10/05/2009
The Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) is introducing a licensing scheme for its UK members and a code of practice for all agents. It says there are too may “cowboy agents” exploiting both tenants and landlords.
Arla says it will promote higher industry standards and put an end of the rental sector being seen as the “black sheep of the property market”.
The scheme will ensure that agents hold a professional letting qualification, undertake onong training and that any client money is protected.
The consumer magazine, Which ?, said most complaints it received were about poor living conditions and problems with landlords not putting deposits into the statutory deposit scheme. Which? Would like to see all agents and landlords required to join a compulsory complaints scheme.
However, the regime applies only to Arla members, with the national Association of Estate Agents planning to launch its own scheme later this year.
David Alexander of the Glasgow- and Edinburgh- based letting agents, D J Alexander, said: “We have had a landlord registration scheme in Scotland for three years and this requires all letting agents as well as landlords to register with the appropriate local authorities. So what Arla are proposing for England is already a fact of life in Scotland”.
The charity, Shelter, said it was “high time the government acted to introduce statutory licensing for all letting agents”.
Deposits are already covered by the tenancy deposit scheme and any disputes over the return of a deposit must be settled by a third partly.
SUNDAY HERALD, 10 May 2009
A Glasgow townhouse at £1.5 million
Mortgage curbs have their upside
A tie does more than merely save your neck in a downturn
Top ten: Forget about property prices and home in on the rental income
Renting is as good a measure of economic confidence as buying
Residential lettings give clue to wider economic performance
Another of our properties is Sunday Times 'Rental of the week'
How first time buyers can lick stamp duty
Surge in residential lets despite fewer executive postings to cities
Rents drive housing investment more than capital gain
Renting a home can be cheaper than you think
Why there are still good reasons to invest in residential property
Yield is now the focus for buy-to-let investors
High-flying executives push up rental prices for city flats
One of our properties named Sunday Times ‘Rental of the week’
Scotsman property editor gives star treatment to one of our homes for sale
Rise in new-build home sales offers glimmer of hope to battered industry
Capital tips to help you reduce tax expenses
Sunday Herald thanks D J Alexander
Why renting second home is best way to save cash – and face
Sharp fall in corporate residential property rentals as firms suffer
Misery of the 'two-mortgage' trap
Buyers return but Scottish housing market still tight
Like two old-fashioned fairground favourites, the property market continues to be scary
Energy ratings get a green light
BPF calls for a radical shift to rentals
Gloom stalks the housing market but ‘hockey stick’ revival is on the cards
House prices 'won't recover until 2013'
Scotland's engine room may be on the brink of seizing up