The government’s renewed pledge to end Section 21 eviction powers for agents and landlords is fine, a leading industry figure has...
Archive
![Financial services supremo joins board of safeagent](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/OneDome%20Intro%201%20ShakingHands-400x310.png)
An executive with four decades of experience in the insurance sector has joined the board of accreditation service safeagent as a...
12 July 2024
From: Breaking News
![Energy group slams “irresponsible” criticism of EPCs and assessors](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/Energy_Efficiency-400x310.png)
The Property Energy Professionals Association - a trade group representing accreditation schemes for energy assessors - is complaining that it’s not...
21 June 2024
From: Breaking News
![Energy Performance Certificates slammed as “inaccurate”](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/EPC-2-400x310.png)
Energy Performance Certificates can be riddled with inaccuracies and give unhelpful advice to property owners. That’s the view of consumer service Which? Which?...
18 June 2024
From: Breaking News
![New chair revealed for long-standing lettings industry group](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/BusinessChain-400x310.png)
safeagent, the UK’s largest not-for-profit accreditation scheme for lettings and management agents, has appointed John Midgley as chair of its board...
15 March 2024
From: Breaking News
![Prominent industry figure rejects need for agents to have degrees](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/LearningAgents-400x310.png)
The chief executive of industry not-for-profit accreditation service Safeagent, says agents do not require degrees to enter the sector or excel...
13 March 2024
From: Breaking News
![Lomond snaps up another regional lettings agency](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/Franchise-400x310.png)
Fast-growing Lomond has snapped up another regional agency - this time one in the Midlands. Centrick - which had a High Street...
12 January 2024
From: Breaking News
![Industry first for agency winning OFSTED support for staff training](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/3%20Equality%20comes%20through%20learning%20-%20PIT%20by%20Chitra%20Stern.jpg)
London lettings and sales agency Dexters is the first in the UK to gain OFSTED accreditation for its training. Its academy offers...
04 October 2023
From: Breaking News
![Agency Awards - under two weeks to nominate](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/shutterstock_1697309575.jpg)
There is under a fortnight remaining for agents to nominate for Propertymark Qualifications annual awards, to be held at the London...
25 September 2023
From: Breaking News
![Client Account Closures - another lettings body demands action](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/ToLetBoard-400x310.png)
A second lettings sector body is demanding government action over the problem of client account closures. Accreditation service Safeagent says the government...
09 August 2023
From: Breaking News
![Agency targeting 100 franchisees scores accreditation success](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/Franchise-400x310.png)
Small but fast-growing agency Propertynest has been confirmed as a British Franchise Association member. BFA members commit to running an ethical standards-based...
27 June 2023
From: Breaking News
![Agent training service wins backing from exam watchdog](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/Compliance-1-400x310.png)
Not for profit accreditation service safeagent has seen two of its lettings qualifications officially recognised by exam watchdog Ofqual. Safeagent as an...
19 May 2023
From: Breaking News
![New EPC every three years, suggests accreditation scheme](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Energy%20and%20Green%20Homes/_EcoHome-400x310.png)
Energy Performance Certificates must change to properly support reaching net zero, tackling fuel poverty and improving buildings, according to an energy...
02 March 2023
From: Breaking News
![Agents contacted about CMP bank account compliance](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Rental%20Market/LegalAction-400x310.png)
Property accreditation service safeagent has written to all of its agents in England urging them to check legal requirements when setting...
08 February 2023
From: Breaking News
![Labour MP tells letting agents to explain high rents](/upload/images/Shutterstock-only%20images/Property%20Market/ManSavingMoney_400x310.png)
A Labour MP has written to letting agents in her constituency demanding they explain high rents and their student allocation policies. Mary...
01 November 2022
From: Breaking News
![Rogue agent database must be expanded insists top industry figure](/upload/images/PropTech%20%26%20Online/Digital-Online-400x310.jpg)
An accreditation scheme says the government database of rogue letting agents should be expanded. The government is committed to creating a new Property...
27 September 2022
From: Breaking News
![Agents brought in to beef up Propertymark Qualifications board](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/BusinessResults-400x310-.jpg)
Two senior agents are joining the Propertymark Qualifications board to bring a combined 64 years of experience. Jan Hytch - residential and...
28 July 2022
From: Breaking News
![Rental groups should unite and not argue, says industry figure](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/Millennials-Handshake-400x310.jpg)
The chief executive of industry accreditation service Safeagent has made another plea for unity within the private rental sector. In a response...
12 May 2022
From: Breaking News
![Licensing to print money? One of UK’s largest schemes launched](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/UK-Cash-NEW-400x310.jpg)
A new and huge private rental licensing scheme has launched in County Durham. A total of at least 29,000 properties, or 42...
26 April 2022
From: Breaking News
![Staff retention advice to be shared by leading agent at webinar](/upload/images/PropTech%20%26%20Online/Webinar-400x310.png)
The chief executive and founder of an award-winning sales and lettings brand is set to discuss the best practice approaches to...
20 April 2022
From: Breaking News
![Lettings trainer wants more public cash for rental enforcement](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/CoinsHouses-2020-400x310.jpg)
Lettings accreditation and training service Safeagent is calling on the government to make more public cash available for councils to exercise...
19 April 2022
From: Breaking News
![Build To Rent group joins short lets body to access corporate tenants](/upload/images/BTR%2C%20PBSA%2C%20Co-living/BTL-CardboardHouses-400x310.jpg)
The UK Apartment Association - set up six years ago as a form of trade body for Build To Rent operators...
21 February 2022
From: Breaking News
![More agents seeking formal qualifications, says Propertymark](/upload/images/Logos/NAEA-ARLA-Propertymark-400x310.jpg)
The number of agents seeking formal qualifications has risen significantly over the past year according to Propertymark. The trade body says this...
18 February 2022
From: Breaking News
![Government delays Rental Reform White Paper until 2022](/upload/images/Seasonal%20%26%20Holidays/2022Diary-400x310.png)
The Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says the long-awaited Rental Reform White Paper will now not be published until...
29 October 2021
From: Breaking News
![Safeagent at odds with lettings groups over Covid arrears solution](/upload/images/Housing%20Market%20%26%20Property%20Images/PayingBills-400x310.jpg)
Not-for-profit accreditation scheme safeagent wants the government to help tenants clear Covid-related arrears through an overhaul of Discretionary Housing Payments. Enhancing these...
30 September 2021
From: Breaking News
![Not-for-profit lettings agency wins top People award](/img/default/lat.png)
Sulets - a not-for-profit, charitable trust providing accommodation for students - has struck gold. It’s won a Gold award from Investors in...
20 May 2021
From: Breaking News
![Industry partnership offers courses for lettings agents](/img/default/lat.png)
The Tenancy Deposit Scheme and industry supplier Inventory Hive are working together to provide two new training courses. Led by Michael Hill...
07 May 2021
From: Breaking News
![Eco-policies to dominate rental sector in 2021 predicts agency](/img/default/lat.png)
Lettings agency Carter Jonas predicts the housing market - for both owner-occupiers and landlords - will become increasingly eco-focussed in 2021. It says...
30 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![EPCs should last just five years and not 10 - property group](/img/default/lat.png)
A collective of government appointed accreditation schemes has called on the government to do more to improve energy efficiency in the...
16 December 2020
From: Breaking News
![How will Covid change the student rental market long-term?](/img/default/lat.png)
A student accommodation search portal has speculated on how the sector could change in the long term as Coronavirus hits education. “Whilst...
13 October 2020
From: Breaking News
![London council wants new bureaucracy to manage private renting](/img/default/lat.png)
A London council has launched a strategy it claims will protect private tenants and ensure they live in good quality and...
23 September 2020
From: Breaking News
![Widespread evictions when ban ends? Don’t you believe it…](/img/default/lat.png)
New research pours cold water on claims by anti-agency campaigners that there will be a glut of evictions when the ban ends...
10 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![Warm welcome for eco-grants given by lettings trade body](/img/default/lat.png)
The National Residential Landlords Association is giving the thumbs up to the government’s Green Homes Grant, which it claims has taken...
05 August 2020
From: Breaking News
![Testers' guide to electrical safety checks arriving next month](/img/default/lat.png)
Accreditation service NAPIT has produced a publication for the rental sector ahead of new electrical safety checks coming into force for...
03 June 2020
From: Breaking News
![Reapit offers free training to lettings and sales agents](/img/default/lat.png)
Reapit is offering lettings and sales agents free training courses for its CRM software. The offer will provide non-customers with complimentary access...
11 May 2020
From: Breaking News
![Delay all new licensing schemes for six months, urges industry body](/img/default/lat.png)
Not-for-profit accreditation service safeagent says the government should ensure councils delay the introduction of all new private rental sector licensing schemes...
20 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![Council may offer improvement loans to favoured private landlords](/img/default/lat.png)
A council says it’s considering lending funds for improvement to landlords who “behave fairly and appropriately” - and buy into a...
13 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![Rogue agent fined £12,000 after falsely claiming NALS membership](/img/default/lat.png)
The safeagent accreditation business says it has helped secure the conviction of a rogue lettings agent who falsely claimed membership of...
05 March 2020
From: Breaking News
![safeagent announces new ‘qualified’ designation for agents](/img/default/lat.png)
Accreditation body safeagent has announced a new designation for lettings and management agents who successfully pass its NCFE accredited courses. The designation...
21 January 2020
From: Breaking News
![Labour council coordinating trial of digital checks on agents](/img/default/lat.png)
A Labour council is leading a trial by local authorities of a new digital platform that checks whether agents, landlords and...
13 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Don’t scrap licensing, streamline it says accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The safeagent accreditation scheme says the next government should not scrap landlord licensing as some trade groups have requested, but should...
12 November 2019
From: Breaking News
![Online lettings agency at heart of money laundering crimes](/img/default/lat.png)
Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...
18 October 2019
From: Breaking News
![New training opportunities as safeagent partners up in Scotland](/img/default/lat.png)
Not-for-profit accreditation scheme safeagent has partnered with Landlord Accreditation Scotland to provide specialist training for agents north of the border. LAS is...
04 September 2019
From: Breaking News
![“It’s Illegal!” - council licensing scheme blasted by trade body](/img/default/lat.png)
A local authority is being warned that its landlord licensing and accreditation scheme is potentially unlawful. The Residential Landlords Association, which represents...
05 August 2019
From: Breaking News
![Housing minister raises concerns over controversial accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
Junior housing minister Heather Wheeler MP has written to Hull City Council to express her concerns about the authority's controversial accreditation...
03 July 2019
From: Breaking News
![RLA threatens council over 'unlawful' and 'discriminatory' accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) is threatening Oxford Council with a judicial review of its landlord and letting agent accreditation scheme. The...
09 May 2019
From: Breaking News
![Controversial council wins High Court case against landlords' group](/img/default/lat.png)
Hull council has won a legal case in the High Court against a local trade body, the Humber Landlords Association. The claim...
13 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![Accreditation bid to boost standards of Airbnb and other short lets](/img/default/lat.png)
An accreditation scheme has been launched for the fast-growing sector of short lets and home sharing. The UK Short Term Accommodation Association,...
12 March 2019
From: Breaking News
![Client Money Protection: more providers win government approval](/img/default/lat.png)
Propertymark’s Money Shield service and the National Approved Letting Scheme have each received government approval to operate Client Money Protection schemes. From...
27 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Free online training course to help agents through deposit disputes](/img/default/lat.png)
A new free online training course which guides letting agents through the key principles of disputes has been released by The...
27 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Yet more red tape? Gold and Silver rental standards being considered](/img/default/lat.png)
Just when you thought there could not be any more rival licensing or accreditation systems in the private rental sector, a...
25 February 2019
From: Breaking News
![Shock as council actually praises lettings sector for good behaviour...](/img/default/lat.png)
We are used to stories of councils condemning letting agents and landlords - but now a London council is praising the...
24 January 2019
From: Breaking News
![Success for managing agency as it scoops prestigious People award](/img/default/lat.png)
Managing agency Rendall & Rittner has scooped a Platinum Investors in People award, demonstrating commitment to high performance through good people...
13 September 2018
From: Breaking News
![New partnership with lettings body aims to boost use of skilled builders](/img/default/lat.png)
The National Federation of Builders is linking up with a lettings trade body to make it easier for reputable craftspeople to...
15 May 2018
From: Breaking News
![Government backs one of UK's largest selective licensing schemes outside London](/img/default/lat.png)
The government has given the go ahead to what will be one of the UK’s largest selective licensing scheme outside of...
15 February 2018
From: Breaking News
![Buy To Let sector pessimistic ahead of the Budget](/img/default/lat.png)
After the series of anti-buy to let measures contained in recent Budgets, it is perhaps unsurprising that a survey of landlords...
21 November 2017
From: Breaking News
![Licensing is a 'post code lottery', says Fair Fees Forum](/img/default/lat.png)
At the latest meeting of the Fair Fees Forum, members described the current approach towards landlord licensing as a 'post code...
19 June 2017
From: Breaking News
![NALS launches new online course and wins new accreditation](/img/default/lat.png)
The National Approved Letting Scheme has launched a new course which it describes as “ground-breaking” and which allows candidates to become...
26 May 2017
From: Breaking News
![First graduates emerge from letting agency training programme](/img/default/lat.png)
The first letting agents to have completed a new training course aimed at improving services for tenants and landlords have graduated. Some...
23 May 2017
From: Breaking News
![Trade bodies join with authority to form 'Private Rental Standard'](/img/default/lat.png)
The National Landlords Association and Residential Landlords Association have joined forces with Leeds city council to create a new accreditation system...
08 May 2017
From: Breaking News
![Property Ombudsman backs consumer approval scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The Property Ombudsman scheme is backing a national campaign to help more consumers find reputable and trusted businesses and services. Consumers are...
22 March 2017
From: Breaking News
![Survey reveals tenants' shocking lack of knowledge about renting](/img/default/lat.png)
A survey of 1,000 tenants and landlords has provided evidence of what many agents already know - that the growing complexity...
01 March 2017
From: Breaking News
![Agents' group calls on industry to prepare for new regulations](/img/default/lat.png)
Scotland’s largest professional organisation for letting agents is urging all those in the rental sector to ensure they are fully compliant with...
01 March 2017
From: Breaking News
![Landlords avoid council licensing by setting up their own alternative](/img/default/lat.png)
A group of landlords that mounted a successful legal challenge to a council’s proposed licensing scheme is continuing to recruit letting...
31 January 2017
From: Breaking News
![Voluntary buy to let training: is this how to stop council licensing schemes?](/img/default/lat.png)
A group of landlords and buy to let investors that has already successfully persuaded a council to scrap plans for a...
07 December 2016
From: Breaking News
![Agents praised by council for professional property management](/img/default/lat.png)
We often report local authorities criticising the standards of letting agents and landlords - now here's a quite different story. Letting agents...
11 November 2016
From: Breaking News
![ARLA steps up call for agents' compulsory accreditation to combat fraud](/img/default/lat.png)
ARLA is stepping up its call for letting agents to have professional qualifications in a bid to combat fraud. In a contribution...
13 July 2016
From: Breaking News
![Boris knew agent accreditation scheme was doomed to fail, says new Mayor](/img/default/lat.png)
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has criticised Boris Johnson's handling of the London Rental Standard, an accreditation scheme for landlords...
02 June 2016
From: Breaking News
!['Let Well' programme aims to stamp out criminal operators](/img/default/lat.png)
Letting agents in Scotland have started to sign up to a new compliance programme which has the aim of stamping out...
25 May 2016
From: Breaking News
![Seven letting agencies back so-called 'ethical lettings charter'](/img/default/lat.png)
An ‘ethical lettings charter’ set up over a year ago by a pressure group for improved private rental sector housing has...
10 May 2016
From: Breaking News
![Yet more private rental licensing, this time on a regional basis](/img/default/lat.png)
We’ve seen large numbers of local councils set up private rental accreditation systems, and a string of politicians from all major...
08 January 2016
From: Breaking News
![Ombudsman promotes accredited landlord scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
The Property Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer, has announced his support for an accredited landlord's scheme in Sunderland. Sunderland City Council's Accredited Landlord’s Scheme...
27 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Letting agent warns of 'misinformation' about new licensing system](/img/default/lat.png)
A letting agent is warning of apparently inaccurate information being sent out as part of a new agent and landlord accreditation...
19 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Letting agents must meet yet another 'rental standard'](/img/default/lat.png)
Yet another ‘rental standard’ has been set up a a local council to create what it calls ‘a kitemark’ which can...
10 August 2015
From: Breaking News
![Mayor’s LRS criticised for ‘failing private renters’](/img/default/lat.png)
One of the Labour party’s London Assembly members has criticised Boris Johnson’s London Rental Standard (LRS), saying it is ‘falling private...
10 June 2015
From: Breaking News
![Local council backs landlord accreditation scheme](/img/default/lat.png)
A local council has announced its support for a new scheme which is aiming to improve quality of housing as well...
03 June 2015
From: Breaking News
![Mayor’s accreditation scheme criticised despite ‘letting agent success’](/img/default/lat.png)
After celebrating its year anniversary this week, Boris Johnson’s London Rental Standard has been criticised for signing up only 12% of...
29 May 2015
From: Breaking News
![Council wants landlords in voluntary scheme - at a cost of £150](/img/default/lat.png)
Private landlords are being encouraged to sign up to a new local authority accreditation scheme which offers them advice and support...