Dodgy estate-agent regulation plans launched

Posted: 20 Mar 2007 09:58:16 GMT

Plans to make dodgy estate agents sign up to compensation schemes have been launched in Parliament

Plans to make dodgy estate agents sign up to compensation schemes have been launched in Parliament.

The bill will force estate agents to sign up to an ombudsman scheme empowered to issue fines in an attempt to protect the industry against a "small and unscrupulous minority".

Conservative politicians have complained that the government-backed scheme will set the financial penalties for breaking the code too low at [just?] £1,000.

"Any estate agent that doesn't belong to a redress scheme will now face being fined and banned as a result," said trade and industry minister Ian McCartney, defending the plan.

"Estate agents could face costly payouts and a possible loss of livelihood if they don't abide by the law and generally accept the voluntary codes of conduct in the industry."

Agents will be legally required to hold records for six years under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill, and to make them available to regulators on demand.

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