In Property This Week - 23 May

“They need to increase professionalism and the threat, ultimately, is legislation if they don’t. What I want to see is the industry improved, cleaned up and more professional.”

Schapps says he is mystified about why agents “have not got their own house in order a little bit more” and developed a professional industry standard like travel agents.

But he believes that the National Association of Estate Agents’ exams are a step in the right direction for higher agency standards.

He adds: “The interesting thing is now the industry has a responsibility for its organization and, rather than calling on the government just to constantly legislate, it needs to get its own house in order.

“I talked o the NAEA about this and it does nod and look like it agrees that it might not have been as proactive as it could have been in the past.”

Chris Wood, president elect for the NAEA, says: “We are happy to work with the Government but the difficulty with estate agency is, as with any organization, with the current legislation we can’t force agents to join us and abide by our rules.

“Until estate agents are compelled to work on a level playing field, it will always be the case that one third is happy to abide by our code of conduct and two thirds choose to work outside of it.”

Schapps spoke out at the Conservative Home Buying Review, which was held in London last Thursday.

He says: “We ought to in this country be able to get to a position where people know before you go and buy a house or sell a house with a particular agent that they ought to be of a certain standard.

“The industry could do more to reassure the public and educate the public about what to look for.”


Tesco Property Website Worth £2.5m

Tesco put its estate agency business, Tesco Property Market (TPM), up for sale at a whopping £2.5m, The Negotiator can exclusively reveal.

Spicerhaart, the UK’s largest independent estate agency group, last week confirmed that it is in final negotiations with Tesco about the acquisition of TPM, but both parties have declined to comment on details of the deal or its timing.

The TPM management expects the business to generate pre-tax profit in excess of £20m by 2012, based on annual revenues of between £50m and £80m and a market share of around 80%