Estate agents 'should be licensed'

All estate agents should be licensed to show that they are qualified and competent, an ombudsman has said.

Stephen Carr-Smith, Ombudsman for Estate Agents, said it should be made mandatory for estate agents to be licensed before they could join the profes

He also called for a single code of practice covering the whole industry to be introduced and for all estate agents to belong to the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) scheme to ensure all consumers had access to an independent redress process.

His call came as he revealed in his annual report that there had been a 9% increase in the number of complaints he had received about estate agents, the second year in a row that complaints have risen.

But of the 6,021 complaints received more than half were against agents who were not members of the voluntary scheme. At the same time the level of complaints against non-member agents soared by 19%, while those made against members rose by only 1%.
Calling for there to be a single code of practice for estate agents, Mr Carr-Smith said: "I believe that there should be a single independent redress scheme that applies to all residential estate agents and which can deliver a consistent approach in measuring an agent's actions against the code of practice.

"I believe that all estate agents should be licensed to demonstrate a level of competence before they even take up the profession. In my view, it is only by all three of these elements coming into effect that will really increase consumer confidence in residential estate agents and ensure improved consumer protection."

But the Ombudsman did say that from this summer the majority of estate agents would belong to the OEA scheme for the first time since it was originally set up in 1990.

He said following a decision by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) to make membership of the scheme compulsory for its members, 60% of agents would belong to it, rising to more than 70% if the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors introduced a similar move as expected.

From June next year, when home information packs are introduced, it will also be a legal requirement for all estate agents to belong to an independent redress scheme in respect of the packs.

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