Recent OFT Report on Estate Agents seems to please no one !

Conveyancing Solicitors :

Conveyancing Solicitors have expressed the disappointment that the OFT did not propose the regulation of estate agents in its home buying and selling.
Commenting on the report Paul Marsh, Law Society property spokesman, said: ‘We’d have liked to see them recommend that regulation of estate agents was put in place to create a level playing field with solicitors, who are very heavily regulated.’

Strange that government deems that solicitors must be heavily regulated by independent bodies and cannot regulate themselves, despite the fact that satisfaction surveys say they do a good job.

Estate Agents :

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the National Association of Estate Agents, added: ‘Once again the OFT has categorically failed to see that better regulation of the home buying and selling market is required… it is disappointing that the OFT has not thought it appropriate to acknowledge that a robust and appropriate level of consumer protection is needed.’

‘The NAEA would like to see a greater level of regulation to ensure that professional, qualified estate agents are not confused with agents that, all too often, fail to meet the basic professional standards we would expect from our members,’ he said.