"Letting Agents - come on in the water's lovely!"

At last Letting Agencies are joining the party!

For too long they have been allowed to trade without having any qualifications or training. Any Tom Dick or Sally could pop a couple of cards in the newsagents window and call themselves a Letting Agency. That has now changed following the bringing in of legislation that means Letting Agencies have to comply with the Letting Agent Code of Practice (Scotland) Regulations 2016.

What does this mean for them?

Back to the books

You will require to hold a recent, relevant qualification covering essential aspects of letting agency work at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level 6 or above.

Gym Membership

All of those applying to be on the register will need to meet standards as laid out in a ‘fit and proper person test’.

Compare the Market

To be fully compliant all agencies must ensure they hold client money in a dedicated client account. You must also belong to a Client Money Protection (CMP) scheme and hold Professional indemnity insurance.

Go to Jail

It will be a criminal offence to carry out letting agency work in Scotland if you aren’t on the register - with the possibility of fines of up to £50,000 and prison sentences of up to 6 months for those convicted.

The bottom line is that this is likely to rid the industry of the rogues as it did with landlords and mortgage brokers but will it improve the standards? My view is that no amount of legislation is going to turn a bad Letting Agency into a good Letting Agency. It has nothing to do with legislation and everything to do with how you run your business!