Lords Block Move to Increase Regulation of Letting Agents

20 February 2007

The House of Lords has rejected a move to extend regulation of estate agents to also cover letting agents. 

The Earl of Caithness proposed amendments to the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill, to revise the definition of estate agency work to include lettings.

The trade and industry minister Lord Truscott said he had concluded that the changes proposed were ‘not possible under this Bill’, which is designed to implement the recommendations outlined in the Office of Fair Trading report on the estate agency market in England and Wales and does not cover lettings. However, he said that the government would continue to monitor the private rented sector.