Letting agent enforcement must improve – safeagent

The UK’s largest not-for-profit accreditation scheme for lettings and management agents is calling for tougher enforcement after one firm was accused of failing to return deposits to more than 100 tenants.

Safeagent made the demand after the allegations were reported by BBC News and it acknowledged the workload facing trading standards officers responsible for enforcing housing legislation.

It added that many authorities successfully pursue reported compliance failures, particularly where an agent may not belong to a client money protection or redress scheme.

Tenants placed at risk

The chief executive of safeagent, Isobel Thomson, said: “As an organisation, we have experienced instances of authorities pitching responsibility from one to the other, as appears to have happened in this case, where issues are raised regarding letting agent compliance.

“The end result is that no action is taken and consumers are placed at risk.”

She added: “We have experienced authorities failing to respond to repeated communications about agents displaying the safeagent logo, for example, as they cannot see the bigger picture of what that means for consumers i.e. that the firm is not part of a CMP Scheme or very likely a redress scheme either.

“It is not a vanity project about the use of our logo but a genuine aim of ensuring consumers are protected.”

Compliance checks questioned

Safeagent said reports of unprotected deposits should have prompted checks on whether the firm met other basic requirements, including membership of a client money protection scheme.

It also points to the National Trading Standards Property Agent Checker, which allows searches to be made for an agent’s compliance status.

The organisation also questioned whether the number of consumer reports should have led to an escalation to the National Trading Standards Letting Agency Team.

It also asked what action the national team had taken.

Budget cuts restrict enforcement

One trading standards authority told safeagent that significant budget cuts had reduced its capacity and forced it to prioritise action against set criteria.

It said misuse of logos alone no longer met its threshold, with its focus shifted towards vulnerable consumers who had been specifically targeted.

The number of complaints and detriment were also considered, while intelligence would be recorded and passed to the national letting agency team.

Safeagent is now calling on the government to ensure authorities understand the purpose of enforcement, saying a lack of joined-up action did not serve consumers well.