Excerpt from a news article related to this discussion:

Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills also today announced the repeal of the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.

Peter Bolton King , RICS Global Residential Director : "RICS accepts the reasons for repealing the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 as the issues it sought to address are now covered by the consumer protection regulations.

"We have consistently said to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), and others, that the Act should be the starting point for compliance with the consumer protection regulations in that market."

In line with the announcement the OFT has published guidance to help estate agents and others involved in property sales understand their responsibilities.

Cavendish Elithorn, senior director at the OFT, said: "Buying and selling a property is usually one of the biggest purchases we make and can also be one of the most stressful.

"Unfair business practices can cause substantial losses or frustration to buyers and sellers either when transactions collapse or afterwards when the truth is uncovered."In response to feedback, this guidance has been developed with help from the property sales industry and Trading Standards Services, to provide clear and comprehensive, but practical, advice."

Further information on the advice is available on the OFT's website.

Hi,

I've been reading these threads and as a newbie, can I please ask for a bit of clarification on this?

If I am to start out working as a property sourcer for some particular investors - is this now illegal as it would be favouring certain investors when properties should be advertised equally to an open market? That is what I understood by the threads, but if this is now the case, would that also not now put out most estate agents who call up certain people knowing that they will agree to and be able to buy certain properties more quickly than advertising them openly?

Secondly - when I am acting as a sourcer, is it just that to now be able to do this legally I just have to register with the TPOS on their website? So all I would then need to be able to act as a sourcer legally would be to pay the £228 incl VAT, and send them copies of a professional imdemnity insurance and a company registration number? I don't have either a PI insurance or company registration number but I suppose these can be gotten?

Anyhow, really sorry but I am a little bit confused by all this and as am just starting out don't want to get off on a wrong foot from the beginning. I also don't see whether I should be then registering for membership or registeration on the TPOS website as it seems the same and is the same price?

I do see though that there is an advantage to being openly monitored somehow as it is a good way to try and proove to people that I'm not doing anything illegal or associated with those scams in any way.


Any advice/clarifications would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance - Erica

(15-09-2012 01:50 PM)Erica Stanford Wrote:  Hi,

I've been reading these threads and as a newbie, can I please ask for a bit of clarification on this?

If I am to start out working as a property sourcer for some particular investors - is this now illegal as it would be favouring certain investors when properties should be advertised equally to an open market? That is what I understood by the threads, but if this is now the case, would that also not now put out most estate agents who call up certain people knowing that they will agree to and be able to buy certain properties more quickly than advertising them openly?

Secondly - when I am acting as a sourcer, is it just that to now be able to do this legally I just have to register with the TPOS on their website? So all I would then need to be able to act as a sourcer legally would be to pay the £228 incl VAT, and send them copies of a professional imdemnity insurance and a company registration number? I don't have either a PI insurance or company registration number but I suppose these can be gotten?

Anyhow, really sorry but I am a little bit confused by all this and as am just starting out don't want to get off on a wrong foot from the beginning. I also don't see whether I should be then registering for membership or registeration on the TPOS website as it seems the same and is the same price?

I do see though that there is an advantage to being openly monitored somehow as it is a good way to try and proove to people that I'm not doing anything illegal or associated with those scams in any way.


Any advice/clarifications would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance - Erica

Hi Erica

This is not something new, it has been the law that property sourcers should have been complying with since 1979. The law hasn't been enforced very much, until NOW that is.

In answer to your question, you will be legal if you sign up to one of the two Ombudsman schemes and follow their Code of Practice. You don't need a company number but a condition of membership is that you will need to purchase PI insurance.

I'm aware of one property sourcer who applied and the insurers took one look at his website and declined him so he can't join until he sorts out his website which is clearly illegal as it quotes things that it shouldn't, e.g "instant equity"

Regards

Mark Alexander

Erica,

If you are working for a buyer, there is no obligation to advertise a property to the whole market so the seller can get the best price. In fact, I would say that the ability to successfully take care of your client's interest, you would not want the seller to achieve a higher price than your buyer want's to pay. You are not representing the seller so you have no duty to them other than operating legally (no fraud, etc).

(15-09-2012 09:06 PM)john_corey Wrote:  Erica,

If you are working for a buyer, there is no obligation to advertise a property to the whole market so the seller can get the best price. In fact, I would say that the ability to successfully take care of your client's interest, you would not want the seller to achieve a higher price than your buyer want's to pay. You are not representing the seller so you have no duty to them other than operating legally (no fraud, etc).

John,
Well said. I tried to allude to this earlier on but you have a much simpler way of saying what I wanted to say. Thank you.

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(15-09-2012 02:00 PM)Mark Alexander Wrote:  

(15-09-2012 01:50 PM)Erica Stanford Wrote:  Hi,

I've been reading these threads and as a newbie, can I please ask for a bit of clarification on this?

If I am to start out working as a property sourcer for some particular investors - is this now illegal as it would be favouring certain investors when properties should be advertised equally to an open market? That is what I understood by the threads, but if this is now the case, would that also not now put out most estate agents who call up certain people knowing that they will agree to and be able to buy certain properties more quickly than advertising them openly?

Secondly - when I am acting as a sourcer, is it just that to now be able to do this legally I just have to register with the TPOS on their website? So all I would then need to be able to act as a sourcer legally would be to pay the £228 incl VAT, and send them copies of a professional imdemnity insurance and a company registration number? I don't have either a PI insurance or company registration number but I suppose these can be gotten?

Anyhow, really sorry but I am a little bit confused by all this and as am just starting out don't want to get off on a wrong foot from the beginning. I also don't see whether I should be then registering for membership or registeration on the TPOS website as it seems the same and is the same price?

I do see though that there is an advantage to being openly monitored somehow as it is a good way to try and proove to people that I'm not doing anything illegal or associated with those scams in any way.


Any advice/clarifications would be very much appreciated! Thanks in advance - Erica

Hi Erica

This is not something new, it has been the law that property sourcers should have been complying with since 1979. The law hasn't been enforced very much, until NOW that is.

In answer to your question, you will be legal if you sign up to one of the two Ombudsman schemes and follow their Code of Practice. You don't need a company number but a condition of membership is that you will need to purchase PI insurance.

I'm aware of one property sourcer who applied and the insurers took one look at his website and declined him so he can't join until he sorts out his website which is clearly illegal as it quotes things that it shouldn't, e.g "instant equity"

Regards

Mark Alexander

Mark,
Whilst I fully understand and respect that you are advising that "estate agency work" needs to be legally registered, I saw a news programme this week which is summarized in this linked article on Yahoo. It is in response to the proliferation of properties for sale on the internet, and is also saying that estate agents near monopoly on the market needs to be challenged. I believe this move by the government is actually counter to the topic of this thread. It may lead to LESS regulation, not more regulation.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/estate-...16232.html

Thanks for the clarification John and Mark. Can you by any chance offer any light as to the differences between the two different ombudsman schemes? Thanks.

Erica,

Hopefully Mark can explain the differences as I have no experience with either of them.

[/quote]

Mark,
Whilst I fully understand and respect that you are advising that "estate agency work" needs to be legally registered, I saw a news programme this week which is summarized in this linked article on Yahoo. It is in response to the proliferation of properties for sale on the internet, and is also saying that estate agents near monopoly on the market needs to be challenged. I believe this move by the government is actually counter to the topic of this thread. It may lead to LESS regulation, not more regulation.
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/estate-...16232.html

[/quote]

Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of regulation myself. I am, however, a fan of consumer protection and warning people of laws which they may not know that are breaking. I'm also on a bit of a crusade to clean up the industry. If I see advertisements from what I believe are shady dealers I simply report them if I spot where they are failing to comply with the laws, e.g. advertising standards. If I think they seem like decent people/organisations I give them the "heads up" on where they may be going wrong.

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(18-09-2012 03:06 PM)Erica Stanford Wrote:  Thanks for the clarification John and Mark. Can you by any chance offer any light as to the differences between the two different ombudsman schemes? Thanks.

Hi Erica

Sorry, I don't know whether there are any differences. I'd be interested in other peoples opinions though if they believe there are any. I'm sure there must be some.

Yesterday, at the NALS Conference in London, I spoke to the Property Ombudsman and the Chief Ombudsman of Ombudsman Services (property) to hear their views on whether deal sourcers fall under the "Estate Agents" Act and whether they need to be registered with an ombudsman scheme: