Regulation won't improve standards

This is the finding of research carried out by HIP provider Geodesys, part of Anglian Water. Of those interviewed, 23% felt such regulation wouldn’t improve levels of professionalism within agencies. Just over seven in 10 (72%) believed Carsberg’s recommendations would have a positive impact, with 5% unsure.

Geodesys’ head of sales & marketing, Patsy Day, believes any move geared towards enhancing customer care should be embraced by the industry. “Consumers have to be the priority,” she added, “and any estate agents that don’t have their best interests at heart are ultimately the ones who will suffer.

“I’m surprised almost a quarter of agents we interviewed were against the regulatory measures proposed in Carsberg’s Review. Perhaps they’re just associating increased regulation with increased cost; in a tough market it’s easy to ignore moves that could further stretch budgets, but they need to look at the longer term.”

Sir Bryan Carsberg, in his recent review of regulatory standards within the residential property market, urged the industry to introduce a new code of conduct in order to improve customer satisfaction.

The former Director General of both Oftel and the Office of Fair Trading believes clients are poorly informed about estate agency qualifications and what service levels they can expect.

And he argued an active system of regulatory control, with agents required to meet set standards laid down by a professional body, would improve the customer experience for buyers, sellers, leasers and renters.

Geodesys also asked whether agents were so strongly against statutory regulation that they would consider leaving the industry if such an initiative was introduced. However, only 2% said they would turn their back on the industry should Carsberg’s recommendations become reality.