Top ten tips for estate agents

This month, the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act will come into force, effectively strong-arming the 50 per cent of estate agents who have not joined one of the government-backed voluntary schemes into signing up. Broadly, this means becoming members of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and/or the Ombudsman for Estate Agents scheme and agreeing to minimum standards of behaviour.

  
But what do those standards actually entail? The Ombudsman's code of conduct, for example, seems to set the bar extremely low: "You should not take unfair advantage of any consumer," it commands (note the use of "should" rather than "must"). "You must not directly or indirectly harass any person in order to gain instructions." And, my favourite: "You must not put any property on the market for sale without permission from the seller."

It's nice to know that someone is out there looking after the interests of house-sellers. But while marketing a house that isn't actually for sale would be pretty annoying for the owner, it is the smaller but more common annoyances that really get under our skin. Rather than concentrate on outright misrepresentation and potential fraud, might the Ombudsman and the NAEA be better off tackling these run-of-the-mill irritants? Here are 10 of the worst offences, and proposals to make relations between public and agents that little bit warmer.

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