A new code for letting agents in the UK has completed the first stage of the Office of Fair Trading’s Consumer Codes Approval Scheme, it has been announced. The letting agents code has been developed to give consumer landlords and their tenants greater protection when dealing with letting agents and better redress if things go wrong.

Amongst other things, The Property Ombudsman (TPO) stage one completed code stipulates that any holding deposits taken from prospective tenants are kept in a separate designated clients’ account. Also, letting agents cannot include sales commissions in their agreements with landlords, or charge renewal commission where the landlord instructs someone else to renew the lease.

Also, when a let does not go ahead through no fault of the tenant, the prospective tenant’s holding deposit will be refunded in full and within 10 working days.

The TPO will provide a free, independent redress scheme for tenants and landlords who have a complaint against a TPO member. It will now carry out comprehensive monitoring procedures including mystery shopping exercises and customer satisfaction surveys to ensure that the code is working effectively. Only Codes that demonstrate this achieve stage two and are then entitled to display the ‘OFT Approved Code’ logo.