The Property Standards Board, set up to establish mandatory licensing of all estate and letting agents, and with the backing of NAEA and ARLA, has been dissolved.
Five months after the general election, it has had to acknowledge that licensing is no longer on the political agenda.
The board was a cross-industry initiative, set up jointly by RICS and NFoPP in response to Sir Brian Carsberg’s Review of Residential Property published in June 2008.
The board proposed setting up a single regulatory vehicle for the residential property industry, which would have run in tandem with a register of private landlords – another initiative discarded by the new Government.
The proposed licensing body would have ‘over-arched’ the existing bodies, including NAEA, ARLA and RICS. These would have been effectively responsible for carrying out the licensing. Minimum standards for a licence to be granted were proposed, with an appeals system if licences were refused or withdrawn.
The Property Standards Board itself would have overseen the compilation and maintenance of the directory of all sales and lettings agents.
The board did get as far as producing a consumers’ charter, which is still available.
The board had members on it representing the NAEA, ARLA, NFoPP, RICS, Trading Standards and Solicitors Regulation Authority. Also on it was Bill McClintock, of the Property Ombudsman Scheme, who has also been trying to get his own Register of Property Agents off the ground.
ARLA was represented by Lucy Morton, 2009 President, and the NAEA by current President Mike Jones. Solicitor Liz Richards represented NFoPP as a whole.
The Property Standards Board was chaired by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town, a former chief executive of the European Labour Party. She admitted that until chairing the board, she had not realised that estate agents act for the seller, not buyer.
This week, she said: “I am naturally extremely disappointed that we were unable to bring the residential property sector together to raise standards and improve consumer protection throughout this vitally important sector, which involves one of the most important transactions in people’s lives – the securing of a home.
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