Wake-up call for rogue estate agents

This new legislation to be introduced in the next session of parliament will enable people to complain and get compensation or redress without the expense and hassle of going through the courts.

The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill will also ensure that estate agents have to keep records of their activities which can then be inspected by trading standards officers.

The types of complaint that will be tackled by this new legislation includes:

* Deliberately overvaluing properties so as to gain the business in preference to other agents.
* Fee fixing amongst local agents, an anti-competitive measure which stops consumers choosing an agent based on his fees.
* Overcharging for the services provided.
* Misleading information, which at best leads to a waste of peoples time, but can cause much more misery and expense if only discovered late in the sale.
* Estate agents not keeping buyers or sellers informed, leading to frustration and at worst, lost sales.

Should consumers remain concerned with the service they may receive from their local estate agents then the good news is that there is now a viable alternative. Until recently the only real alternative to using an estate agent was a home-made For Sale sign and an advert in the local paper.

These days there are a number or private sale websites offering a means to market your property very effectively on the internet. When you consider that up to 89% of people now use the internet when looking for their next home, private sales web sites can provide a very efficient and cost-effective means of selling your home. Most importantly though, selling your home privately will ensure you circumvent the issues mentioned above as you will set the price and handle all enquiries yourself

Chief Executive of Home Inspectors .co.uk, Stephen Callaghan welcomed plans to make it easier for consumers to take action against rogue estate agents. He said, "Any move to ensure compulsory membership of an ombudsman scheme can only be good for consumers and the industry itself. This is a wake-up call for any unqualified estate agents to become suitably qualified. The Technical Award in the Sale of Residential Property is the ideal qualification for any estate agent wanting to stay on the right side of the new law once it is introduced."

Once the bill is passed the Office of Fair Trading will also have greater powers to take action against rogue agents.

The Consumers Association, now known as Which? has campaigned for robust regulation of estate agents since their major investigation in 2002. Campaigner Louise Restell said: ‘Which? is pleased to see that estate agents will be required to sign up to an independent complaints procedure, whether they are members of a trade body or not.

"This means that all home-movers will finally be able to access redress without having to resort to court proceedings". "We also support the provisions to toughen up enforcement and increase powers of inspection as this should help prevent problems occurring in the first place".