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Written by rosalind renshaw

The National Association of Estate Agents has launched a licensing scheme for its members.

The scheme, which will be open to NAEA members, was launched at the House of Commons, and hailed by housing minister Grant Shapps as a “symbolic moment”.

He said: “For years I’ve been calling for better standards throughout this industry, so I’m delighted the NAEA are taking matters into their own hands and launching a licensing scheme that will ensure their members become known for their professionalism and integrity.

“I call on all estate agents to sign up and make sure they’re not left behind when consumers vote with their feet.

“This is exactly the sort of measure the housing market needs – simple and sensible changes that are driven by industry and designed to deliver results.

“By ensuring they enjoy the trust of people buying and selling homes, estate agents will inject greater confidence and movement in the housing market.

“In future, anyone looking to buy a home or sell theirs should ask the simple question of their estate agents: ‘Are you licensed?’”

He added: “This is an idea whose time has come: it is the right way to go.”

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA, said: “Nobody would knowingly get into an unlicensed taxi. However, thousands of people are willing to entrust one of the most important transactions of their life to people who are not qualified or experienced.

“From now on, estate agency in the UK is a two-tiered industry – those agents who are licensed and those who are not. I think the public will welcome the distinction and I believe that this move will raise standards across the industry.”

NAEA President Michael Jones said he had just returned from the National Association of Realtors conference in America. Agents there, he said, were aghast that there was nothing in the UK to stop anyone setting up as an estate agent the following day.

But he made it clear that the NAEA, which has been campaigning for mandatory licensing of all agents for many years, had not abandoned its fight.

He said of the NAEA licensing scheme: “It is the first step towards regulation of the entire industry. We still totally believe that full, mandatory licensing should be introduced. Successive governments have not got involved with that, but we will continue to make that call.”

The NAEA licence will guarantee that the agency is covered by required amounts of Professional Indemnity Insurance, will undertake CPD, commit to keeping up to date with industry developments and be bound by the NAEA’s rules of conduct.

A licensed estate agency branch means that at least one agent within that branch is qualified in residential property sales, either through a formal qualification or through length of service in the industry.

Among the first agents to be NAEA licensed is Feather Smailes & Scales, in Harrogate, where partner Charles Smailes is NFoPP chairman, and The Property People, in north Wales, owned by former NAEA chairman Melfyn Williams.

The NAEA proposes to get as many members as possible licensed by June 2011.

Comments

  • icon

    as a buyer i need a house with a reasonable
    market price,a good house
    as per my requirments
    i dont really care about
    licensed agent.

    • 19 November 2010 21:47 PM
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