The Property Ombudsman in the UK has announced it will issue updated versions of all its Codes of Practice in order to address emerging industry issues, in particular the manipulation of internet portals known as portal juggling.
The practice involves the manipulation of property portals which misleads consumers by removing and re-listing homes on various portals, enabling agents to hide price cuts and give the impression a property is new to the market when it is not.
Other revisions to the Codes include disclosure on pre-contract deposits to clearly define the actions required to ensure all parties involved in a pre-contract deposit arrangement have agreed to the terms and conditions attached to the payment.
The change will also ensure all fees and charges are quoted inclusive of VAT and an additional provision that landlords receive all relevant facts, regardless of whether the tenant has met or failed to meet the referencing criteria.
‘The decision was taken to carry out a full review of the codes to reflect market developments and provide clear definitions of unfair practices. Our codes already state that all advertisements must be legal, decent, honest and truthful, but now go one step further to clarify that ‘portal juggling’, in its various forms, is misleading to consumers,’ said Gerry Fitzjohn, chairman of the Property Ombudsman Board.
He explained that evidence of member agents found to be carrying out such poor practice could be reported to the Disciplinary and Standard’s Committee (DSC), NTSEAT and/or local Trading Standards.
The Ombudsman, Katrine Sporle, will apply the new Codes of Practice when reviewing consumer complaints about events that have occurred after 01 October 2016 to determine whether or not a registered member has breached the high level of standards required.
The working group for the revised Codes involved trade associations, representatives from large and smaller agents in both sales and lettings and a representative from Property Ombudsman’s independent Council.
According to Paula Higgins of the HomeOwners Alliance accuracy is vital, ‘Buying a house is the biggest purchase of your life and you need to know the information you have is accurate when deciding whether to view and, most importantly, how to decide and negotiate the price,’ she said.
‘Without accurate information home buyers are at a big disadvantage and estate agents and their clients, the home seller are the winners. This isn’t a level playing field. We’re glad to see the regulator stepping in,’ she added.
