ARLA wants members to join London Rental Standard

ARLA-licensed agents in London are to be contacted in the near future over signing up to the voluntary London Rental Standard set up by outgoing mayor, Boris Johnson.

This follows ARLA's appointment as an accreditation provider for the LRS

It will only be through qualification and ongoing professional development, backed up by appropriate regulation, that we will eliminate the rogue landlords and agents says ARLA managing director David Cox.

The LRS was introduced in May by Johnson, in a bid to establish a consistent quality of rental property and level of service. At that time, Letting Agent Today itemised the Standard's expectations of letting agents including these provisions:

- a written statement being available, preferably online, showing services to be provided and their charges to tenants and landlords

- maintaining professional indemnity insurance and have in place client money protection insurance cover through a designated scheme;

- giving prospective landlords and tenants advice on the level of charges and rent they can expect to pay, arrange for relevant safety checks of properties and inform clients of defects, and take a deposit where instructed;

- collecting rent if instructed, keeping a separate clients account to hold all money, belong to a client money protection scheme;

- offering tenants advice on their options including reviewing the rent, serving correct notice, and dealing with return of the deposit in a prompt manner;

- operating a consumer complaints procedure and offer a means of independent consumer redress through an appropriate ombudsman scheme;

- providing training to letting agents and having at least one member of staff accredited in each branch;

- taking all reasonable steps to ensure that advice to landlords, tenants and prospective tenants is accurate and legally-compliant;

- ensuring accredited letting agents continue to meet requirements for accreditation and a process for disciplining, removing or unaccrediting those who fail to meet the requirements of the scheme.