Additional guidance on who should join an approved redress scheme if they work within the estate agency industry has today been issued.
he National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, The UK’s regulator for the estate agency industry, has released the following addition to its guidance on the legal definition of estate agency work.
James Munro, Team Leader for the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, said: “We are responsible for approving and overseeing the operation of the redress scheme and ombudsmen in the UK property sales sector. We’ve had a number of enquiries about who needs to be a member of the scheme.
“It is a legal requirement for anyone engaging in residential estate agency work to join an approved scheme but there have been requests to clarify the situation regarding employees of a business, and the definition of residential property. I hope that this guidance helps to clarifies the position for businesses and employees in the sector.
“The redress schemes are free to set their own membership and registration structure within the terms of their approval criteria, so I would encourage estate agency businesses to look at all three approved schemes before selecting the one which best suits their needs.”
The guidance is available from www.powys.gov.uk/estateagency and has been produced following consultation with the UK’s redress schemes, the National Federation of Property Professionals and the Association of International Property Professionals.
Notes to Editors
There are three approved redress schemes for the UK property sales sector:
• Ombudsman Services: Property
• Property Redress Scheme
• The Property Ombudsman
The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is hosted by Powys County Council and is the UK’s lead enforcement authority for the purposes of the Estate Agents Act 1979.
Further information is available from the team’s website www.powys.gov.uk/estateagency and the team can be contacted at estate.agency@powys.gov.uk