James Munro, team leader of the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, has pledged to take enforcement action against any agent identified as being engaged in ‘portal juggling’.
Munro was on a property panel discussion at yesterday’s well-attended Property Ombudsman conference in which he made the industry regulator’s position very clear.
Munro said that if NTSEAT receives a complaint that identifies a culprit, the regulator will take enforcement action.
Fellow panellist Kate Faulkner said that if any agent did not want to report a competitor, then they could report the matter to her, and as a consumer she would then make the complaint.
Kate may find herself with a busy inbox . . .
Some 300 delegates were welcomed by Gerry Fitzjohn to the conference at the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham before he handed over to conference moderator Tim Wakelin.
Briefing delegates on how to get the most out of the day, Tim introduced keynote speaker Tony Anderson who was working with Stelios Hadji Iannou on the launch of easyJet in 1995.
At the time it was a David v Goliath struggle as the fledgling airline took on the might of market-leading BA. It occurred to your correspondent that there was perhaps a similarity between this scenario and that of OnTheMarket taking on Rightmove.
In the end, after many cheeky and creative PR campaigns by easyjet they emerged as winners and today both they and Ryanair (the other upstart in the market at that time) are among the most profitable airlines in the world. Many other airlines went to the wall in the process.
There followed the property panel discussion with Leon Livermore of CTSI, Kate Faulkner, Mark Hayward, Eric Walker, James Munro and Radio 4 You & Yours presenter Winifred Robinson, where the topic included portal juggling and what Trading Standards is doing about it.
As usual it became clear that with very limited resources TS are under pressure but are working closely with TPO which has recently altered its codes to outlaw the practice.
The lunch break gave the opportunity to speak with many of the trade suppliers displaying their goods and services. It was very good to find that the majority are EYE clients!
In fact your correspondent found himself in much demand from delegates expressing very complimentary views about our publications and the high value they attach to our news coverage. Time passed and there were only a few minutes to enjoy the tasty vegetarian lunch bowl. But no time for dessert or coffee. A devastating loss.
The afternoon session was a ‘Be the Ombudsman’ breakout that gave sales and lettings delegates a selection of real life cases to adjudicate upon and then compare with what the TPO actually did.
There were some very interesting questions raised, especially the one where a disinstructed agent revealed to a buyer (purchasing via a newly appointed agent) that the subject property had a previous survey that revealed subsidence. The vendor complained to TPO that the first agent was in the wrong. TPO, after taking advice from NTSEAT, determined that in fact the agent was simply complying with requirements under CPRs.
Katrine Sporle then took to the stage to review her first year in office – which, in her words, has been a ‘rollercoaster’.
She began with fulsome praise for her predecessor, Chris Hamer (“a superb ombudsman”) and said “I knew I had big shoes to fill”.
Katrine went on to explain that she had wanted to bring fresh eyes to the role and that she is taking steps to get decisions made faster, eliminate perceptions of bias, and introduce modern working practices and computer systems.
Although the number of enquiries and complaints requiring review has been increasing year on year, there is some evidence that 2016 may see a plateauing of the numbers, or possibly a reduction. As for the time taken to deal with cases, in 2015 48% of sales cases and 42% of lettings were resolved within 90 days. In 2016 they are now 70% and 74% respectively resolved within 90 days – a significant improvement.
Katrine revealed that TPO is running a pilot study with selected agents to test new practices whereby agents will be asked to provide specific information in cases rather than simply handing the whole file to TPO.
Agents and complainants will also be tasked with making responses within ten working days. And in a significant change, TPO will send a ‘proposed decision’ to both the agent and the complainant at the same time. This should help to eliminate the perception among complainants that TPO has ‘done a deal’ with the agent before the decision is communicated.
A strong thread of her presentation was the need and willingness for TPO to engage with the industry to raise standards and help to ensure compliance with codes and regulations. The change to the Codes concerning portal juggling was an example of how the industry can effectively self-regulate.
In closing she made a heartfelt plea for permission to drop the word ‘new’ when referring to her ombudsman position and from now on she is going to simply be ‘The Ombudsman’. Given the warmth of her presentation and her clear grasp of the issues that affect the industry, your correspondent would be surprised if anyone objected. It seems very clear that Katrine Sporle is managing very well to fill that big pair of shoes…
“James Munro, team leader of the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, has pledged to take enforcement action against any agent identified as being engaged in ‘portal juggling’.”
I do hope so Mr Munro, because the track record of agents not displaying their fees has been pretty poor thus far…
http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/cash-starved-trading-standards-may-not-rush-to-police-new-letting-agents-law/
Just saying 😉
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A great day of meeting some old friends and many of the industrys’ top movers and shakers at a superbly hosted event by The Property Ombudsman team.
Wonderful to see the fraudulent activity of Portal Juggling taking centre stage and to be able to talk to BBC ‘You and Yours’ consumer champion, Winifred Robbins, who is now taking a keen interest in the story along with some of the more dubious claims made by certain agents. Like many involved in this issue, I am now looking forward to seeing those agents who are fraudulently deceiving consumers and undermining law-abiding agents, face the full force of the law.
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How many agents do you think are involved, Chris?
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Dozens. Hundreds. May even tip into the 000s.
Big ones… small ones… High-street based… online/hybrid/pick-a-disrupting name.
ONE prosecution will see the numbers tumble.
IF the portals actually #DO_SOMETHING and remove offenders, the numbers will tumble further.
IF status quo prevails – it will continue like the chimps teaparty it has become.
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‘ONE prosecution will see the numbers tumble.’ Agreed PeeBee.
And it needs to be a really, really high profile agency that is the subject of it. We all know who that should be, don’t we.*
*Name not used so as to avoid me/PIE getting a heavy letter from the lawyers.
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“And it needs to be a really, really high profile agency that is the subject of it.”
Whilst it would no doubt be fitting, the problem exists that high-profile Agencies have a team of high-profile Legal Eagles watching their backs.
One way or another – SOMETHING has to give. And it clearly isn’t going to be the portals.
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I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. As Peebee says there are lots of different agents gaming their listings. the most prevalent jugglers appear all to be operating business models that are heavily supported by un-earned income whether that is in the form of loans, crowd funding or other investment methods.
Essentially the firms are losing money and the novelty of sticking one up traditional agency is now falling flat and on deaf ears. The supporting money is drying up, the loss leading fee structures weren’t enough to disrupt the industry, the party is over and the clean up has begun!
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I recall when liaising with an account manager at a big search portal that I was actively encouraged to re-list properties to “refresh them”. So how much of this is being driven by them?
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That the issue has rocketed to the centre stage of the industry news, Property Ombudsman, broadsheet news and, now, BBC consumer programs, shows how serious the problem is when seen in the context of the other very serious issues it encompasses, including fraud and trading illegally*. As has been said above, it will not stop until the main protagonists are prosecuted to a level commensurate with the serious nature and scale of the problem.
*Having recently checked a number of a certain agents franchisees (who employ several hundred), it seems that they remain unregistered with either an approved redress scheme, the ICO or, for money laundering etc (or a combination of these). I spoke with a senior member of management of Rightmove at the TPO conference yesterday but it seems the company is unconcerned by this information and maintains it does deal with non-compliant agents, despite its contract with agents clearly stating that they vet all companies advertising with them to ensure they comply with the law.
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*Having recently checked a number of a certain agents franchisees (who employ several hundred), it seems that they remain unregistered with either an approved redress scheme, the ICO or, for money laundering etc (or a combination of these). I spoke with a senior member of management of Rightmove at the TPO conference yesterday but it seems the company is unconcerned by this information and maintains it does deal with non-compliant agents, despite its contract with agents clearly stating that they vet all companies advertising with them to ensure they comply with the law.
Now this is where Government need to step in. We have laws, rules and regulations but the lack enforcement on others knowingly allowing people to act unlawfully using their services, for their own profit, is obscene. This says what a lot of people have always thought of Right Move attitude to its clients (agents) given it was the agents who made their company. Wrong Move as someone called them and any other portal, should be named and shamed for not taking due care & diligence and not taking action when it comes to their attention.
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And the government will say, contact the TPO who, in turn, are saying, we will do what we can with the limited resources we have or, as at yesterdays conference; “you’ll have to pay us if you want us to prosecute for you” (I’m paraphrasing)
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This is what everyone knows, NTSEAT & TPO & ASA are not fit for purpose. Their remit is basically one sided to control agents but absolute no intention to get involved in regulating “the industry” which involves all aspect of Estate Agency. Its like having the police only catch cars speeding and ignore any other crime! We are therefore in a position that an industry is not under anyone’s control, there is no stomach by regulators to want to do more ….. this itself is hypocritical ……. to have a regulatory organisation(s) that fails to maintain standards but happy to tell others what they should do.
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It’s an issue certainly on the map and one which can no longer be ignored!
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“Munro said that if NTSEAT receives a complaint that identifies a culprit, the regulator will take enforcement action” someone might want to check that is true I would hate for that to be like the Zoopla commitment to permanently ban firms who portal juggle. Soz we had our fingers crossed, it doesn’t count!
there is now over 10gb of evidence collected and shared with NTSEAT, if a complaint against the firms is all that’s required the Peebee knows what to do; complain. You collected the data but haven’t complained. If they require the official form to be completed for every case we can help you with an auto fill routine like the one we use for land registry errors
One of the concerning things reported back to me from the day was the suggestion by one panelist that agents can employ TS to investigate complaints. I have no doubt that was said so I think it should be investigated what was meant by that rather perplexing suggestion.
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“You collected the data but haven’t complained.”
Oh I’m sorry – I thought that several months of constant contact with NTSEAT and hundreds… actually, make that THOUSANDS… of individual cases of #portaljuggling handed over might have given them a modicum of something to be getting on with.
Silly me…
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Yes but it seems you forgot to complain, they must have thought of you as some weirdo who sits up all night collecting screenshots of portaljuggling just for the heck of it.
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“…they must have thought of you as some weirdo who sits up all night collecting screenshots of portaljuggling just for the heck of it.”
Guilty as charged, M’lud…
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Sorry how stupid, they have the information but unless someone complains they take no action. Regulators should be proactive in regulating when they receive information from wherever. I recall that they will not allow an agent to complain about another agent (also applies to TPO). Was it made clear if this is still the case, in all cases or is just portal juggling made an exception to the rule?
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OK you lovely peeps.
Has anyone been looking at the volumes of “new instructions” on rightmove or Zoopla by the on line players. Are, for example, PB still listing the same volume as earlier this year? or this time last year? Have the numbers gone up?
Anyone?
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PP
Last 30 days “listings” on Zoopla today – 2556.
Same period, taken on 29/9 – 2682
I’ll post any more as I find them
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Negative trend !
Interesting !
And PB claim they will be in profit by when ?
Share price today: £1.34 still 98p higher than it should be, in my opinion !!
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No doubt they will be using “traditional” Estate Agency excuses for a slowdown – however, should they wish to continue to ‘innovate’ they could use the perfect “disruptor” as reason for lack of instructions…
…”The Hurricane Matthew Effect”.
Remember, folks – you read it here first…
;o)
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I have received DOZENS of “Data Quality” emails from Rightmove in past where they have removed properties that in their opinion should no longer be displayed on their site. (I will quickly state that to date they have been required to reinstate EVERY property…)
The body of the email states:
“We have removed the properties as Rightmove insists upon the removal of properties that are no longer available for sale or rent in order to maintain the very best quality and experience for users of the site.
Keep your stock fresh and up to date!
Data quality is important to us and especially our users. We know that users of Rightmove value and expect the highest standards of data accuracy and quality, and displaying unavailable properties does not work for Rightmove or you. It is your responsibility and obligation to ensure that the properties you display on Rightmove.co.uk are present and correct.”
They have the neck of a thousand towers of giraffe.
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So they encourage agents to refresh their data = portal juggling!
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So can anyone tell me where we are supposed to report offending agents? James Munro failed to actually give any indication of where rogue agents should be reported. Having recently witnessed portal juggling at its worst, and searched high and low the closest I can get is to being told to call the Citizen’s Advice Bureau!! Help / guidance appreciated!
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Start on Twitter – @tseastateagency will get you on the right road.
Please feel free to copy me in on the tweet – @Agent_PeeBee – and I will happily make sure that the right ankles get gnawed! ;o)
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