Dunstable Landlords and tenants are a step closer to securing protection from rogue letting agents after the government today proposed an eleventh hour amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill.
Housing minister Mark Prisk tabled the amendment in reaction to changes made to the Bill in the House of Lords, which would have given letting agents the same level of regulation as estate agents. Instead the government proposes to oblige letting agents to belong to an approved redress scheme, or ombudsman, which will give landlords and tenants an avenue for dealing with complaints when they arise.
Belvoir Dunstable would point out that Independent review of a complaint by an ombudsman is good practice already pursued by many agents, and it is excellent that all tenants and landlords should now have access to such schemes. There are still issues left on the table, however, and this will not expunge the sector of bad letting agents. For example client money protection is extremely important so that money paid over by landlords and tenants to an agent is properly accounted for and not at risk.
Belvoir Dunstable are members of Propertymark (The Propertymark Scheme) which ensures that agents comply with defined service standards and has in place a customer complaints procedure offering independent redress through The Property Ombudsman’s scheme, Professional Indemnity Insurance, Client Money Protection cover and access to Tenancy Deposit Protection.
