We all know that it is best to avoid penalties, especially when it comes to financial punishments against a business for non-compliance.
Paul Offley, compliance officer of The Guild of Property Professionals, points out that regardless of what people do for a living there is some aspect of legislation or compliance that governors their chosen profession, and as all property professionals would know, estate agency is no different.
He said: “When it comes to the property sector, what we need to be mindful of is that estate agency compliance is all there for a very good reason and that is to protect consumers. We are all consumers in some form, and we all want to make sure that if a member of our family were buying, selling or renting a property they would be treated fairly and with respect.
“With regard to penalties and fines, I think some agents think that it will never happen to them, and because they have done something in a certain way before, they can carry on doing it that way regardless of whether it is compliant or not, and on occasions an agent may claim as a defence ‘well no other agent in this town does it’. However, we have seen that with the increase of complaints and claims and with enforcement and fines within the sector, that simply is not the case and agents who are lax about compliance run the risk of incurring a possibly crippling financial penalty,” says Offley. “That said, compliance should not prevent business opportunities and restrict agents’ entrepreneurial skills, but rather ensure that they are conducted in the correct manner and according to legislation.”
The majority of estate agents would not knowingly act in a non-compliant manner, partly because there are so many facets within an estate agent’s job that need to be considered, and so it is very difficult to consistently ensure that all aspects and issues are handled in the right manner at all times, according to Offley.
He continued: “With the vast number of plates that agents need to keep spinning, it is possible that one plate could stop and if left unchecked the plate that has stopped spinning becomes the norm and that’s where issues arise. To avoid this happening, agents should do a regular compliance checks to ensure all aspects of their business is being dealt with in the right way, and if not, it is important for them to reassess what needs to be done to get their business back on track.
“As part of the Guild Membership, we work with our network of agents to ensure members are compliant and have the processes in place to keep them on the right path and to provide a valuable due diligence service.
“Our aim to shield our members from a possible compliance breach, while protecting the clients they work with and ensuring the entire process is undertaken in the correct manner. Ultimately, as an organisation our goal is to rise standards within the industry and assist agents to be seen as the professionals they are.”
Ewemove
With a huge drive in recruitment this appears in many of the new franchisee’s Facebook offerings to the public setting out their “Valuation credentials” pitching for business . Some re cently started with no prior property experience.
“When we come to value your property, we don’t just look at how many bedrooms you have and which street you live on. Those are great places to start, but a TRULY ACCURATE valuation takes many other things into account, from the small features that buyers will love to the age of your central heating system. Combined with YEARS OF FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE, recent sold house prices, and IN-DEPTH MARKET KNOWLEDGE, these things will help us give you the best valuation possible. So call us today for a free home valuation appointment and see what your house is worth.”
Having read this as a potential seller you would be unaware that your main asset is being valued for sale by somebody whose only previous experience is selling phones,leasing vans, cutting sandwiches ,giving swimming lessons or just recently breezed in from South Africa
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CPR ‘material information’ has been a thing since 2008. Last December I asked NTSELAT to provide a definitive definition of what agents need to provide; what constituents material information? I am still waiting for a reply.
If the people who regulate the industry cannot answer, by reply, the bedrock information the regulations are built on they are not in a position to give agents a ticking off let alone a prosecution or a fine.
For sure there are binary comply/don’t comply regulations that are easily policed such as CMP. Those are shooting fish in a barrel fines that agents would be daft to ignore but get into anything a bit uncertain such as CPR and BPR and I cannot recall a successful prosecution other than a couple of cartel cases.
I don’t want to appear too outspoken on this but NTSELAT is effectively a local authority that won a tender to look after some regulations. Well intentioned as it, nice people and all that, NTSELAT does not have the domain knowledge of the industry or the funding to do what it tasked to do.
I’m regarded as a bit of a zealot for regulation so I am not saying agent’s shouldn’t stick to the rules, I am say the agents most likely to break the rules will break them and currently there’s no way to stop them.
Rather than this be a critical rant let me constructively suggest that suspending a firm’s redress scheme membership would provide a very effective means to deter wrongdoing.
A complaint via trading standards, considered by the redress schemes with sanction of having redress suspended would provide a structure for effective policing that currently does not exist
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NTSELAT
When making a complaint direct to NTSELAT they redirect you to your local trading standards office even though it might be a national structural issue and it is up to them whether or not they refer it to NTSLEAT
Even though you might be based in Clywd and the issue arises in another county Hence there is litle appetite of the local trading standards to take it on .
Already doomed
Most days Peebee draws NTSEAT attention to the daily misleading old chestnuts listied s as First Listed on Zoopla and they do nothing .He might as well bang his head against the wall
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local trading standards are not trained or equipped to police CPR and BPR. Most agents are unaware of CPR beyond “it’s what replaced PMA” so expecting someone in trading standards to know about or care a property that’s been bounced to the top of Rightmove or Zoopla is unrealistic.
If the cases Peebee spots and highlights went to TPO or PRS ( appropriate to the agent) and they suspended redress it becomes a digital simplicity that agents without redress have their listings made invisible on the portals
Much of what NTSELAT are tasked with policing really would be simple if only they’d let themselves be helped
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I remember when NTSELAT was young and enthusiastic they were talking about……
In addition to the penalties set out above the …. has the authority to issue a prohibition order banning an estate agent or agency from engaging in estate agency work (under In addition to the penalties set out above the ….. has the authority to issue a prohibition order banning an estate agent or agency from engaging in estate agency work (under the Estate Agents Act 1979) and/or it can refuse to issue a credit licence or revoke, vary or suspend an existing one (under the Consumer Credit Act 1974)
Surely a couple of high profile banning orders would increase compliance awareness?
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The other side of this message is that because you work professionally and would never even consider doing anything wrong, doesn’t mean that you might not be!
So much regulation today sitting in an office filing cabinet, gathering dust ready for the event you think will never happen to you or you discover you haven’t this and that in place that would satisfy during an inspection. You can still get done for not having done anything. Many agents in Wales discovered this when they were audited by Rent Smart Wales licensing compliance and agents around the UK with employment legislation and Money Laundering to name a few. You need eyes in the back of your head.
Hillofwad71 where is Clwyd?
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