New UK Letting Agents Code Closer to Reality
Over the years there has been much discussion on the need for a new code or rules to govern all letting agents in the UK. Not many people, especially those who let and those who are landlords, were happy with what was happening. Well they have got their wish as a fresh code for UK based letting agents has reached the initial stage of the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme of the Office of Fair Trading.
This Lettings Code is meant to provide consumer landlords as well as their tenants with better protection when it comes to dealing with letting agents. Among other things, The TPO or Property Ombudsman stage one of the completed code requires that all holding deposits that are obtained from the potential tenants are held in an account of the designated clients.
Moreover, letting agents can’t include any kind of sales commissions in their contracts with the landlords. They are also not allowed to charge any renewal commissions if the concerned landlord instructs somebody else to carry out the renewal of the lease. And when a let doesn’t go through with no fault on the tenant’s part, the holding deposit of the potential tenant must be fully refunded within ten working days. They there are not allowed to charge for travel expense nor the Diesel in Leeds they filled their tank with.
The TPO provides a no-cost, autonomous redress scheme for both the tenants and the landlords who have a grievance against a TPO member. It’ll now fulfill wide-ranging monitoring procedures, which includes mystery shopping as well as consumer satisfaction surveys to make sure the code is serving its purpose.
Similar Posts:
What to look for in an apartment : Finding a suitable apartment…
Comments are closed!