The government is considering introducing tougher verification checks for letting agents joining official property redress and tenancy deposit protection schemes.

In answer to a written Parliamentary question about checks around government-approved schemes, Housing Minister Baroness Taylor of Stevenage said it recognised the harm caused when fraudulent operators misused legitimate schemes.

Following recent cases, the department has worked with tenancy deposit protection providers to strengthen safeguards, including adding a fraud disclaimer to insured deposit protection certificates, enhancing tenant communications about tenancy fraud, and reviewing verification and due diligence checks, said Taylor.

“We are actively working with National Trading Standards, redress schemes and other approved government schemes to consider whether further verification requirements are needed,” she added. “My department is also exploring options for further regulation of the property agent sector.”

Identify

Property Redress Scheme works hard to identify and act on any fraudulent activity it becomes aware of, which includes the expelling and exclusion of agents found to be engaged in or connected to a person or entity engaged in such behaviour, explains Sean Hooker, head of redress (pictured left). However, it relies on the wide number of organisations and bodies it has an understanding with to take appropriate action once it reports an agent to them.

“We welcome the consideration the government is undertaking to formally regulate the sector and introduce a public register for agents, as well as the landlord data base promised, to strength the consumers protection from such operators,” he adds.

Assurance

Tenants have the assurance of their deposit monies being protected and landlords should always check that they know which scheme and type of protection an agent has done on their behalf, according to Eddie Hooker, CEO of mydeposits (pictured right).

“They should also ensure they only use agents who have taken out the mandatory client money protection insurance cover and clearly display the details of this and the redress scheme they are members of on their website and display the relevant certificates in any office they have,” he adds. “Landlords can check the validity of this cover directly with the government approved schemes and they are entitled to demand valid certificates from their agents by law.”

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