Letting Agent Redress Scheme Is An Under Publicised Tenant Protection Initiative
A new study conducted by a UK estate and lettings agency has discovered that just 0.5% of the UK general public are aware of the new government initiative, the letting agent redress scheme, intended to protect tenant rights and designed to hold letting agents […]
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Letting Agent Redress Scheme Is An Under Publicised Tenant Protection Initiative
A new study conducted by a UK estate and lettings agency has discovered that just 0.5% of the UK general public are aware of the new government initiative, the letting agent redress scheme, intended to protect tenant rights and designed to hold letting agents that provide a poor service to tenants and leaseholders to account.
Research conducted by KIS property sales and lettings shows that just one in 200 members of the public have heard of the government tenant protection initiative that was launched in October 2014, designed to offer the UK’s 3.9 Million tenants increased security, although according to the survey, 100% of the general public who participated failed to name a single one of these schemes.
99.5% of the public who took part in the survey said that they were not familiar with the letting agent redress scheme.
From December 1st 2014, all UK property managing and lettings agents will be required to join one of three government-backed redress schemes created to provide tenants in the private rented sector with an independent body where they can take their complaints to.
The 3 schemes are
- The Property Ombudsman
- Ombudsman Services Property
- The Property Redress Scheme
The idea is that each of these schemes will assess every tenant and landlord grievance on a case-by-case basis and are able to offer recompense if required.
Ajay Jagota, founder of the KIS letting agency, commented: “A scheme like this lives or dies by people actually knowing it exists in order to complain to it. On the basis of these figures, it’s already dying. The saddest thing about these results is that they do not surprise me at all. To be honest, for all the profile it has, the redress scheme may as well be in witness protection. My view remains that the best redress is always the law, and everything that needs to be illegal is illegal. The only problem is the relevant authorities all too often lack the resources to effectively enforce the law, and to me that is key to giving tenants the protection they deserve. However, the scheme can never benefit the public if 99.5% of the populous don’t know it exists”.
