Regulation of all letting agents in Scotland looks set to go ahead, a new body has claimed.
The Council of Letting Agents is an offshoot of the Scottish Association of Landlords, which already included letting agents among its members.
According to its website, the Council of Letting Agents is being led by a steering group which has met with a “senior” representative of the Scottish Government who confirmed that it is the intention to regulate letting agents.
The intention is to achieve this via a new Housing Bill which will probably include: mandatory registration of all letting agents in Scotland; the setting up of a new code of practice; and redress through a housing tribunal.
The timescale is not known. The move follows the compulsory registration of private landlords in Scotland – thought to be widely flouted – and the banning of fees charged by agents to tenants last year.
The new Housing Bill in Scotland will also include provision for a new tribunal which will decide on disputes between landlords and tenants in the private rented sector that would normally have ended up in court – or never been resolved at all because of the costs of bringing a civil case.
The Scottish government said that jurisdiction for civil cases will be transferred from the sheriff courts to a new private rented sector tribunal as part of the forthcoming Bill.
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said: “Where parties cannot reach an agreement to resolve their dispute, someone else needs to step in.
“By introducing a specialist private rented sector tribunal, tenants and landlords will benefit from a more accessible and specialist decision maker for their disputes. This will enable increased access to effective justice.”
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Comments
Good for you the SLA for getting out there and standing up for us agents including the 1 man bands. Nobody else had the balls did they.
In the early 90s it was proven without a shadow of a doubt that regulation was a complete waste of money as the market was the best regulator there is.
Regulation produced little in terms of protecting consumers but it was good for regulators who earned good salaries and got to bully businesses.
When deregulation was announced the regulators predicted anarchy would reign but in truth no one realised that they had even gone.
What's wrong with using the Property Ombudsman to resolve disputes away from the courts?
The Welsh Government have consulted on regulation and introducing new forms of tenure in Wales based on the Law Society recommendations. WG propose introducing the Legislation shortly and surprisingly LAT do not seem to have publicised this or have I missed the articles?
Pretty rich statements from a Steering Group with the majority being made up of un regulated one man bands whose only claim to regulation is that they can only hang their hat on the SAL nail
It may be "the intention" but wishes and achievements are two very different things.
Why should some offshoot of a body that already only represents a minority of Landlords be let into any State secrets in Jockland?