Closed petition Require all estate agents to be licensed by an independent regulatory authority

Closed on 24 July 2016

There are many stories of prospective purchaser (and tenants where they are managing agents) receiving poor quality service at the hands of estate agents e.g. those who accept more than one offer on a property and effectively play one purchaser off against another for their own financial gain.

Any one can set themselves up as an estate agent. Estate agents can sign up to voluntary regulation and many do. Those who do not often leaver those who are dissatisfied with no legal recourse as the contractual relationship is often with another party e.g. estate agents and have no contractual relationship and arguably no duty of care to e.g. prospective purchasers. There is some limited statutory regulation for e.g. property misdescription but otherwise legal regulation is limited.