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MSE News: Government announces new measures to clean up the house-buying market

Former_MSE_Callum
Former_MSE_Callum Posts: 696 Forumite
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edited 10 April 2018 at 2:49PM in House buying, renting & selling
Estate agents in England will be required to hold a professional qualification as part of new measures to clean up the house-buying market, the Government has announced...
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'Government announces new measures to clean up the house-buying market'
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  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
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    Is this a joke?

    What 'professional qualification' will be required. Chartered Surveyor would be useful but overkill.

    Some institutions will jump on the bandwagon and set up courses that for a few hundred pounds will give 'students' a set of meaningless letters after their name.

    https://www.propertypersonnel.co.uk/blog/do-i-need-a-qualification-to-become-an-estate-agent/
  • Crashy_Time
    Crashy_Time Posts: 13,386 Forumite
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    Won`t be hard to get a certificate, how does this clean anything up? Best way to clean it up is to get them rates up!:rotfl:
  • ProDave
    ProDave Posts: 3,711 Forumite
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    And exactly how will this stop the vendor puling out the day before exchange?
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    ProDave wrote: »
    And exactly how will this stop the vendor puling out the day before exchange?

    I guess that what the deposit part is for.

    You could also exchange earlier in the process - like the Scottish system of missives.
  • smipsy
    smipsy Posts: 203 Forumite
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    maybe they should finish with their letting fees ban before they invent new "measures" to "help"
  • Cardew
    Cardew Posts: 29,036 Forumite
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    Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »
    Most people seem to think something has to change.
    Change has got to start somewhere.
    You can refine it later.

    An Estate Agent is simply a salesman.(salesperson)

    They firstly have to sell their firm's services to the property owner, then sell/rent the property to prospective buyers/tenants.

    The price is largely determined by the area - a 3 bed terraced house in South Shields will sell/rent for less than a similar property in Mayfair!

    Legislation introduced a few years ago means sales particulars have to be accurate, or include a disclaimer.

    So what professional qualifications will clean up the property market?
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
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    "Estate agents will now be required to hold a professional qualification"

    Which ones? Everyone in the EA's office? Valuers, negotiators, admin staff? Cleaners? Or just the business owner?

    "Housing Secretary Sajid Javid said: Buying a home is one of the biggest and most important purchases someone will make in their life. But for far too long buyers and sellers have been trapped in a stressful system full of delays and uncertainty.

    (To which my response is - "change the system", but ... )

    So we are going to put the consumers back in the driving seat. We will require estate agents to hold a qualification so that people are no longer at risk from a minority of rogue agents and can trust the process when buying or selling their home."

    To my mind, the solution doesn't match the problem...
  • ValiantSon
    ValiantSon Posts: 2,586 Forumite
    ProDave wrote: »
    And exactly how will this stop the vendor puling out the day before exchange?
    Heng_Leng wrote: »
    I guess that what the deposit part is for.

    You could also exchange earlier in the process - like the Scottish system of missives.

    How will a buyer's non-refundable deposit prevent a vendor from pulling out?

    The buyer paying a non-refundable deposit will not prevent gazumping, as it isn't the buyer who allows this to occur, but rather the vendor. :doh:

    And I haven't even started on the stupidity of requiring a buyer to put down a non-refundable deposit before they've seen the results of local searches or a survey.
  • System
    System Posts: 178,093 Community Admin
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    ValiantSon wrote: »
    How will a buyer's non-refundable deposit prevent a vendor from pulling out?

    The buyer paying a non-refundable deposit will not prevent gazumping, as it isn't the buyer who allows this to occur, but rather the vendor. :doh:

    And I haven't even started on the stupidity of requiring a buyer to put down a non-refundable deposit before they've seen the results of local searches or a survey.

    Foreign legal systems do have many idiosyncrasies ;)
  • ViolaLass
    ViolaLass Posts: 5,764 Forumite
    Quizzical_Squirrel wrote: »
    Most people seem to think something has to change.
    Change has got to start somewhere.
    You can refine it later.

    Fixing the system is laudable but starting with the premise that "Something has to change so change something. Decide later whether it was helpful" seems to me to be the wrong way round.
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