The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill has now received Royal Assent but The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) still believes there are some key issues which need to be ironed out.

The bill is designed to create a new, stronger and more coherent consumer advocacy body to introduce redress(reform) to the energy, postal services and estate agency sectors as well as improving regulation of estate agents and doorstep selling.

Peter Bolton King, chief executive of NAEA, says: “This is clearly a positive step for the industry. We believe redress for consumers is extremely important, to the extent that we already insist all our Principal, Partner and Director members belong to an independent redress scheme, as provided by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents.

“But redress on its own is not enough. Initiatives need to be put in place to prevent bad practice from happening in the first instance. By requiring all agents to belong to an approved industry body with competency standards the government could very easily address this issue.

“In addition, the issue of redress for residential lettings still needs to be addressed. The lettings market is extremely active in the UK, yet no provision has been made to provide compensation for consumers who deal with lettings agents in the latest bill. Fortunately, this is something the government has now recognised and we eagerly await further feedback on the matter.”