Rightmove’s new agent qualification – launching later this month – has been officially approved by the government’s regulatory body, The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, known as Ofqual.

All Rightmove agents can study towards the new qualification, the Level 3 Certificate for Estate and Letting Agents as part of their Rightmove membership.

So far over 2,000 agents have signed up to a syllabus to be delivered by a group of renowned industry experts.

CELA aims to help more agents have easier access to professional training – the portal says this is something that many agents have asked of it.

The course has been specifically designed ahead of potential regulations that the government may bring in based on the Regulation of Property Agents working party, which reported in 2019.

The qualification is designed for both lettings and sales agents, and the free training will be delivered online and on-demand.

Training components include a video, an accessible digital handbook and a simple user interface.

Following the free training, agents will then be able to sit an independently adjudicated exam through awarding body ABBE for a fee of £170 plus VAT.

The experts involved in the syllabus content are as follows:

– Lesley Horton, Deputy Ombudsman at The Property Ombudsman

– Josh Phegan, internationally renowned coach of new, emerging and high-performance agents

– Richard Rawlings, one of the UK’s best-known and innovative estate agency trainers

– Susie Crolla, Chief Executive of the Guild of Letting & Management

– David Smith, property law expert and Partner at JMW Solicitors

– Frank Webster, industry leader, advisor, and former vice-chairman of Finders Keepers

– Peter Ambrose, founder of conveyancing firm The Partnership

– Alex Stretton, founder of Elements Property, who partner with estate and letting agents to edit photos and have enhanced over 1.1 million property photos to date

– Michael Hare, a previous partner in two agency practices and has been an examiner and assessor for many industry qualifications

– Lisa Gray, Rightmove’s Customer Education Manager and property marketing expert with over 14 years of experience in agency training

– Emma Atkinson, Rightmove’s Director of People Development with 20 years of experience in developing talent