The Property Ombudsman is rewriting the TPO code for letting agents after a number of changes in the law.

Christopher Hamer expects the new, updated version to be launched on July 1, he told yesterday’s ARLA conference.

He said there was an important new emphasis on consumer protection regulation, with CPRs applying as much to letting agents as sales agents following the repeal of the Property Misdescription Act.

Giving advice to delegates – after saying that official government advice had been delayed – he said that letting agents should use “realistic” pictures in their property details, and should not use disclaimers.

He also advised agents to signpost prospective tenants to publicly available information and to ensure that they disclosed “sensitive” issues.

He said such issues could include murder. Hamer said: “If there is something unsavoury, I am not suggesting it should be flagged up on Rightmove and Zoopla advertisements, but you should make disclosures at the earliest possible opportunity.”

He also said that agents must disclose referral fees, pointing out that there is nothing wrong with earning them, but landlords and tenants must be made aware.

Hamer revealed that the requirement for all letting and managing agents to belong to an approved redress scheme is likely to slip back from its “official” start date of October.

He also warned letting agents that, following last year’s Advertising Standards Authority ruling which made it incumbent on agents to display their upfront fees along with the rent, the ASA would be checking agents’ individual websites.

The latest legal development for agents will be a doubling of the current seven-day cooling off period to 14 days under the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013. This requirement is due to be implemented in June and apply to all agency agreements signed away from the agent’s own premises.

While it will not apply to actual letting agreements, it will apply to agreements between landlords and agents.

Another speaker, legal expert David Barling, warned later at the conference that some of the new legislation will have to be tested by case law, and that there was a large question mark over guarantors.

He said: “It is a question as to whether this attaches to a tenancy agreement or is a stand-alone deal.” If the latter, then he said guarantors would have the right to have a 14-day cooling-off period.

In a highlight of the conference, outgoing ARLA managing director Ian Potter was thanked for his contribution by incoming president Valerie Bannister.

As she spoke, doors at the back were flung open to a kilted bagpiper who walked up the giant conference hall – a suitable serenade for Scotsman Potter, and one that delighted the entire audience.

For those who like PowerPoint, here is what we have so far on yesterday’s astonishing sell-out conference, which only left delegates having to fight their way back home with a tube strike as a challenge:

https://www.arlaconference.co.uk/index.php/2014-presentations