would also like to address some of the inaccurate, false and misleading claims made in this article, including in the headline. Far from alleged ‘incompetence’ or perceived ‘vendettas’, the tribunal did in fact find evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Mr Wood and we reject the sensationalist allegations that have been made since the hearing.”
Well done Chris. But such a shame that the NTSEAT has proven to be less than the bastion of good governance we had long been hoping for.
Agents are often best placed to identify and call out those in our industry who flout the rules to secure unfair advantage in the process. But so many of the safeguards within various Codes of Practice seem naively targeted for the benefit and exclusive use of consumers who are poorly motivated to use the available sanctions.
For example, why would a client bother to challenge an agent about a failure to disclose a referral fee? Property misdescriptions, and failure to disclose material facts (potential claims under CPR) are often best identified by another agent but a referral to TPO would normally be rebuffed with the comment “a customer needs to make complaint”.
So it is so sad to read of Chris’s experience and he has my sympathy for enduring such a torrid period. He should now hold his head high.
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Well done, Chris. Persistence, knowing you’re in the right and not backing down to people/organisations like was needed and you have it all. Glad you got the right result
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Apparently I am regarded as a zealot alongside Chris Wood, perhaps I am but when Powys won the tender to run NTSEAT and James Monro promised to police CPR and BPR (Eye story 2015) I took him at his word and did what I could to help him. I built and provided software that could help him tackle some of challenges the industry faces and the minority of agents who believe “if the rules don’t suit the investment ignore the rules or break the rules”
There was never a vendetta against a single company as collectively NTSEAT, TPO, Propertymark and PRS thought Chris was pursuing but I witnessed a most unprofessional and unbefitting attack on a man who was only doing what he believed was a common aim with all those organisations; policing CPR, BPR and agents riding roughshod over rules that govern this business.
There is something not right about the lack of action taken against agents who break the rules. IT IS NOT ‘agent’s gripes’ when one agent reports breaches of regulations but that is the ‘get out of doing anything about it’ card that the regulators use.
It is understandable that the redress schemes don’t get involved with disputes between agents, the redress schemes are there for consumer matters and a means of sanction against wrong doing agents. (wrongdoers should have redress withdrawn and with it their ability to operate where they are operating outside the rules) but both Propertymark and NTSELAT (as it is now) ought to have the means to receive details of evidenced wrongdoing or concerns of suspected wrongdoing, either to do something or to investigate concerns.
Chris was never challenging their authority but It was very clear from the way they dealt with vexatious complaints against him they believed he was.
If the regulators trade associations and redress schemes cannot effectively police wrongdoing and are openly resentful and obstructive to those trying to help they are making their job far harder than it needs to be. There is no point to regulations if only decent, honest and professional agents abide by them but rogues use it as an opportunity to give themselves a commercial trading advantage over their competitors
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Very happy for Chris for the outcome and for PIE for running this story and helping clear his name.
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Every positive emoji possible…
Top job Chris…
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I am a little confused by the NTSELAT statement.
The role of a First-tier Tribunal is to hear “appeals from citizens against decisions made by Government departments or agencies”
So, they were hearing an appeal against a Warning Order.
It seems very mealy-mouthed for NTSELAT to suggest that the Tribunal considered Prohibition, which does not appear to be their remit.
Perhaps PIE could clarify this point with NTSELAT ?
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Well done Chris but as he says “justice delayed is justice denied”
A heavy burden to carry on his shoulders for a period of time
What is particlarly pleasing is to see the huge success the multi talented Chris has made of his new business especially during the pandemic
These ex soldiers are made of sterling stuff !. All credit to him
NTSLEAT looking to spitefully open up an old wound rather than spend their limited resouces on tackling the big beasts
Taxi for Munro
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PIE, there’s no point Chris asking Margot James to review this case or NTSLEAT as she left Parliament in Nov 2019 over Brexit. Paul Scully MP is now Consumer Affairs Minister at BEIS.
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Thank you for the update (will amend my address book) and to everyone for the support on and off this thread. Very much appreciated.
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There were always concerns over the granting of National Trading Standards Estate & lettings Agency Team being awarded to Powys and Gwynedd Councils.
1. No real experience of this regulatory agency type.
2. No real experience of our industry.
3. Lack the resources to be pro-active.
4. The only candidates that put in a tender for the job when a big cash hand-out was available to take it on. Says much what other councils thought.
Who hasn’t seen the lack of investigation, let alone enforcement by this organisation since NTSLEAT birth? I recall they said they haven’t the resources. The industry was awash with irregular practices and when the on-liners jumped into the pot it multiplied ten fold (yes there were other agents also needed to be reign in) and one in particular comes to mind and still no news!
Did Chris make a rod for his back, as he was outspoken of the irregularities by some agents and lack of action by NTSLEAT and there is more than a strong whiff of poor judgement and reasoning behind NTSLEAT behaviour towards him.
NTSLEAT seem a very secretive agency and noticeable by their lack of appearance for several years.
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I feel for them, in the same way as so many government and local authority services have been delegated out and then massively underfunded NTSEAT started out with good intentions but the remit was too big.
Their refusal to be helped and then ignore or alienate those trying to help has made an unsatisfactory situation worse
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NTSLEAT is an incompetent organisation that just try to jump on the back of other organisations investigations and then add their own punishment after a guilty verdict has been made. Have had experience of them and was lucky enough to be able to send them back into the long grass!
The industry needs to be regulated desperately, but it still isn’t and I do not see that this organisation is adding anything to the mix. I would say a total waste of whatever funding they are receiving.
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flockfollower102
The “regulation” you say is so desperately needed is already in place. Estate Agents Act 1979… CPRs and BPRs 2008 (which superseded Property Misdescriptions Act 1992)… Tenant Fees Act 2019… the length and breadth of the list of legislation that Estate and Lettings Agency businesses must adhere to or fall foul of the Law is comprehensive.
But the fundamental issue being who is policing it all? You have two Redress providers whose teeth are made of marshmallow; an advertising ‘watchdog’ that lies asleep in the corner, twitching in its dreams of chasing gamboling lambs and f@rting unceremoniously – and a Trading Standards department whose entire raison d’etre is to
“oversee the operation of relevant estate and lettings agency legislation, such as monitoring complaints, carrying out surveys and working with trade and consumer organisations”
who seemingly prefer to conjure upwholly unfounded and frankly laughable ‘charges’ against troublesome tykes who dare to point the fingers at the real villains – only to have a new a***hole well and truly ripped by the defendant and legal advisors.
With the current jokers in charge, there will never be a decent hand dealt for the public or the industry itself when the pack has so many marked cards.
They can try to pin the blame on budgets all they want – this is an example of pure incompetence and woeful misunderstanding of the laws of our industry they are meant to be upholding.
If they weren’t up to the job (which they clearly aren’t) then they should never have asked for it (which they did) or accepted it.
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Great to see Chris cleared of any hint of wrongdoing- rather shocking that it has come so long after he decided to leave the industry. A matter that should never have been allowed to go this far that, for so many, felt like a witchhunt against an independent agent unwilling to be silenced about the events he saw unfolding going unaddressed. If he has been cleared- does that not mean his claims have been validated and, as such, the perpetrators pursued for their breaches?
For NTSELAT to deliver any scalable regulatory enforcement they simply have to invest dramatically in technology. Their team is so small anything else is like using a toothpick as an umbrella. Interesting to see that Robert May delivered some tech to facilitate this but curious as to why this has not been better leveraged.
So much agency enforcement can be automated through the right tech- CMP/PL/PI checks, ICO registration, fee disclosure, portal juggling, RTR & AML compliance, etc.- raising the standards of our profession and freeing up resources to tackle the most serious cases and offenders.
Glad to see Chris cleared though!
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