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From 1 October 2008 all estate agents in the UK who engage in residential estate agency work will be required by order to belong to an approved redress scheme dealing with complaints about the buying and selling of residential property. The Estate Agents (Redress Scheme) Order 2008 came into force on 1 October 2008.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has approved the following bodies to run estate agents redress schemes under the Estate Agents Act 1979:
• The Ombudsman for Estate Agents
• The Surveyors Ombudsman Service
The OFT is currently considering one other application to run a redress scheme. Details are available on the OFT web-site: (http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/EARS).
Estate agents that fail to join an approved scheme will be subject to a £1,000 penalty charge, which can be repeated if necessary, and will ultimately be banned from carrying out estate agency work if they refuse to sign up.
Complaints related to HIPs
Estate agents in England and Wales marketing properties with a Home Information Pack (HIP) have been required to join an approved redress scheme for HIP related complaints since 1 August 2007, when the Home Information Pack (Redress Scheme) (No.2) Order 2007 came into force.
The Estate Agents (Redress Scheme) Order 2008 extends redress coverage to all estate agents in the UK and to all complaints about the buying and selling of residential property (including HIPs). Consequently the HIPs redress order is no longer required. To avoid duplication the Government has repealed the redress provisions in the Housing Act 2004, causing the HIPs Order to longer apply.
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