Well-known estate agency commentator Russell Quirk has said the lack of any regulation of estate agents is “completely outdated”.
Quirk, who regularly appears in national media to discuss the property sector, founded online estate agency emoov in 2010 as well as Quirk Deakin in 1999.
With this experience in mind, he believes that estate agency “needs to be properly regulated as an industry”.
The US, Australia, and most of Europe have a mandatory licensing regime for agents, which is a necessity if an agent wishes to practise in their country. Before one acts as an estate agent and before transactions can take place, that agent must gain a license.
To do so, an estate agent must demonstrate an understanding of the law, rules, and regulations of the sector. An agent must also pass a knowledge test about general good practice and the best practice for consumers right now.
“Once you are licensed, it is a bit like having a driver’s licence, so if you mess up, do something bad or wrong, you are subject to sanction,” Quirk explained:
“We are one of the only countries that doesn’t have licensing and I think it is completely outdated.
We need to be properly regulated as an industry, and counties like America and Australia have already set the standard for how the industry should be operating.”
Quirk added that “there should also be an ability to ban people and take licenses away if they have engaged in wrongful practice”.
With estate agents dealing with around one million sales transactions and three million lettings transactions every year, it’s suggested there needs to be more legislation in place to provide oversight on the industry, rather than the “ancient” legislation still in place:
“We mustn’t forget that we are dealing here, not with just big assets, not just something that is worth a lot of money, but the livelihoods and the financial vulnerability of millions of people.
Licensing is an added benefit for consumers, knowing an estate agent is not going to take advantage of them, and their money.”
In a recent survey, ProperPR – a property PR company which Quirk is co-founder of – found that 75% of agents thought that estate agents in England should be licensed.
“I would go as far as to say, agents that do not support the industry being licenced on an individual basis maybe have something to hide,” Quirk said:
“I believe that introducing licensing will raise industry standards. Every agent should have their client’s best interests at heart and be furthering their education and excelling in the best practise for the industry.
In place of licensing, Propertymark Qualifications are a great example of how [agents] can further [their] education and try and keep the industry as regulated as possible without mandatory licensing.”
3 responses
I totally agree. Estate Agents seem to have little actual understanding of the conveyancing process, and the time it takes to deal with each stage. In addition, they have totally lost sight of the fact that they are actually employed by the Seller and tend to give “advice” to the Buyer, which is sometimes incorrect, instead of referring them to their Conveyancer.
They also nowadays use “bullying tactics” to put pressure on the Buyer which causes unnecessary further stress on them.
The answer has to be proper training and licencing. This is long overdue in a business which is target and commission driven, and can only help one and all.
I absolutely agree. I practised Real Estate in Florida for 18 years and am currently selling my house in the uk using an estate agent. Although we hired the agent and we are paying the commission the agent is acting like they represent the buyers best interest. A problem arose after the search and I have been working daily to resolve, not my estate agent. Other than putting the house on Rightmove I see no value in estate agents here. Time for change.
Completely agree. Too many estate agents lack the understanding and importance of basics such as a proper chain check. Too many realise that there are additional properties in a chain at the last minute, too many realise there are mortgages. Too many comments are made without the lack of legal knowledge that buyers naively rely on. There are too many occasions where agents make sure buyers’ interests are protected ahead of their own clients, especially in investment situations where they want to keep the buyers on side. Frankly, they should be licensed, they should be trained and they should have to deal with similar matters to CQS which we have to deal with. Finally, please can agents be banned from marketing/selling properties unless they have full authority from ALL registered owners or a Grant of Probate available.