Real Estate Agents and You.
May 7, 2008There are several major rules that might be helpful in your relation with estate agents:
1. Find an agent which belongs to an Ombudsman’s scheme
2. Be aware of the agents’ legal obligations
3. Remember the agent is working for the seller, not the buyer
4. Complaints about agents should be made to your local authority’s trading standards office
5. If the agent cannot sort out a problem and he is signed up to the OEA code of practice, you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman
6. Do not use the same legal adviser as the seller
In case if it all goes wrong who can you complain to?
For a long time, many consumers have been frustrated by the fact that the estate agency industry is self-regulated. The Ombudsman for Estate Agents offers a complaints service for its member agencies. The ombudsman can award compensation and publishes a list of members on its website. Under the government’s Consumer Act, all estate agents have to belong to an industry body with an ombudsman scheme attached.
This should boost consumer access to a complaints resolution procedure. Prior to the legislation, many large estate agency groups did not belong to a industry body or the ombudsman scheme.
Contact addresses
The Ombudsman for Estate Agents Scheme: 01722 333306
The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA): 01926 496800
