Property consumer champion Christopher Hamer has hit out against rogue letting agents who rip off tenants and landlords.
Calls from property ombudsman Hamer for a crack down on unscrupulous traders has been snubbed by the government and Office of Fair Trading (OFT).
His appeal follows a surge in complaints against estate agents and letting agents to 1,338 cases - the highest recorded in 20 years since the scheme started.
Problems with letting agents account for 672 of the complaints.
“Many agents conduct their business by following our code of practice, but there are still too many who are operating without that commitment to standards and without any external controls over what they do with client money,” said Hamer.
“The code represents a comprehensive set of standards by which firms conduct their business.
“Knowing a firm is complying with those standards will give consumers confidence that they are dealing with an organisation which has a committed approach to customer service and that best practice is being treated as a priority by agents.”
Letting agents launch SafeAgent scheme
The problem is that anyone can set up a letting business regardless of qualifications and without having to register for a licence.
Tenants and landlords lose hundreds of thousands of pounds every year to incompetent or dishonest letting agents whose businesses collapse leaving piles of debts.
Several industry schemes operate to try and differentiate trustworthy firms who safeguard client money from those that don't, but most of the schemes have two flaws -
• Landlords and tenants don't know how to check if their money is protected
• Who runs the schemes and the protection they offer is confusing
The latest is a kite mark scheme instigated by several major national firms set to launch in April. The scheme's new logo is pictured.
Nick Cooper, who chairs the group behind the SafeAgent initiative, said: “We are delighted with the initial response , the overwhelming feeling is that at last through the delivery of a simple message we have the means to differentiate those agents who operate with a client money protection scheme and those who don’t.”
