The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has launched a new licensing scheme for the industry in order to boost standards.
The NAEA is convinced that much more needs to be done to curb the damaging consequences of unprofessional estate agents for clients, and protecting their interests is one of the main aims of introducing the licensing scheme.
Previously, anyone could establish an estate agency regardless of professional qualifications or experience. The NAEA’s plans will change all this, requiring each licensed branch to have one estate agent with a qualification (either formal or experience-based) in residential property sales.
In addition, each branch will need to hold an adequate professional indemnity insurance policy and abide by the NAEA’s rules of conduct.
Speaking at the official launch of the scheme back in November, the NAEA’s chief executive Peter Bolton King said:
“Nobody would knowingly get into an unlicensed taxi. However thousands of people are willing to entrust one of most important transactions of their life to people who are not qualified or experienced.”
“From today, estate agency in the UK is a two-tiered industry – those agents who are licensed and those who are not.”