New measures will be introduced to professionalise the estate agent market, driving up standards and bringing an end to ‘rogue managing agents’, have been announced today by the Housing Secretary Sajid Javid.
With over one million homes bought and sold in England each year, delays and complications during the process cause unnecessary financial and emotional stress to customers.
This uncertainty, says the government, can lead to delayed decisions and contributes to over one quarter of house sales falling through annually.
According to government research, more than 6 out of 10 buyers and sellers have experienced stress, and around a quarter of sellers said they would use a different estate agent if they were to go through the process again.
Estate agents will now be required to hold a professional qualification and to be transparent about the fees they receive for referring clients to solicitors, surveyors and mortgage brokers. Other measures to make the system easier, faster and more transparent include encouraging the use of voluntary reservation agreements to help prevent sales falling through and crack down on gazumping
setting a timeline for local authority searches so buyers get the information they need within 10 days.
The measures will require managing agents and freeholders to provide up-to-date lease information for a set fee and to an agreed timetable which will end the current situation where leaseholders are at the mercy of freeholders and their agents.
The measures also promise to
strengthen the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team so they can carry out more enforcement activity which includes banning agents.
Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said:
Buying a home is one of the biggest and most important purchases someone will make in their life. But for far too long buyers and sellers have been trapped in a stressful system full of delays and uncertainty.
So we’re going to put the consumers back in the driving seat. We will require estate agents to hold a qualification so that people are no longer at risk from a minority of ‘rogue agents’ and can trust the process when buying or selling their home.
