Letting and property agents

Letting and property agent responsibilities

Redress scheme

Letting and property management agents are required to join a redress scheme.

The scheme enables an approved third party to arbitrate disputes between agents and tenants. Agents that fail to join a scheme face a penalty of up to £5,000.

The following organisations are approved to run redress schemes:

• The Property Ombudsman
• The Ombudsman service
• The Property Redress Scheme

Find out more about the types of redress schemes (Gov.UK)

Duty to publicise fees

It is a legal requirement for agents to publicise fees charged to both tenants and landlords.

Fees will need to be displayed on business premises where they can be easily seen by clients and potential clients. They should also be posted on the agents website and be accessible.

This means that terms such as 'admin fee' are no longer acceptable as they do not sufficiently describe the service covered by the fee.

Agents that fail to display fees and the required information face a penalty of up to £5,000.

Agents must also state:

• the name of the redress scheme they belong to
• if they are a member of a client money protection scheme

Read the government’s guidance on improving the private rented sector (Gov.UK)