A number of estate agents are putting landlords and tenants at risk by turning into letting agents overnight, according to Robinson & Hall. This is largely because some predict around 100,000 estate agents could lose their jobs by the end of 2008.
Plummeting house sales could force one-third of all estate agencies to close, and this is driving some to diversify into letting which is often outside their core expertise. To avoid being caught out by the risks that this rapid switch from sales to letting is causing, Robinson & Hall says landlords need to take note of the fundamental differences between estate and letting agents, or potentially face losing their hard-earned cash.
Kellie Marsh, lettings manager at Robinson & Hall, said: “Non-qualified letting agents do not have the protection of bonded clients’ accounts which means that the landlords they serve could lose their money. Letting agents should be members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) or the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) which safeguard landlords and tenants by ensuring that rents and deposits are held in a separate protected account. We have heard of agents failing to hand over rent promptly, presumably because they are using their clients’ money to solve their cash-flow problems.”
She added: “Those using qualified letting agents with these protected client accounts are covered by the government compensation scheme. The serious state of market affairs means it has become absolutely necessary for landlords to restrict themselves to using established, reputable letting agents carrying ARLA or RICS membership.”
Filed under: Buy to Let, Estate Agents, Landlords, Property | Tagged: arla, letting agents, rics
