Partner Article

Renting redress scheme launched. No-one notices.

No-one noticed this week when a complaints scheme aimed at stopping letting agents using misleading adverts, charging excessive fees and not carrying out repairs was launched.

Letting agents who have not registered with one of three government-approved redress schemes – designed to give people in rented homes a recognised place to take their complaints– by this week face fines of £5000.

The schemes - run by the Property Ombudsman, Ombudsman Services Property and the Property Redress Scheme – will assess the complaints and can award compensation where appropriate.

Research from the later scheme however indicates that almost 1000 agents in London alone have yet to join a scheme – with more than 60% of agents outside the capital still to sign up.

One estimate puts the number of agents across the UK currently acting unregistered at 5000.

The government was this week forced to offer further guidance to the industry on the implications of the scheme.

Property expert Ajay Jagota, founder and Chief Executive Officer of the North East’s most innovative sales and lettings business KIS, has reservations about the scheme.

The property firm is famous for being the first letting agents in the UK to abolish deposits, replacing them with a one-of-a-kind landlord insurance policy offering guaranteed rent, deposit replacement, legal assistance and round the clock third party emergency home repairs.

Ajay said: “The redress system relies on tenants making complaints. I don’t believe that more than a handful of the UK’s 3.9m private tenants had any idea the scheme was coming and even fewer realise it’s actually started.

“Even assuming their complaints would otherwise be dealt with to their satisfaction, if tenants don’t know the scheme exists they can’t complain. If no-one has noticed the schemes exist, they may as well not exist.

“My argument against new regulation has always been that the best redress is always the law, and everything that needs to be illegal already is illegal. The only problem is the relevant authorities all-too-often lack the resources to effectively enforce the law.

“I’ve yet to see any suggestion as to how they are supposed to enforce existing regulations, let alone how quickly and effectively they are expected to take enforcement action against people who don’t join a scheme.

“I’m also not clear why exactly there are three schemes instead of one. What happens if an agent leaves a scheme, voluntarily or otherwise? Can they just sign up to a new scheme if they’re kicked out of one, or could they just carry on unregistered – just like we’ve seen with the existing deposit protection scheme.

“We’re committed to the highest standards of customer service and the majority of letting agents offer a good service but in the handful of cases where people have complaints legitimate complaints, they have a right to having them dealt with. I’ve just not convinced having someone else to write a letter to is enough”.

KIS manage properties for landlords in every corner of the North East from branches across Tyne and Wear, and were named Letting Agent of the Year in the 2013 Landlord and Letting Awards. The firm expanded into residential sales in 2014.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ajay Jagota .