24th
Oct 2016
The Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the Property Ombudsman scheme are jointly campaigning to target letting agents that refuse to display their fees.
The campaign is going to be rolled out across the UK and the first areas to be targeted are Swansea and Dorset. Lettings agents will have to supply photographic evidence to The Property Ombudsman to prove that they are displaying their fees within their branches and websites.
Those that fail to do so will have their details passed onto the Trading Standards to carry out a complete investigation.
The TPO's conference in October unveiled the joint campaign and it gives Trading Standards officers powers to enforce fines of up to £5,000 on any letting agent who does not comply with their obligation to be transparent with their fees.
The large majority of UK lettings agents - 85% - have already signed up with TPO and comply with the CTSI-approved Lettings Code of Practice, which includes the requirement that agents have to correctly display their fees under the 2015 Consumer Rights Act.
Adrian Simpson, of the CTSI, said :“Agents signed up with The Property Ombudsman scheme have shown that they are willing to commit to the highest levels of consumer protection by following the scheme’s CTSI-approved Code of Practice. We fully support TPO’s efforts to improve industry compliance and any agent that has failed to display their fees up until now must act. We are aware of Trading Standards Officers taking serious action against those that fail to comply."
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