Only Use Letting Agents That Are Members Of Regulatory Bodies
Written by The Landlord on 06 Jul 2009Being urged to inflict pain upon a letting agent isn’t an unfamiliar feeling to me. My hate has been real, and its been fueled by God awful customer service and snake-oil antics.
Dealing with rogue letting agents can be one of the most frustrating aspects of being a Landlord. And when letting agents fail to do their job properly, it’s not always clear who the consumer can complain to, or even if they have a right to complain. That’s why it’s imperative Landlords and tenants use a letting agent that are members of regulatory bodies for Consumer Protection. Agent members of a scheme are required to abide by a code of conduct; failing to do so may leads to financial compensation to the consumer and further penalties.
Letting agent regulatory bodies
Look out for agents that are associated with the following bodies:
The Property Ombudsman (TPO) – provides a free, fair and independent service for dealing with unresolved disputes between sales and letting agents who have joined the TPO and consumers who are actual or potential buyers or sellers or landlords or tenants of residential property in the UK. The TPO is one of the schemes approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) – a professional membership and regulatory body for letting agents and letting agencies in the UK. Any letting agency that is a member will have staff that will be trained to the ARLA codes of practice and one or all the staff will have taken a written exam to qualify to use the ARLA logo. The agent will follow their codes of practise; have Client money protection & Professional indemnity insurance.
National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) – a NALS agent will also have to follow strict guidelines, have Client money protection insurance, Professional indemnity insurance and mandatory membership with the Ombudsman for Lettings. NALS is a government approved scheme.
If you’re not sure if any agent is registered to a moderating body, it’s always best to ask, so you have the assurance of knowing you’re working with a regulated agent.
If an agent is genuinely a member of one of the three schemes they will be listed on the schemes websites as members. If they are not listed but display the logo as being a member, I would recommend contacting the bodies for clarification.
A notorious problem over the years for consumers has been that they had more rights when purchasing a tin of baked beans than when buying/renting a house. There has been no legislation or governing body keeping control of rogue agents. It’s only recently that laws have been put into place to help with consumer protection in the property industry. Since October 2008, all estate agents have been required to register with an approved scheme, although this is not the case with agents who only do lettings. That’s precisely why it’s important to use an agent that is registered- it’s usually the agents that aren’t registered which provide the worst service.
Advantages of using a Letting Agent Registered to a scheme
In summary, there are mainly 2 primary reasons why you should use a registered agent:
- 1) Agents that are registered are most likely to provide a better service
- 2) If a registered agent provides a poor service, you have a moderating body to complain to
Do you make sure your agent is registered with a scheme?
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8 Comments - join the conversation...
Sorry, I guess that's just my writing style, morbid and graphic =/
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Bye Bye then!
@L
Keep up the good work!!
Jools
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It was me, Fee I just couldnt be bothered typing my name. It wasnt a dig I just think its a property site..so theres not much need... and I know if I dont like it then blah blah dont read it and all that.
But what you put is actually really interesting...
Anyways yeh...made my point now.
Fee
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Jools
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It's a "property blog", not a "property site" per'se- there's a difference. If you want clean polished articles, you should read Rightmove's blog or something. You won't learn as much cool shit, but it will be lighter on the eyes hah! I like to keep things raw because it's more real.
It's like, if you learn to fight in a controlled Karate studio, you'll probably get battered if you go up against someone that's been street fighting all his life lol!
Speaking of which, did you watch that movie called "Private Parts" last night? It was a movie about how Howard Stern became a famous radio DJ. For years he was holding back from expressing how he actually felt about certain subjects because that's what people in the media generally do, "say the right thing" as opposed to saying how they really feel.
It eventually drove him crazy, and he suddenly just flipped and started being completely open on air. His producers went crazy, but his listeners loved his open approach. He eventually became one of the most popular DJ's in America because of his honesty.
Anyways, i'm just saying, this blog is based on my experiences/feelings! Actually, it's based on everyones experiences/feelings, and I don't want people to hold back, just as I don't.
xx
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Is this cost effective for letting agents, as in.. Is it better to provide a good service?
or pay TPO so you can have a banner saying you do?
The article written does not outline benefits of TPO or how it protects the Landlord.
TPO website simply outlines the basics of a letting agent. It seems not to go into specifics and "The agent must give you written Terms of Business" no outline of the framework of terms.
TPO seems to be ensuring landlords provide fine print, im sure and hope landlords would do that already.
Adam H
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I initially started this website because I wanted to document my every step from property idiot to property landlord,
in hope that people would find my site and help me along the way. I literally didn't have a clue about being a landlord
when I started this website.
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