The whole of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) operates within an increasingly complex legislative & regulatory environment.

Many changes have been introduced to make the properties safer, greener,  to address unfairness and protect tenants from the bad behaviour of rogue landlords.

As most Landlords have a modest portfolio of between one and three properties, the profits from the portfolio are unlikely to support trained, specialist staff and it is no surprise that people struggle to keep up to date with the changes. This presents an opportunity for Letting Agents to provide an expert service giving Landlords the reassurance that their property investment is being looked after and managed in a way that is both compliant and affordable.

But how does a single office St Albans Letting Agent without a dedicated compliance department keep up to date with the continual evolvement of the PRS regulatory/legislative environment?

Thankfully, the leaders in the Letting industry are committed to upholding standards through training and regulation. Propertymark as the leading membership body for property agents was part of a working group made up of industry stakeholders and chaired by Lord Best. They have long been calling for Government regulation to ensure everyone in the industry is licensed, adhere to a strict code of practice and hold an appropriate qualification.

The Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA’s) proposed new regulatory framework is focused on estate agents in the UK and letting and managing agents in England. The private rented sector is a devolved issue meaning the Welsh and Scottish Governments have already introduced legislation to regulate letting agents.

RoPA’s report recommends that:

1. All agencies operating a residential property business should be licensed, and licensing should include a fit and proper person test for company directors.

2. All staff delivering ‘reserved activities’ employed within residential agency business should be licensed and adhere to a Code of Practice

3. All staff delivering ‘reserved activities’ employed within residential agency business should hold a qualification at Level 3 or above

4. All company directors and management agents should hold a qualification at Level 4 or above

5. A new regulator be appointed to oversee compliance with an overarching Code of Practice

Although the RoPA proposals are still under consideration we welcome the direction this is taking the industry as agents get ready for regulation at some point in the future. However, this does of course, mean additional training for all of our staff.

The RoPA proposals have brought a focus to training at a time when people have shifted from “in person” training courses to much more webinar/virtual style training which is much easier for companies and staff to build into their routines.

We have seen some excellent accredited courses become available in a structured format available through mobile devices (as well as desktops) which our staff have found straightforward and effective.

This builds confident and compliant teams who have a resource they can rely on to keep them fully up to date with legal and regulatory changes.

Yes, a landlord could also undertake the training themselves but with a relatively small portfolio it would require a disproportionate level of time and cost invested in gaining the same degree of knowledge.

Without these online resources our teams would require regular training away from the office which can be disruptive and difficult to arrange around existing commitments, holidays etc. The flexibility of online training removes these obstacles and means that we can get our staff up to speed faster and with much less disruption.

Regulation in the Property industry is long overdue, and we and many other legitimate businesses are completely signed-on to improving knowledge and standards

Thankfully, we are able to build the training into our staff development programmes without significant disruption. It is a great example of technology giving our company and our clients a significant tangible benefit.