The government should be doing more to protect tenants in the
private rented sector from unscrupulous agents as the demand for
rented accommodation in the private sector grows, a leading
residential letting manager has warned.
"As Britain is apparently on the verge of becoming a 'nation of
renters', renting is now a necessary choice for many people who
cannot afford the deposit needed to buy their own home and for some
it is a more flexible option than buying. It is critical,
therefore, that that the Private Rented Sector is treated with
greater seriousness by the Government and the first step in this
approach should be enforcement of existing requirements to protect
tenants with action being taken by local authorities to ensure a
landlord provides a safe home," said Jill Elkington, Midlands
spokesperson for The Association of Rented Letting Agents (ARLA)
and residential letting manager at Hodgson Elkington, chartered
surveyors.
"Additionally, many agents offer no consumer protection by means
of Client Money Protection or fail to offer consumer redress
through an Ombudsman Scheme. Both elements, when combined with a
professional training and qualification programme, will allow
tenants to enter this market with confidence.
"The threat posed by unlicensed agents grows more pressing as
the market expands, placing both landlords and tenants at increased
risk of financial loss. Until that time as the Government steps in
to regulate, our advice to anyone looking to rent a property would
be to use an ARLA-licensed lettings agent to ensure they're
protected against unethical agents.
It was only last week that an agent in the East Midlands was
reported to have disappeared with client funds. This type of
behaviour cannot and must not be tolerated."
"There are many unregulated agents in the area offering
discounted or very low fees suggesting that they are struggling to
make ends meet and are more likely to go out of business and take
client and tenant monies with them. In the end you get what you pay
for and that cost can be high if tenants are seduced by seemingly
low cost deals," added Jill Elkington.