The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) has said more needs to be done to protect those purchasing or selling homes against rogue estate agents.
The comments were made following calls from MPs to have estate agents regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
As reported in What Mortgage late last year, some estate agents have been accused of unethical behaviour, including attempting to get house purchasers to use their in-house mortgage services in return for preferential treatment.
However, FCA chief Martin Wheatley said that the regulator would be overstretched if it were to take estate agents into its remit and said it should not be responsible for their supervision.
But the NAEA told What Mortgage that it would be in favour of statutory regulation of the industry.
Mark Hayward, managing director of NAEA, said: “NAEA has long campaigned for regulation of the housing sector. We believe more needs to be done to help protect those purchasing or selling homes against rogue estate agents that operate in our industry. We would like to see formal, statutory regulation of estate agents introduced and welcome constructive dialogue with relevant regulatory bodies about standards within the industry.
“As the NAEA, we have our own agent licensing and regulation schemes and all NAEA members adhere to a code of conduct. This helps raise industry standards and provide the knowledge and professionalism required to give buyers and sellers peace of mind throughout the sales process.”
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