Sajid Javid has today announced a consultation on the regulation of managing agents.
Further details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/crackdown-on-unfair-managing-agents
This is not the first time that government has looked at this issue, but it is a natural follow on from the White Paper on Housing ‘fixing our broken housing market’ and the recent consultation on ‘tackling abuses in the leasehold sector’.
This announcement is big news in the property management industry. ARMA (the Association of Residential Managing Agents) has had a voluntary regulatory scheme, ARMA-Q which its members have signed up to, but this is by no means covers all of the industry.
The issue in property management is that it is currently an unregulated sector and given the millions of pounds of flat owners money that is held by managers, can this really be right in the 21st Century?
Mark Chick, Head of Landlord & Tenant at Bishop & Sewell LLP commented as follows:
‘It is good to see that government has moved to consult on the regulation of managing agents. This is something that has done the rounds over the years, but in order to sort the ‘good from the bad’ consumers really should have some visible means of seeking redress and knowing that the people holding onto their money are regulated and qualified to manage their building properly.
I would urge all interested parties, freeholders, leaseholders and managers to respond to the consultation during the 6 week consultation process.’
If you have a query concerning leasehold property then please contact our expert team by emailing leasehold@bishopandsewell.co.uk.
