‘The Tenant Fees Bill has had its second reading. The current Bill and its progress are here. There is a lot to digest in the Bill and I suspect there will be amendments on route. There are a whole new range of civil penalties, possible offences and restrictions on service of a section 21 forthcoming.’
Nearly Legal, 28th May 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘All estate agents will be required to hold a professional qualification under new government rules to crack down on “rogue” operators. Managing agents will also be forced to reveal the fees they receive for referrals to solicitors, surveyors and mortgage brokers.’
BBC News, 8th April 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A ban on estate agents charging solicitors referral fees along with loosening the restriction on conveyancers acting for both seller and buyer were suggested by the government yesterday as possible reforms to improve the home-buying process.’
Legal Futures, 23rd October 2017
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Online estate agent Purplebricks has said it is “surprised” the Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint against it for misleading viewers over its fee structure.’
Daily Telegraph, 18th October 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Trading Standards departments in London have issued fines amounting to around £370,000 to lettings agents in the last three months alone, it has emerged.’
Local Government Lawyer, 27th September 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘A group of estate agents who secretly conspired to keep their fees high to make “as much profit as possible” have been fined £370,000 for operating an illegal cartel.’
The Guardian, 18th September 2017
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A female estate agent has been found guilty of sex discrimination after she offered to perform a sex act on a male colleague if he banked £180,000 in income.’
Daily Telegraph, 1st June 2017
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A collation of cases and stories from the private sector, and a series of reminders that a database of rogue landlords, and indeed banning orders, can’t come soon enough.’
Nearly Legal, 8th January 2017
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
Littlewood v Powys County Council [2015] EWHC 2125 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 336
‘For the purposes of Schedule 2 to the Estate Agents Act 1979, where the making of an order under section 3 of the Act prohibiting an unfit person from acting as an estate agent had been delegated to an adjudicator, it was that adjudicator who personally had to hear oral representations from the person affected. The local authority’s proposed procedure whereby the adjudicator, who was the actual decision-maker, only received an audio recording and verbatim transcript of the proceedings before an investigator did not comply with the requirements of the 1979 Act and was unlawful.’
WLR Daily, 23rd July 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
RTA (Business Consultants) Ltd v Bracewell [2015] EWHC 630 (QB); [2015] WLR (D) 117
‘The effect of a breach of the registration requirement in regulation 33 of the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 by someone carrying on business in the undertaking of “estate agency work”, as defined in section 1(1) of the Estate Agents Act 1979, was that any contract made for the purposes of providing “estate agency work” was illegal and unenforceable.’
WLR Daily, 12th March 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Competition and Markets Authority has announced that it will probe as a priority suspected anticompetitive agreements involving three companies and a trade association operating in the property sales and lettings sector. The investigation puts under the spotlight possible violations of competition law relating to the setting and advertising of fees by estate agents. The CMA has concerns that the arrangements restricted choice for consumers and their ability to compare prices and value for money.’
Full story (PDF)
Zenith Chambers, 11th December 2014
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
‘Nicola Low, 71, and her daughter, Caroline Baines, 40, ran an estate agent together before their relationship ended in a spectacular fall out.’
Daily Telegraph, 11th July 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Tenants are to be given the right to challenge rogue letting agents for the first time after the government agreed at the 11th hour to a legislative amendment requiring all agents to sign up to a mandatory redress scheme.”
The Guardian, 16th April 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A selfish estate agent put an innocent client through a terrifying court ordeal after he framed him in a bid to wriggle out of a road ban.”
Daily Telegraph, 16th August 2012
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Solicitors have expressed disappointment that the Office of Fair Trading did not propose the regulation of estate agents in its home buying and selling report published last week.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 22nd February 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Office of Fair Trading vs Foxtons Ltd
Chancery Division
“Provisions in an estate agent’s standard terms and conditions of its letting contracts with landlords relating to renewal commission, third party renewal commission and sales commission were unfair.”
The Times, 29th July 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“The terms and conditions in a letting agency’s contracts with landlords were unfair, the High Court has said. The agency, Foxtons, must now change the way it contracts with landlords.”
OUT-LAW.com, 13th July 2009
Source: www.out-law.com
Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Ltd
Court of Appeal
“An injunction granted in a general challenge by the Office of Fair Trading against the unfairness of certain clauses in an estate agent’s standard terms could extend to the continuing use of unfair terms in an existing contract.”
The Times, 10th April 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons Ltd [2009] EWCA Civ 288; [2009] WLR (D) 128
“An injunction granted in a general challenge by the Office of Fair Trading against the unfairness of certain clauses in an estate agent’s standard terms could extend to the continuing use of unfair terms in an existing contract.”
WLR Daily, 6th April 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“Solicitors have declared war on estate agents. They are calling for a licensing system to bring them under strict regulation and for greater transparency over what they call excessive fees.”
The Times, 19th March 2009
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2018