A major group of estate agents has joined UKALA, the UK Association of LettingAgents.
The Chancellors Group, which also displays the ARLA and Ombudsman Services logos on its website, has 48 branches, trading as Chancellors, Anscombe & Ringland, and Russell, Baldwin & Bright.
The new recruit is a coup for UKALA, a trade body operated by the National Landlords Association, and which recently recruited Martin & Co. Both Chancellors and Martin & Co seem keen to access the membership of the NLA, currently claimed at around 21,500 although the NLA says it works with nearly double that number.
Chancellors group managing director Robert Scott-Lee said: “I’m delighted that Chancellors are now members of UKALA as their stringent membership guidelines mean we are clearly operating our lettings business to the highest of standards for both our landlords and tenants.
“As part of this partnership, we will also be listed as a recognised supplier agent for the NLA, giving us an exciting opportunity to offer our award-winning service to member landlords across the Home Counties, Oxfordshire, London, Herefordshire and Mid-Wales.
“What’s more, our senior team will be frequently attending meetings of the NLA to offer our experience and advice to the discussion, but to also learn from and further develop our relationship with the NLA.”
David Salusbury, chairman of UKALA, said: “The Chancellors Group is now UKALA’s largest single member and we are committed to working together to bring about peace of mind for all involved in the lettings process.
“We are proud to endorse the Chancellors Group as a recognised supplier to the 39,000 landlords with whom the NLA currently works.
“Agents and landlords need to work together if we are to bring about the healthy private rented sector that we all wish to see. I am delighted that UKALA is helping to bring this about, for the benefit both of Chancellors and of our wider membership.”
* David Salusbury has this week stood down as chairman of the NLA after ten years. He is succeeded by Caroyn Upton. Salusbury will continue his links as an NLA director, and remains as chairman of both the NLA’s businesses – Mydeposits and UKALA.
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Comments
I suspect you won't be moving because UKALA is an easy option, somehow I suspect you have gone to UKALA because it gives you all the bits that make you look credible but in fact make you look a bit Conference League; you know how the game should be played, have all the kit, lots of enthusiasm but don’t have the skills for the premiership.
No-one in their right thinking and informed mind would ever say that Client Money insurance is a benefit. CMP is an Oxymoron that says trust me, I can't be trusted and have bought insurance to prove it.
jane365, please would you explain the stringent rules you have to abide by?
Your experience of UKALA is valuable; anyone can come on and say XXXX is great for any product or service they subscribe to. What is really useful is to hear why.
Having called to enquire about membership it was very obvious that whoever I spoke to had a very limited knowledge of best practice Property management..
I really want to hate ARLA with my whole body and soul but like it or not none of their competitors can hold a candle to what ARLA could offer if their attitude were different.
Those who remember ARLA under Adrian Turner long for that standard of association to return but as it is at the moment, the industry is pulling itself to bits in a most unhealthy way..
I am afraid CMP is simply a fad, it is a very fashionable set of Emperor’s Clothes which seeks to give false accreditation to poor quality business principals. The very fact that CMP is now being made freely available to those who need not have a single second of experience in the industry is simply disgraceful and those hawking it about are simply opportunists.
You have stood up for UKALA perhaps you can convince me more than they did why I should join.
Seems to me that UKALA are offering a massive marketing opportunity that ARLA aren't. 39,000 landlords and where are they going to select their letting agents from?
No wonder Chancellors and Martin & Co have got in there: very smart move!
Couldn't disagree more!! If Arla don't sit up and take notice of this news they're in trouble !
UKALA have CMP, Code of Practice, loads of other benefits - I am a loyal member and won't be moving ( I've also got good instructions from NLA members as a result!)
Couldn't agree more.
Why on earth would a quality agent want to join UKALA?
Are the UKALA guidelines really what one would call stringent?
It is great to claim the membership guidelines to be stringent and it is only natural that anyone signing up to them would say so, but really who if anyone has looked at the ru;les and said this is a robust set of rules any any agent governed by them is unlikely go far wrong.
When I enquired about membership, I got a very wooly and unconvincing reply that left me with the impression the whole thing was a bit opportunistic and unstructured
When asked about Client accounting guidelines the reply was "um, errr, along the lines of RICS rules"
Can you be a bit more specific? "If you look at the RICS site you can read our rules there"
This is only my impression, this is a reaction opportunity to a NFoPP weakened ARLA, providing the disillusioned and frustrated members with an alternative. Personally I view this as a fragmentation of the industry which will dilute the credibility of the industry even further.
I am affarid I won't consider UKALA as credible until they sit down and publish their own code of conduct which is a genuinely stringent and enforced.