The Government does not believe that all letting agents should be made to have client money protection insurance and belong to an Ombudsman scheme.
Confirmation of the Government’s stance came in a letter to ARLA chief executive Peter Bolton King.
Bolton King had written to housing minister Grant Shapps after a spate of letting agents going out of business and misappropriating money belonging to landlords and tenants.
He wrote pointing out some of the recent cases, but has now received a reply, which he describes as “not unexpected”.
The Government has repeatedly said it does not want to regulate letting agents, despite some notorious cases of theft and fraud – some of which are ongoing.
The reply from the Department of Communities and Local Government that Bolton King received is as follows:
“As you are aware, the lettings industry is not subject to statutory regulation, however, it is in the interests of the industry to maintain consumer confidence in the services provided and we look to organisations such as NFoPP to take a lead in that work. As part of this, the Department continues to explore with its industry partners how best to counter poor practice by letting and managing agents without resorting to regulation.
“As you will also be aware, between a third and a half of agents belong to voluntary schemes which ensure that members have the right protections for consumers in place.
“We always suggest that anyone considering using a letting agent checks to see that they belong to a trade body or accreditation scheme such as the Association of Residential Letting Agents, the National Association of Estate Agents, the National Approved Letting Scheme or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
“In view of the existence of well developed voluntary regulation in the sector, Ministers do not believe that regulation is the answer at present. But they are keeping a watching brief and information about poor practice is always useful in that context.”
Bolton King, writing in his weekly email to members, said: “While I am pleased that they continue to understand the benefits of using one of our members, they are clearly not yet swayed by the argument that all lettings agents should have CMP and belong to a redress scheme.”
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