The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has produced a draft report, titled ‘OFT guidance for estate agents’ which details new rules for how estate agents and property developers
must handle the sale of a property, to meet the terms of UK law. The new rules will not only affect how commercial properties are sold, but also residential properties as well.
The new guidance will clarify how estate agents and developers should operate when selling a commercial property. It also specifies how businesses can obey the new law and also gives examples of what kind of business practices could breach the guidelines. The sections include:
Cavendish Elithorn, Senior Director at OFT expressed, “Buying a property is one of the biggest purchases people make and can also be one of the most stressful. Unfair business practices can cause substantial consumer harm and this guidance has been designed to help estate agents and property developers understand what they need to do to comply with the law.” Some actions that estate agents that would breach the new guidelines include:
If an estate agent or property developer breaches the guidelines, it could result in them giving details of the actions, being summoned to court or paying a fine up to £5000.
The draft report welcomes view and comments from anyone in the sector. To comment, you will need to contact David Hart. You can write to him at: Goods and Consumer Group, Office of Fair Trading, Fleetbank House, 2-6 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX. Or you could email him on: david.hart@oft.gsi.gov.uk. Comments will only be accepted until 9 December 2011. OFT particularly want to hear from:
OFT are responsible for making sure businesses conduct their practices in a fair and open way. They are also in charge of ensuring that there is as much competition as possible, so consumers have the freedom of choice.
It is not yet clear if and when the new rules will be enforced, but the guidelines seem to protect buyers more than sellers. So will the new rules just simply just hinder the property market and make it harder for people to sell their commercial properties?
