The British Property Federation has welcomed an amendment to the Enterprise Bill that will introduce statutory regulation of letting agents of residential property.

The amendment - successfully tabled by Baroness Hayter in the House of Lords - comes after years of behind the scenes lobbying, including the BPF unsuccessfully tabling a similar amendment in 2007 to the Consumer, Redress and Estate Agent Act.

Estate agency has been regulated since 1979, and this was enhanced in 2007, but letting agents have never been within those provisions. This creates the odd situation where parts of agent’s businesses are regulated and parts are not, and with large sums of money collected by letting agents, it leaves landlords and tenants exposed. It also means complaints against letting agents are not referred to an Ombudsman, unless firms join up to a self-regulatory scheme. With the rapid growth in the private rented sector these issues are coming ever more to the fore.

Ian Fletcher, director of policy at the British Property Federation, said: “We’re delighted to see the Lords recognise the regulation of agents as an important issue. We hope that the Government will now work with the wider sector to put in place clauses it feels it can support.

“As with any legislation it is important that we get the detail right, and that it recognises good agents that follow existing schemes, while ensuring that those following poor practice are brought within the law.”