Wednesday 25th June 2008
Consumers could soon have more formalised rights to redress from estate agents following the revelation that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to launch a scheme to ensure recompense is provided to those affected by nefarious professional activity.
The Ombudsman for Estate Agents is to be given jurisdiction to rule against members of the profession, with all practitioners due to be covered by the initiative.
Such coverage is to be put in place by requiring all estate agents to be members of a professional body or appropriate scheme under the power of the ombudsman.
John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, says: "House buyers and sellers will soon have access to a free, easily accessible and speedy estate agents redress scheme that will ensure independence, fairness and transparency.
"We are also actively considering other applications to operate similar redress schemes."
Among the rulings which may be enforced by the ombudsman is the option of requiring monetary compensation to be paid to the claimant by the relevant estate agent.
While outcomes of cases are to be binding on the defendant, the claimant may opt out of the verdict and instead pursue the case in the courts if they so wish.
A date of October 1st has been set by the OFT for the introduction of the initiative, at which point the right to redress is expected by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to become law.
This is also predicted as the date from which estate agents are to be required to join an appropriate scheme policed by the ombudsman.
Further applications are currently under consideration from the Surveyors Ombudsman Service and Register of Estate Agents to operate similar schemes in the future.
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