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The Managing Director of HomeLet John Boyle is lending his support to the call for tighter regulation of the lettings industry following concerns raised by a recent ARLA survey. 

Thanks to the downturn in the number of properties being sold by estate agents, which according to RICS has dropped to the lowest level in 30 years, there is an influx of estate agents entering the lettings market.

Earlier this week in a survey of ARLA members over three-quarters (76%) reported that estate agents in their local area have moved into lettings as a result of the market in the last six months.

According to ARLA it’s likely that a high proportion of these are not meeting the required standards as, in order to make the transition from an estate agent to a lettings agent, they need to have studied more than 100 different pieces of legislation and pass minimum competency tests.

This coincides with a report by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents, Christopher Hamer, who has seen a major switch towards dealing with disputes covering lettings.

During 2008 the rise in the residential lettings market saw a 200 per cent increase in lettings disputes handled by the OEA and Mr Hamer predicted that during 2009 lettings will become the major area of his activities.

HomeLet is an ardent supporter of ARLA and has already sponsored two regional seminars this year in addition to the national conference and exhibition in February.

HomeLet MD John Boyle said: "As the principal provider of referencing and specialist insurance products to the UK lettings market HomeLet has a responsibility to ensure its approved agents are meeting the required standards.

"We would urge all agents to join a professional body such as ARLA or NALS as it demonstrates a commitment to best practice, and professionalism and can put you ahead of the competition in a crowded market place.

"Understandably in the current economic climate an increasing number of estate agents are turning to the private rented sector in order to survive the recession.

"To ease their transition into the lettings market HomeLet’s specialist business development consultants can advise agents face-to-face or over the phone and provide a good working business model based on our many years of experience in the sector."

ARLA is launching a licensing scheme in the House of Commons on 5th May this year to further strengthen its commitment to best practice and professionalism in the lettings industry.
 
Mr Boyle concluded: "Unregulated agents could get themselves and their clients into trouble if they aren’t abiding by current legislation.

"We would support an appropriate licensing scheme across the whole of the industry which would protect landlords and tenants from unscrupulous agents and prevent them from giving the rest of the industry a bad name."