One of the existing two government-authorised redress schemes governing estate and letting agents has called on landlords to voluntarily join, ahead of the move being made compulsory in the future. 

The government recently outlined far-reaching redress reforms which include a mandatory requirement for all private landlords to join a redress service, with a fine of £5,000 for those who fail to do so.

Now Sean Hooker, head of redress at the Property Redress Scheme, says landlords should join his service or The Property Ombudsman before it becomes mandatory.

“We at the PRS have always accepted landlords and other property professionals as well as the mandatory letting and estate agents. So we’re more than happy to welcome you, as a private landlord” says Hooker in a social media presentation.

“It will help you to prepare yourself for when mandatory redress membership comes in and will help you build on a professional and well-informed business model that will be robust for the future” he adds.

The other imminent government redress changes include a New Homes Ombudsman, eventually with legislation obliging developers to join; the creation of a Housing Complaints Resolution Service which will be a single one-stop-shop for housing complaints; and a new single Code of Practice on complaint handling across all tenures.

Hooker, head of redress at the Property Redress Scheme says he is pleased that there will be “a single access point” for complaints and says that the package of reforms “is a move towards professionalising the industry and a move towards raising standards, and should be welcomed by all of the people in the industry.”