Following Sir Bryan Carlsberg’s meeting yesterday as part of the Review of Resident Property, Caroline Pickering, Chair of The National Approved Lettings Scheme has responded strongly calling for the industry to look to voluntary accreditation schemes – such as the Government supported NALS scheme – as opposed to statutory regulation:

“It is vitally important to us that the consumer is protected in the private rented sector whether letting or renting, and the key to this is self-regulating the industry. Accreditation is essential and we are pleased that Sir Bryan Carlsberg and his team have pushed it up the political agenda. We believe the industry needs to focus on promoting and raising awareness for the highly regarded and reputable accreditation schemes already in place to encourage more people to aspire to best practice.”

“NALS accreditation is imperative to the many hundreds of firms who use the NALS kite mark to demonstrate to consumers they meet an industry standard for customer service. It has strict criteria and as a result is recognised by the industry as the benchmark for the consumer to look for and enhances the rental experience. It is our opinion that we need to continue to promote voluntary accreditation to ensure the sector delivers exceptional standards.”

NALS is backed by the Government and the professional bodies in the lettings sector. NALS offers a reliable benchmark for landlords and tenants to compare the standards of service they receive from residential letting agents. All accredited firms commit to providing clearly defined levels of customer service, have client money protection cover, maintain professional indemnity insurance and operate a customer complaints procedure. For more information visit www.nalscheme.co.uk