The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team of Powys County Council—in its role as the UK’s lead enforcement authority for the Estate Agents Act 1979—has updated its guidance to help property sales businesses comply with the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008 (BPRs) when carrying out activities in the UK. This guidance updates and replaces OFT guidance on property sales: compliance with the CPRs and BPRs.
Powys' guidance
Mark HaywardNAEA Propertymark Chief Executive
'NAEA Propertymark supports the move towards the guidance being presented in a way that consumers will find easier to understand. However, we believe that it should go further in including specific examples which will help agents to understand what they should and should not say when dealing with consumers.
'Working examples could include the need for agents to tell an individual or couple looking to buy a house for retirement that there is a school nearby with increased noise and traffic levels at certain times; a self-employed consumer looking to purchase a property should be made aware of any parking restrictions surrounding commercial vehicles.
'By including detailed instances relevant to the buying and selling process we believe that the guidance would be more descriptive and allow agents to clearly understand what they can and cannot do'.
Propertymark has been working with a group of stakeholders including agents, conveyancers, Land Registry, software providers, The Property Ombudsman and National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agent Team on varied initiatives with the aim of reducing transaction times.
Our toolkit is designed to help agents comply with Consumer Protection Regulations, speed up transactions and reduce fall-through rates. Practising agents working across different markets have been involved in trialling parts of the toolkit and have reported reductions in transaction times down to seven weeks in some cases.
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On 28 February 2019, the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) published new guidance on referral fees received by estate agents across the UK. Their aim is to make previously hidden fees open and transparent to consumers. Within the guidelines, agents now need to disclose in writing at the earliest opportunity:
The NTSEAT guidance was produced with assistance from NAEA Propertymark, The Property Ombudsman, PRS, Guild of Property Professionals and RICS. If the industry does not take this guidance seriously and transparency is not achieved, referral fees could be banned when this guidance is reviewed.
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Our PIQs will help you comply with the CPRs. The forms are a general guide and there may be other questions that only apply in your area, such as the London underground or presence of mining etc. If that is the case, we recommend creating your own branded document outlining those specialist questions to accompany our standard PIQ.
NEW: Sales
Lettings
This course looks at the law from both a sales and lettings perspective, advising on the right procedures to have in place, what is and isn't permissible and the consequences of a breach. More info...
The Toolkit takes a fresh look at transactions, encouraging agents and vendors to work together right from the start to get the property both Market Ready and Sale Ready, finding all of the relevant documentation and taking remedial action alongside getting the photographs taken and sales particulars ready. Read more...
In February 2019, the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) published guidance on referral fees received by estate agents across the UK. More info...