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LOVEITTS WELCOMES GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN ON “ROGUE” ESTATE AGENTS

Loveitts, which this year the celebrates its 175th anniversary, has welcomed the Government’s move to crackdown on rogue estate agents.

Housing Secretary Sajid Javid announced a series of measures to professionalise the market and protect home buyers and sellers from poor practices.

Key among the measures is that estate agents will be required to hold a professional qualification whereas at present anyone can set themselves up as one.

They will also have to be transparent about the fees they receive for referring clients to solicitors, surveyors and mortgage brokers.

The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team will be strengthened so that they can carry out more enforcement actions, which include banning agents.

Sadie Severn, Head of Residential Sales and New Homes of Loveitts, which has offices in Coventry, Leamington and Nuneaton said: “We have long held the view that estate agency should be professionalised so we are delighted that Housing Secretary Sajid Javid has grasped the nettle by making it mandatory for estate agents to hold professional qualifications.

“Buying a home is likely to be the largest investment anyone makes in their life so it is breath-taking that they could be guided through that process by someone calling themselves an estate agent who has no relevant qualifications at all.

“We very much welcome the changes – rogue estate agents bring misery for their clients and let down the reputation of estate agency generally.”

Loveitts, which was founded in 1843, is today the largest independent multi-disciplinary practice of estate agents, chartered surveyors, valuers and auctioneers in the region and lives up to its principles by ensuring staff all have relevant professional qualifications. It is a member of Propertymark and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

It is the only estate agency in Coventry to be a member of all three governing bodies, the National Association of Estate Agents, the Association of Residential Lettings Agents and the National Association of Valuers and Auctioneers.

As a member of RICS, Loveitts is subject to regular review and its valuation reports can be audited at any time, as well as its handling of clients’ money.

More than one million homes are bought and sold in England every year and the majority of buyers and sellers – more than six out of ten – found the process stressful, according to Government research.

Announcing the measures, Mr Javid said: “For far too long buyers and sellers have been trapped in a stressful system full of delays and uncertainty.

“So we’re going to put the consumers back in the driving seat. We will require estate agents to hold a qualification so that people are no longer at risk from a minority of ‘rogue agents’ and can trust the process when buying or selling their home.”