Letting agent regulation 'would benefit all'

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 11:43:38 GMT

Greater regulation of letting agents would be beneficial to the industry as a whole, it has been claimed.

Chris Horne, editor at Property Hawk, stated that while it is important that there is some redress for landlords, a licensing system which required a lot of box ticking would be the wrong approach.

A more suitable course of action would be a code of conduct which letting agents are obliged to adhere to, as this would allow any complaints to be measured against a set of clearly stated rules and judged by an ombudsman, he claimed.

"The way the letting industry has changed and increased over the last ten years, there is a demand now for some kind of uniform approach and a way of measuring the conduct of letting agents – as is the case with estate agents," Mr Horne added.

In his latest annual report, property ombudsman Christopher Hamer stated that greater regulation of letting agents would serve both landlords and tenants well.


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