A national SAFEagent awareness week is to be held between May 14 and 20.
The objective is to build awareness of the campaign among landlords, tenants and other consumers, who may think that just because a letting agent displays the Ombudsman and OFT logos, their money will automatically be safe. Unfortunately, that is not the case unless the agent is a member of a regulated body such as NALS or ARLA which insists on client money being properly protected and insured.
The simplest way to check if an agent is regulated in this way is to look for the SAFEagent symbol.
National SAFEagent Awareness Week will include a series of national and regional events across the UK, supported by registered lettings and management agents.
John Midgely, chair of the SAFEagent steering group, said: “We have achieved a great deal of support since SAFEagent’s launch last year.
“SAFEagent Awareness Week will be a way of consolidating our efforts through a week long programme to promote the campaign to tenants and landlords and ensure that SAFEagent is top of consumers’ checklist of requirements when they look for a letting agent.
“We are very excited by the number of organisations who are already lending their support to this intensive week of activity, and a full programme of events will be revealed shortly.”
Over 1,800 letting agents have now signed up to SAFEagent.
In addition to Government support, key organisations in the industry including Which?, Citizens Advice, Shelter, Crisis, The Property Ombudsman, Consumer Focus, National Union of Students, OFT, GLA and Trading Standards Institute have all allied themselves to the scheme.
Comments
Isn't this just another money making wheeze? If you are already a member of ARLA etc you have to keep clients' money safe. SAFEagent want us to pay anothe £50 for the privelege of running our businesses. The unscrupulous agents will carry on regardless