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Redress for Complaints Against Estate Agents

It is the Government's intention that from April 2008, estate agents in the UK should be required to belong to a redress scheme covering all estate agency complaints related to the buying and selling of residential property.  The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress (CEAR) Act, which obtained Royal Assent on 19 July 2007, makes provision for this.

Once the CEAR Act comes into force and the redress provisions are implemented, the Housing Act provisions relating to redress schemes will be repealed as HIP-related complaints will be considered by schemes approved by the Office of Fair Trading under the CEAR Act.

Complaints related to Home Information Packs (HIPs):

HIPs were introduced in England and Wales on 1 August 2007. Sellers of properties with three or more bedrooms need to have commissioned a HIP before putting their property on the market. Any estate agent in England and Wales marketing a property requiring a HIP must belong to an approved redress scheme.  This means consumers have access to redress for HIP-related complaints against estate agents.

Redress schemes approved to date under the Housing Act 2004, for the purpose of dealing with HIP-related complaints are:

-  Ombudsman for Estate Agents’ HIPs redress scheme

-  Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Surveyor Ombudsman Scheme

IDRS Application

We are currently considering a revised application from IDRS (see documents on the right). We expect to make a decision on whether to approve the IDRS application in October.