Letting agents warned over consumer protection laws

Letting agents who breach duties of disclosure about properties on their books could increasingly face criminal charges or civil litigation.

The warning has come from Chris Hamer, of The Property Ombudsman service, in a special interim report on the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations. He has emphasised that letting agents, just as much as sales agents, are caught by CPRs.

Hamer said: “Events over the past 12 months have seen the CPRs starting to be enforced by Trading Standards.

“While the origins of CPRs are based on European Directives that are not specifically aimed at the property sector, the forthcoming repeal of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, expected later this year, will potentially see Trading Standards increase activity in taking civil and/or criminal actions against property agents that fail to comply with the Regulations.

 “The application of CPRs changes the way all property agents market properties and provide information to consumers.”

The CPRs make it incumbent on agents to disclose everything they should reasonably be expected to know, and also what they become aware of during marketing of the property, and which could affect a consumer’s decision as to whether to buy or rent.

While the CPRs are not new – they have been in force since May 2008 – they are set to become more important, probably this autumn, when the Property Misdecriptions Act is scrapped.  

The Interim Report includes case studies, commentary and guidance to assist agents in meeting their obligations under the CPRs.

As well as duties of disclosure, the CPRs make it illegal to misdescribe a property, use aggressive practices such as forcing a prospective buyer to use an associated service, or claim to be a member of a professional body when the agent is not.

CPR-related case studies included in the report include instances where agents were caught out by not including information as to planning permissions, title, access and neighbours.

In one case, a property was sold with off-street parking. However, when the buyers moved in they found that because the kerb was not dropped, legally they could not access their hard-standing.

In another case, tenants objected after they found themselves living next door to students who played loud music late at night. The tenants successfully argued that the agent had misrepresented the neighbouring property and were awarded £500.

The interim report also gives an update of TPO’s workload between January and the end of April, showing a slight increase from 235 cases in the same period last year to 264 about sales, and a much larger rise about lettings from 279 to 391.

Initial complaints were also up from 1,332 in the first four months of last year to 1,626 this year.

http://www.tpos.co.uk/quarterly_report.htm