The new Housing and Planning Bill, published yesterday, makes new provisions about agents.
It proposes a mandatory database of rogue letting agents in England.
While the Bill specifically says it is aimed at estate agents, under existing law letting agents are not classified as estate agents.
As such, letting agents cannot currently be banned from the industry in the way that sales agents are.
Matt Hutchinson, director of flat and house share site SpareRoom, said: “The booming rental market has a small but worrying dark side – the rise of unscrupulous landlords and agents who seek to prey on tenants. Getting them out of the market should be a top priority.
“A database of rogue landlords and agents could be a vital tool as long as the information it contains is accurate and accessible to those who need it most.
“But we should be wary of piling lots of extra legislation on the sector. The need to clamp down on the unscrupulous shouldn’t hinder the vast majority of landlords, who do play by the rules and provide the rental accommodation Britain desperately needs.”
The Bill is here
Comments (3)
At least it would show which of the “agents of the year” (awards) are not what they are cracked up to be.
More and more from the “House of Conmens”. Shame they don’t use the laws which already exist. More pointless red tape to get knotted up in.
Utterly pointless. Just have one regulatory body of which membership is mandatory for ALL agents with proper supervision, standards and the power of enforcement. The dodgy agents don’t even bother to sign up to a redress scheme.