Archive

Six agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman for failing to pay compensatory awards - five of them for offences...

A lettings agent has been jailed for three years for defrauding tenants and landlords out of more than £182,000.  Lee Clarke, 42,...

A prominent lettings agency owner has given his verdict on the concept of charging renters to view a property - “it...

The controversy over whether a new PropTech service can be used by agents to charge people to view a property to...

Guidance from Trading Standards suggests that it is possible, in some cases, to charge tenants to view a property to let...

A local Trading Standards team is clamping down on rogue letting agents. Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay Trading Standards Service has launched...

There have been just 17 First Tier Tribunal cases involving allegations of fees charged to tenants in contravention of the Tenants...

Agents are being warned about a crackdown on compliance issues surrounding rental property management. No Letting Go, the country’s largest provider of...

The two letting agents’ trade groups have backed a call for more upfront information to be given to prospective renters. The National...

Letting agents have only 10 days to open segregated client accounts or they could face being expelled by their client money...

A lettings agency in central London has been issued with a fine for not belonging to a Client Money Protection scheme. The...

An investigation is underway into a lettings agency which has gone into liquidation owing almost £500,000 in rent to landlords and in...

A huge trading standards operation clamping down on lettings agents who fail to abide by Client Money Protection rules has been...

A clampdown on letting agents who fail to safeguard landlords’ and tenants’ money is now underway.  A statement from the National Trading Standards...

The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agents Team is appealing to the industry to be eagle-eyed for scams. This follows the...

The Daily Mail says it has informed Trading Standards of a lettings agent which is claims is “illegally working” despite not...

The UK Association of Lettings Agents is recommending transparency in relation to the disclosure of referral fees to landlord clients. Last month...

A warning about illegal fees by letting agents has been produced by a local council Trading Standards team.  It has come from...

One of the government’s approved client money protection schemes claims over 10 lettings agencies a week are closing. Client Money Protect makes the...

An overwhelming 98 per cent of agents who are members of The Property Ombudsman scheme pay compensation when an investigation is...

A newspaper claims a lettings agency is battling allegations of overcharging customers and using fake companies to carry out maintenance work. The Daily Record...

Agents have another 12 months to make referral fees more transparent according to an update from the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting...

Propertymark is staging a webinar later this month on the topical subject of referral fees. Last month the National Trading Standards for...

Three lettings agents who kept tenants’ rent instead of passing it to the landlords have been ordered to pay almost £100,000...

Agents are being warned to prepare now for likely controls on referral fees, following recommendations made to the government by the...

Trading Standards in one region of the UK is staging Twitter quizzes aimed at students, and asking about agents’ fees surrounding...

It appears lettings agents may have escaped the recommended demands for referral fees to be made more transparent to customers. A statement...

One of the leading figures in the PropTech world is warning that letting agents must not be tempted into charging illegal...

A London council is telling its private rental sector residents to use a new tool to check whether they may be...

Which? is warning prospective renters to beware scam lettings agencies and scam landlords following a case where £5,600 was conned out...

The next formal review of lockdown processes in Wales takes place today, with high expectation that the housing market is likely...

The Property Ombudsman has announced the expulsion of eight agencies, all for contravening TPO codes of practice. Most of the expulsions were...

There is no doubt that the BBC News article in early February caused something of a stir within the Deposit Free...

The safeagent accreditation business says it has helped secure the conviction of a rogue lettings agent who falsely claimed membership of...

A newspaper claims multiple councils are opening investigations into agents allegedly defying the tenant fees ban - and at least one...

The clampdown on referral fees, until now concentrated on the sales sector, will extend to letting agents too. James Munro, head of...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents and The Guild of Property Professionals have both given their backing to the government’s latest...

A rogue landlord has been found guilty of unlawful harassment and misleading and aggressive practices, and will be sentenced next month. Ragoopathy...

A Southampton lettings agency owner has been jailed after defrauding landlords and tenants out of £230,000. Andrew Whitehead has been jailed for...

A rogue landlord and the property company he ran have been fined £22,000 for dishing out ‘sham licences’ to tenants in...

The Property Ombudsman has expelled three lettings agencies from its scheme because of unpaid awards to landlord clients. The first is Kingsman...

Three criminals have been sentenced after pleading guilty to money laundering involving an online lettings agency. The sentences follow an investigation spearheaded...

A call has been made for the best letting agencies and other rental sector professionals to show how they comply with...

A crackdown on letting agency websites by a Trading Standards team has found the significant majority of them to be breaking...

An estimated 20 per cent of letting agents have still not signed up for a Client Money Protection scheme, six months...

Two London agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme for failing to honour two compensation awards. The first is Chase...

Last week’s revelation that approaching 50 per cent of letting agents surveyed in London were in breach of the law is...

The Association of Residential Letting Agents is urging tenants to “walk straight out” if they believe an agency is breaking the...

London Trading Standards has made the startling claim that 46 per cent of almost 2,000 agents it has surveyed are falling...

A Labour council which has become famous for its critical approach to the private rental sector has now been given almost £200,000...

The Property Ombudsman has announced a slew of expulsions after six agents failed to comply with redress rules. They failed to abide...

Seven agencies have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman after failing to pay compensation awards made by TPO. All are...

The Association of Residential Lettings Agents says it backs a new Trading Standards-led body which will enforce the Fees Ban starting  on...

Mother and daughter lettings agency fraudsters have been told to expect jail sentences after defrauding landlords and tenants of £266,000 over...

The government has issued new guidance notes on the Tenant Fees Act, aimed at agents, landlords and tenants. The publications come ahead...

The council for one of the wealthiest areas in the country says it will be “educating and advising letting agents” on...

TrustMark, the government-backed quality kite mark scheme for tradespeople, is launching a pilot with Trading Standards to improve the quality and...

The Tenants’ Fees Bill has now become law, receiving formal Royal Assent yesterday afternoon - and within minutes, the government issued...

The Property Ombudsman says agents can display weekly rents for homes they market - but they should be displayed alongside monthly...

A Trading Standards team has prosecuted a landlord who allegedly 'knew' criminal activity was taking place in his buy to let...

Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of a letting agent who appears not to be in any redress scheme, is being investigated by...

The government has made the controversial claim that the ban on the levying of fees on tenants will not produce “significant...

A crooked lettings agent who illegally pocketed tenants’ deposits to pay for his gambling addiction and lavish lifestyle has been convicted...

Three letting agents who failed to return tenants’ deposits or pass on rent payments to landlords have been convicted of fraud...

A leading PropTech entrepreneur says agents who accept that the lettings fee ban is coming and who plan positively for its...

An overcrowded property let by an unlicensed company with inadequate fire precautions and unheated rooms has led to a £46,620 fine...

Trading Standards departments in London are asking renters to name and shame letting agents who are not complying with the law...

In our previous blog, we looked at the definitions outlined by the CPRs. In our next blog we’ll look at the...

Two lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme. The first is Bower & Bower (B&B), a sales and lettings...

A major Scottish property management firm says agents and landlords south of the border should prepare now for the likely agency...

As part of SAFEagent Awareness Week, which finishes today, letting agents have been provided with a free webinar covering compliance. The webinar...

Today Trading Standards teams across the country will highlight the work they do to protect landlords and tenants from rogue letting...

The industry has reacted angrily to the announcement yesterday that the Tenants’ Fees Bill is now formally starting its progress through...

Trade bodies have been responding to today’s report of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee deliberations on the private...

The Property Ombudsman has released details of two letting agencies expelled over financial issues, and the extension of an expulsion period...

A Kent county councillor says letting agents “would have to be pretty dumb” to allow a situation arise whereby they would...

The sittings of the select committee looking into government proposals to ban letting agents’ fees levied on tenants resume this week...

Today sees the return of MPs to Parliament following the Christmas break, and one early task is to hear oral evidence...

The Communities and Local Government committee of MPs will on Monday hear their first oral evidence of the year for the...

The Conveyancing Association has made a wide-ranging response to the government’s call for evidence on the regulation of letting and managing...

The Communities and Local Government Select Committee says it is to begin “pre-legislative scrutiny” of proposals to ban tenant fees imposed...

The Property Ombudsman scheme has launched the third and latest phase of its national campaign with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute...

The government has announced that all letting agents will be required to “satisfy minimum training requirements” in order to trade. The provision...

The draft Bill to ban letting agents’ fees levied on tenants has been published - it’s to be called the Tenants’...

A London letting agency with connections to Westminster council is now being investigated by the same council’s trading standards department. CityWest Homes...

The CLA says the energy efficiency regulations for the lettings sector coming into effect in April are “fundamentally flawed” when it...

Trading Standards says representatives from 15 departments will today visit lettings and property management firms across London in a bid to...

A London council has won its appeal against Foxtons using the term “administration fees” in its lettings charges.    Back in 2015 Camden...

The government is being urged by the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) to do more to enforce compulsory fee disclosure. Since May 2015,...

This month’s prosecution of a letting agency for issuing ‘sham licences’ that suggested occupiers had no right to challenge eviction and...

A new report identifies in detail over 145 laws and regulations governing the private rental sector, varying across the four countries...

Two lettings agencies have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman redress scheme.   As we reported when the story broke yesterday afternoon, one...

Two lettings agencies have this afternoon been expelled from The Property Ombudsman redress scheme. In one case, TPO expelled Lettings Solutions Ltd...

Agents and landlords are being warned by a property management agency to prepare for the next round of energy-efficiency regulation changes...

A buy to let expert says there should be stronger enforcement and streamlining of legislation in the private rental sector. In a...

The Property Ombudsman and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute have announced a second phase of their campaign to tackle letting agents...

As the industry awaits the delivery of today's Spring Budget, the National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) has called on the government...

A convicted Surrey letting agent who used his clients’ money to cover his business debts has been ordered to pay £25,000...

Conservative MP Oliver Colvile is calling for urgent action following a recent spate of fraud involving rogue letting agents.   When approached by...

A fraudster has been jailed after being convicted on nine counts of fraud, theft and forgery relating to property firms which...

A campaigning lettings agent is demanding action over what he suggests is a tenancy deposit system that is in need of...

A branch of Foxtons has been fined £2,500 for failing to properly describe a fee charged to tenants.    The agency was caught...

Lettings agents have been issued fines totalling £14,100 by a local authority for failing to comply with consumer rights laws.   Officers from...

Citizens Advice says some 39 per cent of people living with their children in rented homes have a tenancy of six months...

Councils have been told to up their game to protect tenants from a minority of landlords providing sub-standard accommodation.   The call, being...

The Property Ombudsman scheme and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute have joined forces to tackle lettings agents that are breaking the...

Three men have received prison sentences of up to 28 months after a nationwide lettings scam was unearthed by trading standards...

The National Approved Letting Scheme has stepped into the heated debate about letting agents’ charges by launching what it calls a...

A letting agent who stole more than £400,000 from clients has had her sentence appeal dismissed by judges. Amy Williams, who part-owned Williams...

A letting agency has been removed from a Scottish council’s approved list after failing to conform with rules protecting the deposits...

The National Approved Letting Scheme says the most recent call to ban letting agent fees - in a demand made by...

The Local Government Association, representing 370 councils across England and Wales, is calling on the public to speak out against rogue...

The team leader of the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team is amongst a bevy of experts on a panel at...

A London council has prosecuted a letting agency that was ’ghost listing’ on Zoopla flats that were not in fact available...

A lettings agency has been fined over £11,000 for alleged breaches of regulations in advertising an unlicenced HMO that was later...

The Residential Landlords’ Association has revealed what it calls “worryingly low levels of enforcement of rented housing regulations” by local authorities. Using...

Let Belle Vue, a lettings and property management agency in Darlington, has been fined £3,000 for not being in an official...

A former letting agent has pleaded guilty of nine offences of fraud involving the retention of deposits and rents belonging to...

Who are you? I’m the Head of Redress at the Property Redress Scheme. I previously worked for Legal & General PLC dealing...

The trading standards division of a London council claims it has checked on all 202 letting agencies in its borough to...

A survey of one Home Counties area shows that out of about 40 letting agents some 24 appear not to be...

The Trading Standards Service has issued a warning to agents, landlords and consumers after independent tests on CO carbon monoxide alarms...

Unitary local authorities where trading standards and environmental health teams work to the same objectives are more successful at clamping down...

Peter Savage is to become the new president of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents, with an emphasis on trying to...

An organisation that describes itself as “an independent group of private renters” says it has identified 21 letting agents out of...

Yesterday we heard about the letter from the CMA warning agents about anti-competitive behaviour. Today, in a scoop for Estate Agent...

Earlier this week we passed the official deadline for letting agents to fully publicise their fees as well as providing evidence of which...