The government has pledged to introduce an independent regulator for property agents, nearly nine years after ministers first announced plans to regulate the sector.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner made the announcement during the Labour party conference, committing to introduce property agent regulation for letting agents and estate agents as well as leasehold property managers.

She told delegates: “Unqualified, unlicensed and unregulated agents are taking thousands from their clients and mishandling their money. With no transparency or accountability, vultures can take advantage.”

Property agents will be required to obtain a licence to do the job, as well as appropriate qualifications to operate. If they fall foul of the required standards, the regulator would have the power to take their licences away. The new regulator would oversee a mandatory code of practice covering standards of conduct and complaints handling. The government says it will bring forward the changes “as soon as possible”.

ROPA

The move revives proposals developed by the Regulation of Property Agents (ROPA) Working Group, which was established in 2018 and recommended an independent regulator, mandatory qualifications and a legally enforceable code of practice in its 2019 report.

Sean Hooker, head of redress at Property Redress Scheme, welcomed the announcement but cautions that the sector has been here before.

“This issue has never been controversial in the sector, with calls for tighter regulation, mandatory qualifications and effective enforcement being consistently asked for by industry leaders,” says Hooker. “Despite warm words and the setting up of the ROPA commission leading to a comprehensive blueprint for how it would work, successive governments have failed to grasp the nettle and get something meaningful on the statute books. This new promise and full-blooded endorsement of the policy by the Secretary of State, under the banner of Hope Again gives optimism that this measure will be rapidly implemented.”

Leaseholders

Rayner also promised to introduce caps on fees that leaseholders and those living on freehold estates can be forced to pay to get their landlord’s permission for requests such as keeping a pet – with no certainty of the costs and no clear oversight of the process.   

The legislative changes will enable a clamp down on administrative fees, where landlords can charge for providing documents on request, such as building safety certificates, or notifying them of a change in mortgage provider. A public consultation will be launched on the scope of what should be capped and the amount for each item.  

Hooker adds that complaints against property managers from leaseholders and the most fractious ones it sees. “The property management industry does provide on the whole a good service in difficult circumstances but are often hamstrung by unfair lease restrictions which often impose unreasonable and unnecessary restrictions on the leaseholder. This imbalance, where often faceless freeholders, hold all the cards needs to be addressed with the introduction of register and redress for these landlords as well as clear and transparent charges and responsibilities.”

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